Everything bagel with salmon lox and homemade cream cheese

Combine 250 g bread flour, one teaspoon active dry yeast and 250 ml room temperature water; mix until fully hydrated and rest at room temperature four to 24 hours.

Next day, combine 450 g more bread flour with the pre-ferment in a stand mixer bowl, scraping in every last bit; it is the only other source of moisture.

Add 25 g malt barley syrup and 10 g kosher salt and mix ten minutes on medium-low, adding one to three tablespoons of water if it looks too shaggy.

Mix until the dough passes the windowpane test, stretchable enough that light passes through without tearing.

Lubricate the bowl with non-stick spray, return the dough and proof covered with a wet towel at room temperature one to two hours until doubled.

Weigh the dough mass, about a kilo, and divide evenly into eight pieces; roll each into a taut ball, cover with a moist towel and rest ten minutes.

Shape either by punching a hole and stretching, or New York style: roll to about a ten-inch length with tapered edges, twist each end in opposite directions, fold over the hand and seal the two ends together.

Either rise another one to two hours, or cold ferment covered with oiled plastic wrap in the fridge one to three days for better flavour and a blistered crust.

Boil in about two litres of water with one tablespoon each barley malt syrup and baking powder, adding the baking powder slowly.

Drop each bagel in upside down and boil 20 seconds a side, then lift onto a wire rack set in a rimmed baking sheet.

Bake at 425F on the very lowest rack about 25 minutes, rotating halfway and optionally flipping for the last five minutes.

For the everything topping, toss roughly equal parts white and black sesame seeds, caraway seed, garlic chips, onion chips, poppy seeds and flaky salt; invert each boiled bagel straight into it and press firmly.

For the lox, mix equal parts kosher salt and sugar and sprinkle it evenly and prolifically over every facet of the salmon; pat it in, wrap tightly in plastic folding upwards so it will not leak.

Weigh the wrapped salmon down with another baking sheet and pieces of cast iron and refrigerate three full days.

Rinse the cured salmon thoroughly under cold water, pat dry, set skin side down on a rack over a rimmed sheet and dry uncovered in the fridge about 30 minutes.

Slice across the grain on a dramatic angle as thinly as possible with the longest sharpest knife; keeps airtight three days.

For the imitation cream cheese, heat one litre of whole milk to a bare simmer, stir in three tablespoons white vinegar, kill the heat once curds form, cover and sit five minutes, then drain in cheesecloth and whip smooth.

Slice the bagels, toast briefly, spread with the cream cheese, top with the lox, thinly sliced red onion and drained capers; serve sandwich style or open face.