Everything Bagel Pastry Braid

I did not grow up in a bagel-friendly household. In fact, my dad has stated on several occasions that bagels are his least favorite bread product. Brian is the one who formally introduced me to good bagels. Up until then, I’d only ever tried the shitty ones you can buy at the grocery store. Once I tried a soft and chewy bagel for the first time I was totally hooked. We would gladly eat them every day at multiple meals if they didn’t make us fatter, and (more importantly) if there was a decent place to buy bagels in our small town.

Anyway, Brian’s all time favorite is hands down a toasted everything bagel with cream cheese. It’s simple, but it’s a classic for a reason. This pastry braid is my easy-to-make play on those flavors.

Frozen puff pastry is a lot easier to find around us than an acceptable bagel shop. Plus I always have a jar of my homemade everything bagel spice blend on hand for us to sprinkle on pretty much everything (pun intended). You can always overpay for a bottle of premixed everything bagel spice… but why would you? These can be filled with any number of sweet or savory fillings once you get the hang of braiding. It’s a pretty straightforward process: roll, cut, fill, fold.

Everything Bagel Pastry Braid

Print recipe

• Print with all photos
• Print with main photo
• Print text only

Ingredients

• 2 puff pastry sheets
• 8oz whipped cream cheese
• 1/3 cup sliced green onion
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 teaspoon granulated onion powder
• 1 egg
• everything bagel spice

Directions

Step 1

Preheat your oven to 400 degrees, and roll out one sheet of thawed puff pastry dough on a floured surface to make it a slightly larger rectangle. Use a sharp knife to cut two end flaps on both of the rectangle's shorter sides and one-inch slanted lines along the longer sides. Make sure to leave a rectangle in the center of the pastry for your filling.

Step 2

Whip the salt, onion powder, and green onions into your softened cream cheese. In a small bowl beat the egg with a couple tablespoons of water to make an egg wash. Spread half of the cream cheese mixture into the center of the rectangle. Brush the end flaps and angled strips with your egg wash. Fold everything in, starting with the end flaps and then crossing over the strips. Check out the gif above to get the idea.

Step 3

Repeat with the other sheet of puff pastry, and then put both braids into the fridge to rechill before going into the hot oven. After about 10 minutes move both braids to a parchment lined baking sheet. Liberally brush with more of the egg wash and then sprinkle with as much or little of the everything bagel spice over the tops as you like.

Step 4

Here's one from the side so you can see how much it puffs up.

Step 5

Bake at 400 degrees for 30-45 minutes, or until it's puffed up, golden brown, and cooked through.

Step 6

This version is the simple classic, focusing on the classic combination of everything bagel flavor with cream cheese.

Step 7

But feel free to fill these any way you can think of. Adding scrambled eggs, breakfast meats, smoked salmon, or extra veggies would make this fantastic breakfast even heartier. Any which way you fill it you can't lose.