Homemade Lox Recipes

Steps:

• For the seed mixture: Combine the oats, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, poppy seeds and sesame seeds in a medium bowl. Remove 1/2 cup and pulse in a spice grinder or mini food processor, leaving it quite coarse. Reserve remaining seed mixture for the bagel topping.
• For the dough: Combine the water, honey, yeast, salt and 1 tablespoon of the barley malt in a spouted measuring cup. Combine both flours in the bowl of a stand mixer. Add the yeast mixture and beat on low speed with the dough hook just to combine. Knead until almost smooth and slightly sticky but forms a loose ball, about 5 minutes. (Add a little more water if the dough is too crumbly or a little more flour if it is too loose to form a ball. The dough should form a loose, slightly sticky ball that is almost but not completely smooth.) Add the coarsely ground seed mixture and continue to knead until well distributed, 1 to 2 minutes more. The dough should be smooth and springy. Transfer to an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and refrigerate overnight.
• Remove the dough from the refrigerator and let sit at room temperature 1 hour before ready to use. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface. Divide it into 12 equal parts, roll and work each into smooth balls, making sure to seal any dough seams well. Shape the bagels by sticking your thumb through the center of each ball and using your fingers to gently stretch a 2-inch-wide hole in the center. Cover the bagels with a towel and let rise for 30 minutes.
• Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 425 F with racks in the top and lower thirds.
• Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the baking soda and remaining tablespoon of barley malt. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and grease them well. Also lay out a clean kitchen towel near your pot of boiling water. Spread the remaining seed mixture in a shallow bowl.
• Working with 3 bagels at a time, boil them for 1 minute on each side (use a timer for this). Use a slotted spoon or spatula to transfer them briefly to the kitchen towel to catch any excess moisture. Dip the bottoms in the seed mixture and then transfer them to the baking sheets.
• Brush the bagels with the egg white and sprinkle the tops with more seed mixture and a little flaky salt. Bake the bagels for 8 minutes, switching the pans on the racks and rotating the pans 180 degrees, and then continue to bake until golden brown, begin checking at 8 minutes. Let cool slightly.
• Split a bagel and to one half add a schmear of cream cheese, slices of blueberry lox, tomato, cucumber, red onions, capers and a squeeze of lemon for the bagel sandwich of your dreams. Frozen bagels will keep for up to a month; reheat in the toaster.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the blueberries, salt, sugar, liquid smoke, cilantro, lemon zest and a bunch of turns of black pepper. Lay a large piece of plastic wrap down on a work surface and place a small handful of the blueberry mixture in the middle. (I recommend wearing gloves for this.) Place half of the filet skin-side down over the mixture, top it with most of the remaining blueberry mixture, and then top that with the other half of the filet, flesh-side down. Cover the top and sides with the remaining blueberry mixture, making sure that all parts of the fish are covered. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap, place on a rimmed baking sheet, cover it with a cutting board and weigh it down with something heavy (such as: a few bricks, some cans or a cast iron pot). Refrigerate for 2 to 4 days (depending on how cured you like your lox; 4 days will make a firmer and saltier lox) flipping every 12 hours and pouring out any juices as they accumulate in the pan. It's ready when the fish is firm to the touch. Rinse off the curing mixture, pat it dry, and slice it as thinly as possible. Enjoy! Keep leftovers wrapped in plastic wrap in the fridge for up to 5 days.

Steps:

• Rinse salmon with water; pat dry with paper towels.
• Mix salt and sugar together in a bowl. Lay out a piece of plastic wrap. Pour half of the salt mixture onto the plastic wrap; lay salmon on top. Cover salmon with remaining salt mixture.
• Fold plastic wrap around salmon until secure; wrap a second layer of plastic wrap around salmon. Transfer to a 9x9-inch baking pan; cover with an 8x8-inch baking pan. Place a heavy object onto the smaller baking pan to weigh salmon down. Cure in the refrigerator until salmon's surface becomes silky, about 48 hours.
• Combine water and ice in a bowl. Mix water and 3 drops liquid smoke together in a bowl. Place salmon into liquid smoke mixture to rinse. Submerge into ice bath for 30 minutes. Repeat rinsing and submerging 2 more times, adding 3 drops of liquid smoke to the rinse water each time.
• Dry salmon with paper towels. Cut with a sharp knife staring from the thin edge of the salmon and cutting toward the thick edge.