When working on my bagel recipe I ordered some caraway seeds from Whole Spice to top the Rye Bagels. As soon as I opened the bag and took in the heady, sweet, earthy pungency of their aroma my mind took me back to something we would always get (and bring plenty back home) on our trips to visit family in Miami: The Salt Stick.

Searching online I found just one recipe that wasn’t even close to what I remembered. This one was described as a caraway croissant, with an enriched dough that included an egg. Everything else that popped up was for actual crispy breadsticks with caraway.

What I was looking for was similar to a soft breadstick in shape, but the dough is somewhere between a bagel dough and a bialy dough and topped with a mixture of course salt and caraway seeds.

I’ve been thinking about these for almost a year now, and today was the day I decided to try and figure it out. I started with my basic bagel recipe, but added a half cup of rye flour and some extra water for a softer dough. I didn’t quite get the ratio right in this first batch in my opinion, but so far my tasters have liked them. I will plan on cutting back on the water just a bit next time, as well as cutting back a bit on the salt on top.

I have to say though, while I enjoyed one fresh out of the oven I am really looking forward to having one toasted tomorrow morning for breakfast. My only dilemma is do I top it with butter or cream cheese?