Ingredients Used in Perfect Bagel Making

This handmade bagel recipe is Jack’s new favorite item to bake, and I couldn’t be more pleased! Like many of you, he has been baking like crazy recently, turning out crusty loaves of sourdough packed with dried fruit, almonds, or roasted garlic. I enjoyed it all but was delighted when he started a fresh batch of bagels. These may be handmade, but they have all the hallmarks of a superb bagel: a shining appearance, a gently sweet and salty flavor, and a wonderful chewy texture. To top them off, we generously sprinkle them in crispy, garlicky Everything Seasoning. My mouth waters just thinking about it! 

If you want a fun weekend project, try this bagel recipe. It’s straightforward to create and requires only a few essential ingredients. It’s a terrific dish to cook with a loved one: you can form the bagels together, and one person can boil them while the other loads on the topping. Then, if you’re anything like Jack and me, you’ll watch them bake through the oven window, excited to devour the warm, fluffy handmade bagels straight from the oven. 

Bagels require a lean dough

The first step is to prepare the bagel dough. This is the same dough you use for all your bagels, and the recipe is already on my site. There are only five components. 

• Warm water: Liquid for the dough.
• Yeast: Yeast allows the dough to rise. I recommend using quick or active dry yeast.
• Bread Flour: High protein flour is required for bagels. We want a solid, chewy texture, not anything delicate and airy like cinnamon buns. Bread flour is the only option!
• Brown Sugar: Bakeries use barley malt syrup to sweeten bagel dough, which can be challenging to locate, but brown sugar is a suitable replacement.
• Salt: flavor

See how there is no fat? This is known as lean dough. Lean dough suits recipes including focaccia, pizza dough, artisan bread, and no-knead bread. Fat provides richness and taste to breads such as dinner rolls and handmade breadsticks, as well as sweet breads like cinnamon rolls. 

 The dough can be prepared and kneaded by hand or using a mixer. If you want to see how to knead the dough by hand:

1. Check out my How To Knead Dough page, which includes a complete video lesson.
2. After kneading the dough, let it rise for 60-90 minutes.
3. Punch it down, cut it into eight portions, and shape it into bagels.

How To Shape Bagels 

Making bagels is more straightforward than it appears. Poke your finger into the middle of the dough ball, then enlarge the hole with two fingers to about 1.5 – 2 inches. That is it! I do nothing special; the bagels don’t have to be flawless. Mine never are!

Bagel Water Bath

Bagels must be cooked for 1 minute on each side in a kettle of boiling water. This is the most critical stage in the entire recipe. Why? 

Boiling the bagels gives them an excellent gloss. But appearances aren’t everything—this sheen is caused by the dough’s starches gelatinizing, resulting in a crisp, glittering covering. I learned this from Cook’s Illustrated.

Boiling bagels cooks the dough’s outside layer, ensuring they maintain their form in the oven. 

Homemade Bagel Varieties

1. Plain Bagels: Follow the instructions provided below. These make an excellent basis for breakfast casseroles. 
2. Cinnamon Raisin Bagels: Use my cinnamon raisin bagels recipe. 
3. Everything Bagels: Follow my Everything bagels recipe.
4. Sesame Seed Bagels: Add 1/3 cup sesame seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top or immerse each bagel in the topping. Use extra as required.
5. Poppy Seed Bagels: Add 1/3 cup poppy seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top or immerse each bagel in the topping. Use extra as required.
6. Salt Bagels: Add 1/3 cup coarse salt. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top or immerse each bagel in the topping. These are rather salty, so feel free to use less salt.
7. Cheese Bagels (Asiago, Cheddar, etc.): Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese along with the flour when making the dough. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with additional cheese.
8. Cinnamon Crunch Bagels: Add one teaspoon of cinnamon and salt when preparing the dough recipe below. Double the cinnamon crunch topping from the cinnamon crunch bread. Brush the bagels with egg wash in step 9 below, then spoon on the cinnamon crunch topping.

Some people have converted this bagel recipe into whole wheat bagels by substituting half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but I do use whole wheat flour to make handmade English muffins—another morning classic! 

See your homemade bagels!

Many readers used this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Please share your recipe images with us via email or social media. 

Please remember that this homemade bagel recipe calls for an overnight rest period and an hour of proofing in the morning. We prefer to create the dough the night before and boil and bake the finished bagels in the morning. 

Ingredients 

For the dough

• Ingredients: One tablespoon of maple or barley malt syrup
• Ingredients: 1 package (¼-ounce) active dry yeast, 2¼ teaspoons.
• Ingredients: 1¼ cups warm water.
• Ingredients: 540 g bread flour*
• Ingredients: Two tablespoons of sea salt.

For poaching water

• Ingredients: 1½ teaspoons maple syrup
• Ingredients: Two tablespoons baking soda.
• Ingredients: ½ tablespoon salt

For toppings

• Ingredients: One egg white plus one tablespoon water (optional) 
• Ingredients: Everything Bagel Seasoning, to sprinkle

Instructions 

1. Make the dough: In a small basin, mix the maple syrup, yeast, and water; proof for 5 minutes or until bubbly.
2. Combine the flour, salt, and yeast in the bowl of a mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Mix on medium-low speed for 5 to 7 minutes or until the dough forms nicely around the hook. If the dough is dry after 3 minutes, add one tablespoon of water. (Note: I do not advocate mixing this dough without a stand mixer; it is a tough dough that becomes nice and smooth this way).
3. Transfer the dough to a clean work surface and knead for 2 to 3 minutes until smooth and slightly sticky. Form into a ball and place in a large basin. Cover with plastic wrap and sit warmly for 60 to 90 minutes until the dough has risen. 
4. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper, gently oil them and put aside. Turn the dough onto a clean, unfloured work surface and cut into eight pieces. Roll each piece into a ball on the countertop using a cupped hand. Keep the dough you’re not working with wrapped in plastic as you work with each piece of dough in the following stages.
5. Sprinkle a few drops of water on the counter. Roll each dough ball into a rope approximately 9 inches long. Place one hand palm up, with four fingers on top of the rope. Fold each edge of the dough over your fingers until the ends overlap by approximately 2 inches. (See the photo above). Roll the dough over in your palm on the countertop to close the two ends. 
6. Place each completed item on a baking sheet. Dust the tops with a small quantity of flour to prevent the plastic wrap from adhering to the dough. Cover with plastic wrap and chill overnight.
7. The following day, take the pans from the fridge and allow them to remain at room temperature for an hour. 
8. Preheat the oven to 450° Fahrenheit.
9. Place one bagel in a small water dish to ensure it floats. If it sinks, let the dough prove for another 30 minutes, or until it floats again.
10. Prepare the poaching water: In a large saucepan, combine two quarts of water, maple syrup, baking soda, and salt.
11. Add three bagels (or as many as will fit comfortably) to the saucepan, and reduce the heat if the water begins to boil. Boil for one minute per side. Return the bagels to the baking sheet and flip them over so the smooth side is on top. Repeat with the remaining bagels. 
12. Prepare the toppings. If desired, beat the egg white and water together in a separate bowl. Brush the egg wash onto the bagels and sprinkle with spice. Alternatively, you may skip the egg wash and dip the top of the bagel directly into the seasoning, but the egg wash helps the seasoning stick to the bagel.
13. Bake for 14–18 minutes or until softly golden brown.

Notes

*Note: I strongly recommend weighing your flour for this recipe because it contains a large amount of flour, and measuring with measuring cups can frequently result in too much flour, resulting in dry dough. The cup conversion is 4 1/3 cups, but I can only guarantee the results with carefully weighed flour.

This recipe also works using (540 grams) of all-purpose flour; the bagels are somewhat less chewy than those produced with bread flour.

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