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Hello, my Insiders!
Today, we’re going chewy, sticky, salty, and just a little bit unexpected. These honey za’atar bagels are exactly the sort of bake that makes me disproportionately happy to have a steam oven in the kitchen.
There’s something so satisfying about homemade bagels, with that distinctive chew and glossy exterior. The honey and za’atar combination is a particularly good one here: sweet, savory, herbal, with a good dose of flaky salt to round everything out.
There’s more steam oven bread inspiration in From the Archives, and I’m also changing up A Thing I’m Loving just a little. Today it’s A Big Exciting Thing I’m Doing, because I’m about to undertake a full kitchen rebuild! It’s thrilling, slightly terrifying, and taking up a lot of brain space. Read more about that below.
Happy steam oven cooking, see you in late May!
Emily x
PS We have quite a few new Insiders this issue – welcome to all of you. I’m thrilled you’ve decided to join us and I hope you get lots from being here. Don’t hesitate to ask if you have questions!
Chewy, Sticky and Salty Honey Za’atar Bagels
These bagels are everything I want in a homemade (or any) bread: chewy in the middle, shiny on the outside, and full of flavor. Honey-butter brings richness and sticky sweetness, while the za’atar adds that savory, herby lift and a good sprinkle of flaky salt ties everything together and makes you want to just keep on eating.
One of the things I love most about making bagels in a steam oven is how approachable they are – you can have these made AND baked in around an hour. You get proper bagel character, but with a method that feels easy enough to tackle without turning it into an all-day project. They’re perfect split and toasted with cream cheese, served alongside eggs, or eaten just slightly warm when you absolutely can’t wait any longer.
From the Archives:
If the bagels have put you in a bread-making mood, these recipes are all lovely places to keep going:
Twisted Cinnamon Bread with Honey Syrup
There’s a nice connection here with the honey element, though this one leans sweet and spiced rather than savory. It’s a beautiful loaf for slow breakfasts or afternoon tea.
Steam Oven Fruit Bread with Cinnamon and Nuts
This is a great breakfast or brunch option, especially if you like a loaf that feels a little hearty and substantial while still being very sliceable and toast-friendly.
Potato and Poppy Seed Bread with Rosemary
Slightly unusual, beautifully simple, and a wonderful side for soup or stew. It’s the sort of bread that quietly makes a meal feel more complete.
A Big Exciting Thing I’m Doing (you fellow cooks may be interested)!
I’m about to undertake a complete rebuild of my kitchen at home (well, our building contractor is). I’ll be honest: it feels daunting. Exciting, yes, but also overwhelming in the way that very big, very expensive decisions about permanent changes to your home can be.
I’ve just returned from the appliance showroom, where I need to select an entirely new suite of kitchen appliances, and the choices are extraordinary compared with even a few years ago. There are so many great brands making excellent products, which is wonderful in theory and not quite so wonderful when you’re trying to narrow things down in real life. I’ve managed to refine my options a lot this week, but I would love some help from you on one very specific question:
I’d love to hear why you chose the steam oven you bought, and what you love most about it now that you’ve lived with it. Was it the controls, the function set, the size, the reliability, the way it handles bread, or something else entirely? Maybe one of my articles or an email exchange between us helped you decide?!
Even the experts need a little help when it comes to choosing, and I am not ashamed of crowdsourcing these decisions. Would you like to know what I ended up choosing in a future issue?!
Ask Me Anything (AMA):
This is your best opportunity to ask me anything you like about steam oven cooking.
I continue to answer some AMA questions via email, but my goal is to respond to more of them as articles on the Steam & Bake website. This makes the answers easier to search and refer back to if the same questions come up again. Whenever a new article is published in response to an AMA question, I’ll let you know here in our Insiders journals.
If you have a question, big or small, please email it to [email protected]. Be sure to include INSIDERS AMA in the subject line so I can easily collect and review all submissions.