Have you ever wondered how to make bagels? Making bagels at home can seem intimidating to the everyday home baker. With this easy seven-ingredient recipe, you too can create the perfect bagel at home. This recipe will leave you with a classic New York City-style bagel that is considered one of the best in the market! Having the classic New York City-style bagel, you will have a crunchy outside and a soft and chewy inside. After you learn how to make bagels at home, it will leave you wanting the homemade recipe over the store-bought bagel. To add to the homemade bagel at home, you can add different toppings to your bagels for more creative finishes.
Inside this blog you can find:
Ingredients For Making The Bagels
- Flour- First you will need flour in order to form the dough for the bagels. This can be either All-Purpose flour or Bread Flour. These two types of flour will have the best outcome when it comes to making the bagels. Other types of flour can also be used in this recipe. More information about different flour types can be found here.
- Active Dry Yeast– This is an important ingredient to have when making the dough. The yeast will the dough to form and rise which will give you the chewy/airy inside of the bagel. Learn how to activate yeast here.
- Sea Salt– The sea salt will add flavor to the dough and the bagel at the end of the baking process.
- Granulated Sugar– The granulated sugar will help activate the yeast in the dough and add a sweetened flavor to the overall finished product.
- Water– Ideally you want water that is lukewarm. This helps with binding the dough and activating the yeast as well. Having lukewarm water will give you a smooth dough that is also elastic that allows you to work the dough for to form a chewy/airy inside and shape the dough before you boil it.
- Malt Syrup– The malt syrup is used to create a solution that you use to boil the dough during the cooking process.
- Oil– The oil will help with smoothing the dough and combining all of the ingredients together.
How to Form the Bagel Dough
After you gather the ingredients, you will want to combine the wet and dry ingredients. These ingredients are the basis you will need to make bagels. This allows the yeast to activate before adding it to the flour, and it will help form a better dough. First, take 1/2oz of the active dry yeast and add it to 8oz of 90°F water. This will allow for the yeast to form and soften. Once the yeast is ready, add it to 1lb of the Flour of your choosing. After mixing the flour and yeast, add 1/4oz of Salt, 3/4tsp Oil, and 1/4oz of Granulated Sugar. After forming the dough into a ball, please place it in a bowl to rest for 2 hours at room temperature. Now you learned how to make the dough for the bagel!
Forming The Bagel Shape
Now that the dough has rested for 2 hours, you are ready to start forming the bagels. Take a scale and start breaking the dough ball up into 2oz. After creating the 2oz dough balls, let them rest for ten minutes before assembling the bagel’s shape. The next step in making that iconic bagel look is to take each dough ball and press your thumb into the middle. Then start to shape the dough with your fingers creating the round shape with the center hole. Now that the basic bagel shape is formed, let the dough rest again on a sheet tray for five minutes before the cooking process. This is how you make bagel dough at home quick and easy!
How To Cook The Bagels
Take a large pot of water and bring it to a boil. Once boiling, you will want to add the malt syrup and a pinch of salt to the water. Once the water and malt syrup are mixed thoroughly, and the water is boiling, you can start adding your dough to the pot. Let the dough cook in the boiling water for one minute, and then remove it with a spoon (preferably with holes). Once the dough is removed from the boiling water, place it on a sheet pan. You will repeat this process until all the bagels have been cooked for one minute. After cooking the bagels in the boiling water, you will place the sheet pan in an oven at 425°F for 20-25 minutes or golden brown.
A Creative Extra Step In Making Bagels
Another step you can add to this process is before you place the bagels in the oven to bake you can add different toppings to your bagels. These toppings can be anything you prefer such as everything seasoning, salt, poppyseeds, freshly minced garlic, onions, and shallots. These are all options that you can add while making bagels at home, this will add a little creativity and different types of flavors for when you learn how to make bagels at home.
The Final Step In Making Bagels At Home
Now that the bagels have finished baking and are golden brown, you can take them out of the oven. Once you take them out of the range, let them rest for a couple of minutes before using them. This will allow the bagel to cool down and settle and form that perfect outside crunch with the soft/chewy inside. Finally, now that you know how to make bagels, you can use them in various ways. These bagels are great to use during breakfast and even lunch! You can use spreads and schmears such as cream cheese, peanut butter, and jelly, and they are even great with plain old fashion butter! Another breakfast delight that these bagels would be perfect for is a true New York City staple- a bacon egg and cheese sandwich. You can also make any typical lunch sandwich using these bagels! It adds an extra component that would take the typical sandwich above and beyond. Now that you learned how to make bagels at home you can make these for friends and family and everyone in between!
Frequently Asked Questions about Making Bagels
Why do you boil bagels?
Boiling the bagel will allow for a crust to form before you bake the bagel dough in the oven. This will also allow for the dough to rise more during the baking process.
Do bagels need an egg wash?
If you want to add toppings to your bagels, such as an everything bagel topping or a salt topping, you will need to add the egg wash after you boil the bagel to ensure the toppings stick during the baking process.
Are bagels baked or boiled?
In order to make a bagel, you will need to boil and bake the dough. First, you will boil the dough and then bake it in the following step.
