"Everything Bagel" English Muffin Bread - 4 Points Plus

One of the things I find hardest to limit while on Weight Watchers is my bread intake. My favorite breakfast in the world is an everything bagel with cream cheese, but normal bakery bagels can run from 8-11 points just for the bagel alone! When I stumbled across Kitchen Parade's "No-Knead English Muffin Bread", I wondered if I could imbue the bread with the typical seasonings you find on an everything bagel, get my fix, and still keep my breakfast within a reasonable PointsPlus range.

You can really adjust the seasonings however you want. Many everything bagels include caraway seeds, which I happen to hate. Also, I wish I could have added poppy seeds, but my grocery store had them going for $7 a bottle, which I couldn't justify spending for a single recipe.

"Everything Bagel" English Muffin Bread - adapted from Kitchen Parade
Makes 8 servings at 4 PointsPlus, or 6 servings at 5 PointsPlus

For your sponge:

• 1 Tbsp Yeast (or about 1.5 packets)
• 1 cup flour (I used King Arthur White Whole Wheat)
• 1 Tbsp sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/4 cups warm water

For the bread:

• 1 3/4 cups flour
• 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
• 1 Tbsp garlic powder
• 1 Tbsp minced onion
• 1 tsp coarse or flaked salt
• 1 egg white (for an egg wash)

Spray a bread loaf pan with cooking spray and set aside. Combine the sponge ingredients in a large bowl, and beat with an electric mixer for 3 minutes. My original plan was to keep using the mixer to beat in about 3/4 of the remaining flour, but I gave up that plan in a hurry. This dough was way too thick for my $10 hand mixer, so I ditched it and went to town with a spoon.

When I was down to about 1/4 of the remaining flour, I threw in the spices too. At this point, the dough became too much for my spoon, so I had to shrug off the "No Knead" title, and go to work using my hands to get the rest of the flour incorporated. Not a big deal, aside from my hands still smelling like garlic powder hours later after repeated washings.

Once all of your ingredients are incorporated, shape your dough into a log and dump it into your prepared loaf pan. I used my fingers to squish it into the corners of the pan. Cover with a damp cloth, and stick it in a warm spot to rise. If you're like us and keep your house freezing in the winter, it's easiest to preheat your oven for one minute, turn it back off, and stick the dough inside. My dough rose in 1/2 an hour this way, where it probably would have taken 1-2 hours otherwise. Basically, you want your dough to double in size. When you're almost there, preheat your oven to 375 degrees. Once your dough has doubled, you're ready to bake!

Prepare your egg wash by mixing the egg white with about 1 cup of water. Brush a light layer over your risen dough (this will help the toppings stick better). I sprinkled some extra sesame seeds, minced onion, garlic powder, and salt over the top of my bread for that "everything bagel" look, but you could skip this.

Bake for 25-35 minutes at 375, until the top is golden and the bread sounds and feels hollow when you tap on it. Make SURE you wait for it to cool before slicing - this seals in moisture and keeps your entire loaf from drying out.

Once your loaf has cooled, slice and enjoy! Depending on how many Points you want to spend, you could either cut this into 6 or 8 servings. I ate mine with a tablespoon of low-fat cream cheese, for a total breakfast investment of 5 points. Not too shabby!

Nutritional value from MyFitnessPal (calculated for 8 servings): Calories: 164; Total Fat: 1g; Total Carbs: 36g; Dietary Fiber: 6g; Protein: 6g.