Homemade bagel recipe. Make great handrolled water bagels, it's as easy as baking a loaf of bread!
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Homemade bagels taste better!
I've made a lot of bagels in my time. I owned a bagel restaurant for years, and you would find me every bleary eyed morning kneading the dough and hand rolling all the fresh bagels for the day.
I've since gotten out of the bagel game (Yay sleep!) but I still love a great bagel.
People think that making outstanding bagels at home is really difficult, but it's really no harder than making a loaf of bread...and can be done within about an hour.
Don't be discouraged if your bagels look at bit funny at first, you'll get the hang of it in no time, and those curiously shaped bagels will still beat supermarket bagels hands down.
What makes a bagel different from other breads is the two stage cooking process. A bagel is first briefly boiled, and then baked. I worked the meat counter in a Jewish deli as a teenager, and as my boss would say, an unboiled bagel is just a roll with a hole!
Homemade bagel recipe
4 cups bread flour
1 Tbls sugar
1 1/2 tsps salt
1 Tbls vegetable oil
2 tsps instant yeast
1-1/4- 1-1/2 cups of warm water.
Mix all the ingredients in a bowl. You don't have to worry about soaking the yeast when you use instant yeast (most yeast sold these days is instant yeast). The dough should feel stiff, but add the extra water if it's really stiff, or you can't get all the dry flour incorporated.
Plop the dough down onto the counter, and knead for about ten minutes, or until the dough is uniform and smooth.
Cut the dough into 8 equal sized balls, and let rest for 10-20 minutes.
Pre heat your oven to 425.
Now, take each of the dough balls and using two hands, roll it into a little snake on the counter. When the snake is longer than the width of your two hands, wrap it around your dominant roiling hand. The dough rope should be wrapped so the overlapping ends are together at your palm, near the start of your fingers. Now take the two overlapping ends, and use your palm to squish/roll these two ends together. Once the dough is fused, you should have a perfectly circular bagel-to-be! This is the only part of the process that can take a little practice before your bagels will look really professional. Don't get discouraged if they don't look perfect, it just takes practice!
Let your bagels rest on the counter for about 20 minutes, and meanwhile, bring a pot of water to boil, and grease a large baking tray lightly. You can just rub a splash of vegetable oil and rub it around.
After the 20 minute wait, your bagels will start to look puffy, and it's time to get them boiling! Add them as many at a time as you can to your boiling water without crowding them. Boil for about a minute, turn them over, and boil for another minute. Take them out a let dry for a minute and then place them on your oiled baking tray. Repeat until all the bagels are boiled.
Add the tray to the oven, and after 10 minutes, flip the bagels over, bake for another ten minutes; and they're done!
Let them cool for at least 20 minutes, get the cream cheese ready, and feast on what's got to be one of the best weekend brunch treats possible!
You can add any toppings you like to these. To make sesame, onions, poppy seed, caraway etc. etc. bagels just have a dry plate ready with the seed or spice topping spread out on it. After the bagels have come out of the boiling water, place them face down onto the seeds, and then place the seed side up onto the baking tray. Bake and flip as for plain bagels.
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Short but sweet video on bagel rolling technique
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Comments
I love a pumpernickel bagel - and your recipe with rye and whole wheat sounds pretty good too! Good luck with the bagels! What proportion of whole wheat and rys did you use?
I am going to make these now. I have some pumpkin seeds ready to become bagel toppings.
They are IN the oven RIGHT NOW!~!!! I can't wait !!!!!!
"They are IN the oven RIGHT NOW!~!!! I can't wait !!!!!!"
tell us how did they came out
are they really good?
Looks Great. Now I’m hungry
Very good recipe, almost as good as the famous Montreal bagel. Thank you very much. The whole family loves it.
I made my first-ever bagels using this recipe, and... I'm hooked. Thank you so very much for sharing the joy of something so simply delicious!
Any tips on making a crisper outside?
I have a lot of experience with homemade, hand-kneaded bread, but have never tried doing bagels from scratch before, because I assumed it would be much more difficult! But I just baked my first batch this morning, following this recipe, and they came out PERFECT. (I'm speaking as a guy who lived in NYC for a number of years and thus knows the difference between a boiled bagel and the inferior steamed ones.)
The only alteration I made to the recipe was to add a generous tablespoon of baking soda to the boiling water bath, as this helps develop a darker crust -- something I learned from making homemade pretzels, although for those you would typically add a lot more than a tablespoon of baking soda to the water.
And to top this morning's batch of bagels, I used a mix of caraway seed and kosher salt -- inspired by "<a href="http://www.jewishfood-list.com/recipes/bread/rolls rolls</a>," which are essentially Kaiser rolls with that caraway/salt topping.
I made these bagels today..... UGH, didn't taste at all like a bagel! Tasted like a pretzet!! Sorry but this recipe didn't work for me.
i made these bagels yesterday, and we forgot to add the vegetable oil when mking the dough together. we didnt remember till after the rising and the boiling, but its suprising how perfect they were anyway! the extra oil on the baking tray helped brown the bagels whre they sat.
It took me three tries to get this right (first time entirely my fault...not sure what happened the second), but it was COMPLETLEY worth it. Bagels here are disappointing, at best, and it's so wonderful to be able to have the real TASTY thing. :D HOORAY!
Thanks for your great recipe, also used to make and sell bagels, lost my recipe in the move, remember my kitchen being covered with dusting of flour after a long night, laughing all the time we worked. I want to teach my Granddaughter, now that bagels are her favorite food. Thanks for the clear and informative directions, will try some of your others as well, keep up the good work.
How do you avoid bagels imloding after taken out of the water?
I love baking but have avoided bagles ever since an attempt many years ago that end in disappointment. I am presently eating the bagels I made based on your recipe (no variation) and am delighted---perfect combination & so easy!
thank you!!!
Hi Imploding,
It sounds like the bagels were over profed (over-risen) before being tossed into the water. Try reducing the rising time prior to boiling and you should have better luck.
John
Excellent recipe, just substitute 1 cup of flour for 1 cup of rye flour and mix in some caraway seeds in the dough and Wow wheeee, yum. Carb city!!!!
Awesome receipe, easy to follow. This is my first time making bagel and the bagels actually turned out very decent and tasty.
Also love your hub, a lot of great tips.
Thanks
I just made this recipe. I never attempted to bake bagels before but your post encouraged me. It was super easy and delicious!!
Thanks very much!!
thanks so much! I made my firts ever batch of bagles tonight and they were perfect!!
I moved to a small town in Idaho and comming from Denver where there are bagel shops every where I missed this style of bagel. I made them for the 1st time a few weeks age and I was shocked at how easy it was. Thank you for sharing your bagel recipe.
These are amazing. It was fun making them. They are delicious. Thanks for sharing.
So I'm making these bagels for the 80+ members of my Co-op here at college. Its going to be a great challenge. I'll let you know how it turns out! :)
They are cooling off as we speak. My fingers are crossed. I relocated to Costa Rica from NYC two years ago and bagels are what I miss most. I usally bring a dozen or so Ess-A-Bagels back in luggage w henever I go back. Hopefully these will tide me over til my next visit in April.
Oh my god!! The bagels were a hit!! We even had some Philly cream cheese to top them off!! Cannot wait to make them again. Thanks Dave!!!
Deeeelicious! I got the bagel rolling technique down pat on the first try. I have a convection oven and didn't need to turn them or use oil to get the crispy, plus the silpat helped! Next time I go to the store I'm going to invest in some poppy seeds and sesame seeds to make them even better! Thanks for the recipe!
Round two was even better than round 1. I got the rolling technique down and I only made 6 instead of 8 (much closer to the size of NYC bagels that I am used to). I even made some chopped liver to go with them. For transplanted NY'ers in Costa Rica . . .it was a little taste of home. Thanks for the recipe!!
This was super easy!! Everyone keeps saying how hard it is to make bagels. By the second time I got it down perfect!!! Great recipe!!!
Been wanting to make bagels for awhile. And, I finally get to do it with this great recipe & instruction! Thanks for having this on the web! I'm glad Google made this my first search. Happy Holidays!
Easier than making pie!
Thank you for the recipe and rolling technique!
I don't understand what I did wrong..Your recipe was wonderful..dough rose beautifully...easy to shape into a bagel...put in boiling water after following the appropriate steps. Then, a horrible thing happened. I put them in the oven, and they went flat as pancakes. They had a funny flavor also. Had to throw the whole batch away...Such an exciting adventure until the end..What happened?
Hi Rita,
I'm sorry to hear about the disaster at the end! It sounds as though the bagels "over rose". If the bagel dough is allowed to rise for too long, or in too hot a room, the dough will eventually collapse down on itself. If this is in fact what happened, you will have better luck by speeding up the process and getting the bagels into the owven before they get overgrown!
Good luck!
Hi, I never made bagels before and didn't know what to expect. I followed your recipe and instructions and the bagels turned out as good as the best bagels my wife and I ever tasted. Thank you for the recipe, we will never need to buy bagels again!
Thank you for this great (and still quite easy) recipe!I'm a poor cook and the bagels taste delicious anyway!I couldn't be more happy, I can finally eat good bagels in France as often as it pleases me!
Thank you, thank you, thank you! I am on a sodium restricted diet, so I can't eat store-bought bagels right now. I used your recipe and just omitted the salt. They are fantastic. You made it so easy to follow along - and they came out great. Thanks again!
I managed to turn out some amazing bagels, even with the help of my three assistants (6, 4 and 2) Thank you so much for a fun and yummy recipe.
My kids love blueberry bagels, so I added some dried blueberries and WOW!!! My son said they were the best bagels he'd had "in his entire life." Of course, he's only 11, but still. . . .
Tried your recipe and gotta say turned out a success! Thanks
I just made these and they turned out GREAT! Thanks for the easy recipe. For my next attempt I am thinking about adding blueberries. Any thoughts on how many, what kind (canned, frozen, fresh), and what step to add them would be appreciated.
this recipe and technique is great. just made a batch this morning.
this method is much easier to utilize and the results were more 'professional' looking.
thanks for sharing! (especially with the instant yeast!)
Getting ready to try your recipe. I have been searching for weeks for an easily understood bagel recipe and I think this might be it. Having lived in Albuquerque for many years I have an addiction to the local green chile and will be trying this recipe with chiles added. I'll let you know how it turns out. If you have any suggestions for when to add the chiles please post.
I am living in Thailand...My cousin sent me 6 Sara L:ee onion bagles and I showed them to my local Thai bakery...They are interested and the purpose of this note is to ask for any information you can give me relating to a commercial bakery process so I can pass it on to the bakery. There are many Europeans and Americans living here so I think sales will be good. Any help you will send our way will be deeply appreciated,Jason BAKER !
Can you use regular flour in this recipe?
I'm a relocated NY'er who cooks but never bakes. With this recipe I was able to make GREAT bagels my first time baking. Next time I'll probably do 6 from a batch instead of 8 because I like my bagels bigger, but these are awesome! Thank you!!!
I really want to try this recipe, but only have regular, non-instant, yeast. Do you have any suggestions as to how to go about using regular active yeast in this recipe?
Hi Michelle,
Active yeast will work just fine here. Just sprinkle your yeast over about 1/2 cup of warm (95 degrees farenheit) water and let it soak for about 10 minutes. You may then procede as directed in the recipe, adding in in all of the yeast and water to the dough, remebering to reduce the water called for in the recipe by that same 1/2 of a cup.
best of luck!
John
Thank you for the tips, John. I made these today, and after being a bit worried with how the dough was looking (they became really crusty as balls before rolling them out and creating the bagel shape) they turned out wonderful! I'm never buying bagels from the supermarket again! Thank you sooo much for this recipe.
I'm really curious if anyone has tried any variations to this recipe. I'd like to make garlic or onion bagels, but I love the bagels with actual pieces of each in them, not just on top. Has anyone tried this? At what point would you add the ingredients to the dough? In the beginning or in the midst of kneading? Thank you in advance!
i am going to make these tomorrow morning and i'm so excited! it's my maiden voyage for bagel making and the posted comments have been incredibly helpful. i do have one question... i have been baking the infamous "no knead bread" for the past year and LOVE the delicious crisp, chewy crust and tender middle that is achieved by baking in a dutch oven. have you ever tried baking your bagels in this manner? i think i'll give it a whirl for a couple of the bagels and do the rest as your recipe indicates. i'll let you know how they turn out. thank you for the recipe!
you want me to let them cool HOW LONG?? :) sorry, but when they came out of the oven, 30 seconds was all I could give it... and wow, AMAZING!! my first time making bagels, and they came out as good as I could imagine. And making them was fun too - watching them literally inflate 2x their size in the boiling water was pretty cool, I gotta say. Kneading the dough was fun, too. Going old-school and not breaking out the Kitchen-aid added to the experience. And they are delicious bagels - even with no toppings or cream cheese! So quick and easy - two thumbs up from me. Thanks for the post! You are officially bookmarked.
I am determined to make these work but I have tried twice and I am having a problem. They don't seem to rise very much and they are too dense - they taste more like pretzels. I used yeast I had stored in the freezer - could that be a problem? Maybe my water is not warm enough? Should I be covering the dough when it is "resting"? I am using Fleischmann's INstant Dry Yeast. I am kneading 10 minutes, should I knead more/less??
Hi Stacy,
It certainly sounds as though dead yeast may be the problem here - and it's probably the best variable to change on your next attempt. These should rise quite easily..
If after trying these with fresh INSTANT yeast you are still not seeing much of a rise, it may well be that your water or even room temperatures are too cold. In this case, just let the dough and the rolled bagels rest for longer prior to shaping and boiling (try doubling the wait times) - that should help.
Good luck!
wow!!! loved, loved, LOVED this recipe!!! it was my first attempt at making bagels and i don't think i'll ever be able to BUY one again! i baked two in my dutch oven, some on a baking sheet and some on a pizza stone, just to try out the different "crusts". fresh out of the oven (after cooling for awhile) my favorite was the one from the dutch oven. i didn't have to flip the bagel mid-way through the cooking process and the outer crust was crunchy but the middle was delightfully tender & chewy. after completely cooling, i toasted one from the pizza stone batch and was delighted with the result. not quite as crunchy as the dutch oven version, but soooo good. i am a forever fan and plan to make them again tomorrow!
WOW!!!These were fantastic. I have been wanting to make bagels for a long time but thought they would be too difficult. NOT SO! Instead of kneeding by hand I threw all of the ingredients into my mixer with the paddle attachment until all of the flour was incorporated and then I switched to the dough hook for 5 min on speed 3. These came out perfectly, soft and chewy with a slightly sweet flavor. I added toppings to make mine everything flavored. My kids gobbled them up and were dissapointed to see that there were none left for seconds. Thanks so much for this post and the video is very helpful.
I LOVE this recipe. Thank you so much for sharing it with us. I've been using it almost every week for a few months now. :-) They even taste better than Bruegger's Bagels. I posted a review of the recipe (and a picture) on my blog. :-)
Do you keep the water boiling? Did anyone put sugar in the water?
You should try jalapenos in the dough. I did, and boy am I glad!
I just threw the dough in the trash and am going to look for another recipe. I followed your advice to just combine all the ingredients instead of starting the yeast in the warm water first. Then I needed to add a LOT more than 1 1/2 cups of water but by the time I'd added enough, it was like trying to work slime into a rock. the dough was SO HARD and there were all these little granules of yeast that hadn't dissolved. While cutting the dough into balls, I figured -why bother, if the yeast hasn't dissolved, they're not going to rise and with dough THIS HARD the most they'll be good for is as a weapon.
Thanks but I'm trying a different recipe. I just wasted a bag or really nice flour...
Have you ever made whole wheat bagels? Is there a way to replace some (all?) of the flour and have ithem still come out? I've never tried to bake with whole wheat... I'm kind of intimidated by it.
Hi Jessica,
Try substituting about 1/4 - 1/3 of the white flour for whole wheat flour. This relatively small amount of whole wheat does not change the way the dough rises or bakes in any significant way, and is a good place to start a foray into whole grain baking. If desired, successive attempts might include ever higher ratios of whole wheat flour, until you find the taste and texture that you're shooting for.
I hope this helps get you over your intimidation - nothing to be scared of!
I would also very highly recommend author Peter Rhinehart's newest book on whole grain breads, if that's something you're interested in.
Love your blog, by the way!
John
I have made these twice and they are really, really good. The first batch I made were some plain ones (trying to get the recipe down) and they were good. I was especially impressed by the texture.
Today I upped the ante and added ground flax seeds and dried blueberries; I also substituted melted butter for the oil. All I can say is, if I wasn't hooked before, I totally am now.
Thank you SO MUCH, not only for the recipe but the assurance that one can make delicious bagels at home! It's totally true.
Hi TrissJ,
Thanks for the comment, I love hearing from people who have just realized how easy it is to make deli-quality bagels at home, and additions and experimentation are all part of the fun!
AWESOME! who knew you could make bagels?? i definitely want to try toppings next time
Thank you so much- bagels here, not so hot :(
Thanks for sharing your recipe. I live in South Australia and will be trying your recipe as I love bagels. We have good bagels here but not as good as the ones I had in NY...
Hi. Nice, simple recipe. Worked beautifully for me. Emily Martin, did it ever occur to you, with so many people reporting success, that maybe, just maybe, the problem was on your end and not with the recipe? Just saying....
Thank you!! Great recipe. I lost my original Montreal bagel recipe and this one is just as good and easier!! Thanks again.
Grateful Canuck :)
Thanks so much for the recipe. I never use vegetable oil so I wasn't about to go out and buy some, so instead I've tried all kinds of other oils, like olive, toasted sesame, and peanut, and each has a fantastic and distinct flavor!
I've also tried using the dough recipe, but rather than rolling it into bagels, I folded a piece of sweet potato into the middle, then boiled and baked it that way. Turned out delicious!
I've been making these for a few weeks now (thank you for the great recipe!). A few things I've noticed:
-Use filtered water. You will taste the difference.-Try making 6 from a batch instead of 8. This does adjust your cooking time from 20 minutes to about 24.-When rolling for the actual bagels slightly dampen your hands (a few drops of water). It makes the dough easier to work with and join.-I use a silicone baking sheet instead of greasing the pan. Has anyone tried making cinnamon raisin yet?
This is the ONE i've been looking for....take it from a New York Jewish guy transplanted to California. Easy, fast and the bagels are the bomb!
Jerry B. Highland California
This recipe is FANTASTIC!!! Thanks so much for sharing! These turn out great every time we make them. We have added all different kinds of things, eggs, sesame seeds, jalapenos & swiss cheese & it always comes out tasting so yummy! Best bagels we've ever had!
Hi, going to try your bagel recipe tomorrow morning. I wonder if at some point, maybe after the boiling, can these bagels be frozen, and baked at a later time? Would love to have some ready for baking, at a minutes notice.
Hi Mickey,
I have never frozen the unbaked but rolled bagels, but since bread doughs freeze very well, so should rolled bagels. I think you would have better luck freezing the bagels just after you have rolled them, but before boiling. After boiling the bagels are already quite puffy and risen, and I think they would collapse during the cooling period in the freezer.
Good luck!
John
This is great John! Thanks. I'll give the recipe a try.-Journey*
This recipe is fantastic!!! I had used a different recipe before and the bagels came out small and were too sweet, but these were perfect! I actually have ended up making them everyday because my family and friends love them so much. I just have one question though. How do you get the plain bagels to look glossy on the outside like they do in the bagel shops and in the picture?
i just read through the comments to see if you've already addressed this question and i have to say i was cracking up at the people who were unsuccessful at making bagels with your recipe. it's fool proof! they must have used bad yeast or something because i've not had a single problem and i've made them at least 20 times since i found your recipe. my question is this: is there any benefit to using high gluten flour? a friend of mine uses a recipe from cook's illust. that uses high gluten flour but i've been unable to find the logic behind using that instead of regular flour. i look forward to your reply. and thanks again for posting this recipe. i love that i can make them and eat them the same day, within a couple of hours, to boot!
tiffany, i use an egg wash to make the bagels look glossy and to get the toppings to stick. doesn't change the flavor, but makes them look uber fancy!
Lovely, ihave a gallery cafe on Koh Samui, I baked the bagels this morning and they are just fantastic. I will serve them with Smoked salmon ,sourcreme, philadelphia,springonions and swedish horseradish cream on crispy salad. Sawan Sawan
Thanks a lot for the recipe
Carla,
High gluten flour only makes the bagels chewier. That's really the only benefit.
Hi Carla - Thanks for sharing your success with the egg wash and answering Tiffany's question about the glossy look.
Stephanie is exactly right in saying higher gluten flours will give the bagels a little extra chewyness - but if you're using a reasonably strong all-purpose flour - the difference is not all that great between them.
They're in the oven now!! Thank you so much for the awesome recipe! I substituted a tiny bit of raw wheat germ (maybe 3 tbsp) for some of the flour, and added about 2 tbsp of fiber powder. I did cheat a tiny bit and use my kitchenaid mixer with the dough hook for initial kneading, and instead of rolling to get circles I punched a hole in the middle of the little dough balls and shaped out an inner hole that way - I'll post results shortly!! :) I chose your recipe because you said you owned a bagel shop, and the ingredient list was pretty simple!
Forgot to add - I also added about 2 -3 tsp of wheat gluten because I only had regular flour on hand :)
The verdict is in - they're DELICIOUS!! The crust is nice and crunchy, and the inside is tender and chewy! The only thing is - we couldn't wait 20 minutes LOL!!! :) Thanks so much for the awesome recipe! :) Amy
Thanks, Carla! I will try it out on the next batch.
We used your recipe to make bagels for the first time. They turned out great. Thank you.
Sir, I salute you. I attempted the recipe as a bit of a sideline while baking regular loaves. They turned out a real treat (although I'll aim for a chewier texture next time - guess I need to boil them for longer). I was using dried yeast, not the instant stuff, and followed instructions for regular bread. I suspect a little less would produce better results if (like me) you like your bagels DENSE.
It was my first attempt making bagels, and my first attempt translating US cups into European weight measures. I'm pretty sure my maths will have been off, so it is a real testament to the robust nature of the recipe and instructions that something edible came out of my oven!
Made these bagels, and they tasted great! I live in Cairo, so I so miss bagels!!!!!! One question, how do i get the color to be that light golden color.... not just the bottoms... my bottoms of my bagels are golden while the part in between is white... but they are cooked?!
Hi Dina,
I wouldn't worry about the difference in color. You can add an egg wash prior to baking if the color is important to you, but I rthink the bagels are better without the wash. Bagels cooked in heavier masonry type ovens will also develop better and more uniform coloring...so could always build yourself a brick wood fired oven too!!!(lol)
I am confused because another recipe which makes about the same amount of bagels says to add two tablespoons of dry yeast. (As opposed to two teaspoons instant yeast) I am wondering why the amount of yeast is so varied?
OMG!!! These are terrific and soooo easy! We live in Wyoming and tough to get great bagels! I'll never buy bagels again! Thanks so much!! (I mixed 2 cups whole wheat four and 2 cups white...it worked great!!) My children love them!! Thanks so much!!
Moved to the great rainy state of Washington about eleven months ago from Jersey and thought I would never regret the move or miss anything about the east coast... WRONG. Can't find a decent pizza, cheese steak, Itialian sub OR BAGEL. Made this recipe last night and ate two right away and here it it is 5:30 in the A.M. and I couldn't sleep because they were calling me from the kitchen and making a hell of a racket. GREAT recipe, going to try a few variations as well, garlic, onion, sesame ...
I made these with organic whole wheat flour for my kids and topped with Tillamook cheese from Oregon. They were soooo yummy, thanks a whole bunch! Great toddler food!
John, you've made my day! It's my first time ever making bagels, and they turned out perfect! We moved from Cincinnati to Shanghai about 2 years ago, and one of the things we miss is a good bagel. Most of the "bagels" here are more like a roll. Once at a cafe I paid USD 6.00 for a very mediocre bagel (I was told the bagels came from Beijing because they can't find a good bagel here in Shanghai) with a stingy amount of cream cheese! Thank you for sharing your recipe with clear & detailed instructions, and encouraging words. I'll be making them often.
DrewO, I did these as cinnamon raisin. I substituted 3 tablespoons of cinnamon for 3 tablespoons of the flour, and I added a handful of raisins. I actually added the raisins after everything else was mixed together, but I would not do it that way again. Next time I would add the raisins with all the other ingredients; the way I did it the first time left a lot of the raisins on the outside of the bagel, and some of them burned in the oven.
Otherwise, I love this recipe! Easy, and easily adaptable.
Made these last nights. Should say that I am from NY, so am very picky about my bagels. bagels came out a little bit chewier and denser than i'd like, and didn't seem to rise nearly as much as the ones in the photo. Did I over knead the dough? Not enough water? Any thoughts?
Hi Cgrimm
At a guess, I'd say your yeast wasn't working very well. Maybe try it again with some newly bought instant yeast and see how you make out.
Best of luck,
John
I'm gonna try the bagels John. I've tried my own a couple of times with very limited success. My problem has always been after I roll the bagel and let set for 20 minutes. I get ready to pick up to put in water and the darn thing deflates. It rises a little in the water but not like the ones in the deli. Guess it just takes a little practice. Thanks for the recipe John.
Bob-O
I cant wait to try these, i relocated to the south from new england, and theres nothing like a "northern" bagel, do i need to change the recipe at all to make cranberry orange ones, or just add them in? and does just doubling the recipe work to make more or is there a different recipe?
Thank you so much!!
mallory
Bob-O, I hope these work for you. You don't want to let them rise completely after rolling, then they will deflate in the water, just let them get a little bit puffy before throwing them in the pot. If your room is really hot, this might not even take 20 minutes, but in most situations, 20 mins is about right. I also wait 20 minutes from the 1st one I rolled, not the last one! and then just start boiling in the same order.
Good luck!
Mallory, you can multiply the recipe as necessary, no problem at all
To make cranberry bagels, just add in the cranberries with the flour - no other changes are necessary.
Good luck and have fun!
This was a great recipe! My 11 y.o. daughter made these by herself with great success! She added homemade olive cream cheese when she served them. Delicious!
Thank you for making your recipe available to us and for keeping this forum. It was helpful to read every one's posts and your responses to them. I just made my first bagels ever. It wasn't hard and I can't wait to eat them... unfortunately I have to wait till my company gets here. I split my dough and did half of it as small cinnamon and raisin bagels (6) with cinnamon and sugar topping and the other half larger plain bagels with toppings (4) of either sesame or poppy seeds. I liked the size of the smaller ones best, but then again, I like things to be part of my meal rather than an entire meal. Thanks again.
Just tried this recipe again and enjoyed the results. For some reason they seem not to stay fresh as long as the bagel shop's. Maybe I should get my hands on some industrial strength preservatives.
looking forward to trying this! how do i make the everything topping or do i buy it already made to to my bagel?
The everything topping can be made using whatever you have on hand. Typically, it includes a mixture of sesame, poppy, caraway, large kosher salt, garlic and onion - and whatever else you happen to like. Just mix it all together on a plate and press each bagel down on one side into the seed mixture after the boiling but before the baking.
I made these this morning and they were exactly like bagels from my favorite bagel shop on Long Island. I live in Dallas now and will no longer eat Einstein bagels when I am craving bagels - this was so easy. I split the dough in half after kneeding and added chocolate chips for my kids and husband into half and left the rest plain, although I dipped one in a mix of poppy, onion, sesame, garlic and salt like I love. I used AP flour and cooked them on my grill pizza stone on a gas grill with a little cornmeal under them and they came out perfect. I didn't have to flip them over and they cooked in about 20 minutes on the medium setting.
Why do you have to flip them over? Does it change anything in how the bagel is cooked?
Thank you so much for the recipe!! I live in Thailand- hard to get good bagels. I made them this morning and was surprised how easy and fun they were to make!! The only change I made was adding a Tblsp. of soda to the boiling water- they were wondefully crispy on the outside and chewy/dense inside. SO YUMMY! Kids and husband all loved them. The only problem I had was they stuck to the tray a bit during baking, so I'll oil the tray more next time. Thank you for a wonderful recipe- I will be making these often!
Wow, I can't believe how easy this was! I live in New Zealand and am sure I have never eaten a "real" bagel before! Only problem I had, mine sunk to the bottom of the boiling water, and stayed there....lol, they still taste beautiful, but hoow do you get them to float? Did I not let them rest long enough?
Thanks so much for the recipe and the posts, so great! Going to try making sour dough (again!) following your instructions!
Leisha
since you were former bagel shop man, we thought, it was worth trying your recipe--since it made money for you! and as a business man, we figured you'd cut out any unnecessary extra steps--what we were looking for. our first attempt at bagel making was after we moved to Japan and missed our American bagel breakfasts. but that attempt discouraged us for the next 7 years from even trying again. it seemed like a delicate art that seemed mysterious since we didn't know what part of the many steps we went wrong on. now, i know that our dough was just overproofed--when i tried to move the beautifully risen bagel shapes for the hot water bath after what seemed to me a lot of work (i had not been accustomed to breadmaking then) they collapsed even before they hit water! well, we tried your version today and they came out BEAUTIFULLY, ENOUGH TO SELL!. i usually search for the best recipe of anything we like and once i'm satisfied, i stop looking. i've stopped looking here! it is a KEEPER! i like that you have a set amount of flour, instead of add a little more until it feels right--but how would a novice know what it is supposed to feel like if one has never felt it before! your instruction was clear (somewhere--either in the recipe or in a comment) on what to look for in the dough formation--to add the first amount of water and then add some of the additional amount if you find that it is too dry where all of the ingredients are not able to be incorporated. that helped me know what to look for. we did need the extra water but i was able to add it confidently. thank you for apprenticing us!!!
our variations - we doubled the recipe and used a Bosch Universal mixer. once all of the ingredients were added, mixed on speed 1 for 5 minutes. for the boiling water bath, we added 1 T baking soda since so many recipes call for this and many on this site commented to add this. for the baking portion, we used cornmeal instead of oil since we love that cornmeal texture/taste as in bagel shops and didn't need to grease up the pan. we keep home milled cornmeal in the freezer for such occasions (regular store bought would do fine). we also didn't flip the bagels--we wanted to see if we could cut out that extra bit of work. they came out beautifully still! we did rotate the trays halfway and switched their position in the oven for even browning. we baked it at 250C or 480F for 22 minutes. one tray seemed ready a minute or two earlier than the 22 minutes.
can you give some amounts for additions to try in the bagel recipe? e.g. blueberry bagels, wheat bagels, spinach bagels, etc. i'm assuming you just add it to the dough ingredients that you begin with or do you knead it in once the dougn is formed?
thanks! i'll have to facebook recommend your hub to my friends!
My 5 year old and I made these and they were great the very first time! I'm wondering if anyone has thoughts about using barley malt syrup, either in the dough or the boiling water or both.
Thanks very much for all the comments,
Adam,
I found that not flipping them over led to over browning on the bottom side. Some people have commented that they baked this recipe successfully without flipping, so you can try it either way.
Candice,
Glad I could help - I live in Thailand too! The baking soda is a good trick.
Lesiha,
It sounds like your bagels that sunk had not risen long enough. Once bagels rise a bit they get filled with air pockets and will float. Good luck with the sourdough!
Hi Kyong A.
Thanks very much for the kind words and I am glad you had success. You know, I have never made blueberry bagels! Blueberries aren't really sold where I happen to live, but i did a quick search for you and it seems that most people use dried berries, and add them in to the dried ingredients. This is how I add the rasins for cinnamon raisin bagels. Try between 1/4 cup and 1/2 cup of berries and see how that treats you. Good luck!
Chrisinical,
I have made these using barley malt syrup added to the dough. It does change the taste and color (a bit nuttier and browner), but in the end I decided I liked the bagels better without it. It's worth a try to see what you think. Best of luck.
Great recipe! I'm making my second batch of the day. Much easier than I expected. Now I just need to try different flavors.
Oh My Word!!! I have never made bagels in my life. All I can say is WOW!! I like one of the other readers, used my trusty ole kitchenaide (due to carpal tunnel). All I can say is John I dont think ill EVER buy another store bought bagel!! Mine also sunk to the bottom, but after a few secs, they came right to the top. I added some garlic to mine, dehydrated. Wish I had put more in!! John thank you very much for sharing this really easy, and fool proof recipe.
!!!Thank you John!!!!! This is really fail proof recipe like everyone else says! I had some leftover blueberries and thought, maybe some blueberry bagels? I was really nervous, especially of the fact that I was adding blueberries into a recipe I didn't even try out before! But I just ended up needing more flour and everything turned out beautifully. Thank you thank you!! Next time, I make plain bagels. :)
WOW! I just made my first batch of bagels and they are delicious. The recipe is very simple. Thanks so much!
Zsuzsy Bee says:
17 months ago
great HUB! I used to make bagels years ago at the Bakery that I worked at. Our recipe had whole wheat and rye flour in it too. I will try your recipe next just for a change. Thanks
regards Zsuzsy