Cold-fermented sesame bagels with pastrami-spiced home-cured lox

Mix the sugar and salt with a tablespoon each of whole mustard, caraway, coriander and fennel seed, smoked paprika, and a teaspoon each of garlic and onion powder.

Coat the salmon generously all over with the cure, wrap tightly in plastic wrap pressing out the air, weight it, and refrigerate three days, flipping every day.

Whisk the flour, yeast and water for the pre-ferment until mostly smooth; ferment at room temperature at least four hours and up to 24, no longer or the yeast dies out.

Scrape all the pre-ferment into a stand mixer bowl; add the bread flour, kosher salt and honey, mix to a shaggy dough, then knead on medium speed about 10 minutes to the windowpane test.

Cover with plastic wrap and proof about one hour, in an off oven with the light on for warmth.

Second attempt: use a pre-ferment left overnight and add more water than the first, drier dough; knead about 10 minutes to a slightly sticky, smooth, taut ball.

Divide into 130 g pieces, cover with oiled plastic wrap and rest 20 minutes so they do not tear when shaped.

Punch a hole in the center of each and stretch it; cover with greased plastic wrap and cold-proof in the fridge, ideally three days, here two.

Bring a pot of water to a boil with about half a teaspoon of baking soda and blackstrap molasses until it looks like tea.

Re-stretch the hole, boil each bagel 20 seconds, then press firmly into sesame seeds.

Bake, testing a conventional oven against a steam-injected oven; the steam oven gave better spring. Bottoms stayed pale and were flipped to finish. An egg-white wash was tested and skipped.

Oil the rack to keep the bagels from sticking; cool, then cut open to check the crumb.

Rinse the cure off the salmon and pat dry; slice very thin and long across the meat, straight off the skin.

Spread toasted bagel halves with whipped cream cheese, top with lox, thinly sliced red onion and capers.