Homemade Bagels Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction (2024)

This easy homemade bagels recipe proves that you can make deliciously chewy bagels in your own kitchen with only a few basic ingredients and baking tools!

Homemade Bagels Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction (1)

Today I’m teaching you how to make homemade bagels with only a few basic ingredients and kitchen tools. Today you’re going to tackle any fears of yeast and bread baking—and I’m right here to guide you along!

Homemade Bagels Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction (2)

Bagels, crème brûlée, soft pretzels, and French macarons. What do these foods have in common? Each seem really complicated to make at home. That’s why you’ll often find them on your baking bucket list. But secretly, they couldn’t be easier. Homemade bagels taste fresher, are cheaper, and you’ll earn the bragging rights for from-scratch baking. (PS: Each of those recipes has a video tutorial!)

Bagels Require a Lean Dough

The 1st step is to make the bagel dough. This is the same dough you use for everything bagels, a recipe already published on my blog.There’s only 5 ingredients.

  • Warm Water: Liquid for the dough.
  • Yeast: Allows the dough to rise. I recommend an instant or active dry yeast.
  • Bread Flour: A high protein flour is necessary for bagels. We want a dense and chewy texture, not soft and airy like cinnamon rolls. Bread flour is the only solution!
  • Brown Sugar: Bakeries use barley malt syrup to sweeten the bagel dough—it can be a little difficult to find, but brown sugar is a fine substitute.
  • Salt: Flavor.

Notice how there is no fat? This is called a lean dough. Lean dough is ideal for recipes like focaccia, pizza dough, artisan bread, and no knead bread. Breads like dinner rolls and homemade breadsticks, and sweet bread, such as cinnamon rolls, include fat for richness and flavor.

Homemade Bagels Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction (3)

You can prepare and knead the dough with a mixer or by hand. If you’d like a visual of how to knead the dough by hand, you can watch the full video tutorial in my post on How To Knead Dough. After the dough has been kneaded, let it rise for 60-90 minutes. Punch it down, then divide into 8 sections and shape into bagels.

How to Shape Bagels

Shaping bagels is easier than it looks. Poke your finger through the center of the ball of dough, then use 2 fingers to widen the hole to about 1.5 – 2 inches. That’s it! I don’t really do anything fancy and the bagels don’t need to be perfect. Mine never are!

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Bagel Water Bath

Bagels must cook for 1 minute on each side in a pot of boiling water. This is actually the most important step in the whole recipe. Why?

  1. Boiling the bagels gives the bagel its beautiful shine. But looks aren’t everything—this shine is actually a result of the dough’s starches gelatinizing which creates a crisp, shiny coating. I learned this fromCooks Illustrated.
  2. Boiling bagels cooks the outer layer of dough, which guarantees they’ll hold their shape in the oven.

Add honey or barley malt syrup to the water bath. Why? The sugar adds extra caramelization and crisp. Brushing the boiled bagels with egg wash does the same. Don’t skip either!

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Homemade Bagel Varieties

  1. Plain Bagels: Follow the recipe below. These are excellent as the base for breakfast casserole.
  2. Cinnamon Raisin Bagels: Follow my cinnamon raisin bagels recipe.
  3. Everything Bagels: Follow my everything bagels recipe.
  4. Sesame Seed Bagels:Use 1/3 cup sesame seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping.Use more as needed.
  5. Poppy Seed Bagels:Use 1/3 cup poppy seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. Use more as needed.
  6. Salt Bagels:Use 1/3 cup coarse salt. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. These are pretty salty, so feel free to go lighter on the salt.
  7. Cheese Bagels (Asiago, Cheddar, etc): Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese to the dough when you add the flour. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, sprinkle with extra cheese.
  8. Cinnamon Crunch Bagels: Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough recipe below when you add the salt. Double the cinnamon crunch topping from cinnamon crunch bread. After brushing the bagels with the egg wash in step 9 below, spoon cinnamon crunch topping on each.

Some readers have used this bagel recipe to make whole wheat bagels by replacing half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but I do use some whole wheat flour when making homemade English muffins, another breakfast staple!

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Homemade Bagels Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction (7)

See Your Homemade Bagels!

Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂

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Homemade Bagels Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction (43)

Homemade Bagels Recipe

5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star4.9 from 598 reviews

  • Author: Sally
  • Prep Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
  • Cook Time: 25 minutes
  • Total Time: 3 hours
  • Yield: 8 bagels
  • Category: Bread
  • Method: Baking
  • Cuisine: American
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Description

Make fresh bagels right at home with this tested dough recipe. Don’t skip the water bath and egg wash—both provide an extra chewy and golden brown crust.

Ingredients

  • 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml)warm water(between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
  • 2 and 3/4 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast*
  • 4 cups (520g) bread flour (), plus more for work surface and hands*
  • 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar or packed light or dark brown sugar (orbarley malt syrup)*
  • 2 teaspoons salt
  • coating the bowl: nonstick spray or 2 teaspoons olive oil
  • egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water

For Boiling

  • 2 quarts water
  • 1/4 cup (60g)honey (or barley malt syrup)*

Instructions

  1. Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm water and yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *If you don’t have a stand mixer,simply use a large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in the next step.
  2. Add the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. The dough is very stiff and will look somewhat dry.
  3. Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 6-7 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 6-7 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Doughvideo tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
  4. Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperaturefor 60-90 minutes or until double in size.
  5. Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
  6. Shape the bagels: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it—doesn’t need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a ball. Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole about 1.5 – 2 inches in diameter. Watch video below for a visual. Loosely cover the shaped bagels with kitchen towel and rest for a few minutes as you prepare the water bath.
  7. Preheat oven to425°F (218°C).
  8. Water bath:Fill a large, wide pot with 2 quarts of water. Whisk inthe honey. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-high. Dropbagels in, 2-4 at a time, making sure they have enough room to float around. Cook the bagelsfor 1minute on each side.
  9. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top and around the sides of each bagel. Place 4bagels onto each lined baking sheet.
  10. Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. You want the bagels to be a dark golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow bagels to cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
  11. Slice, toast, top, whatever you want!Cover leftover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.

Notes

  1. Overnight Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 4, but allow the dough to rise overnight in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature for 60-90 minutes. The slow rise gives the bagels wonderful flavor! In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let the dough rise for 45 minutes at room temperature. Continue with step 5. I don’t recommend shaping the bagels the night before as they may puff up too much overnight.
  2. Freezing Make Ahead Instructions:Baked bagels freeze wonderfully! Freeze them for up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then warm to your liking. You can also freeze the bagel dough. After punching down the dough in step 6, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then punch the dough down again to release any air bubbles. Continue with the rest of step 6.
  3. Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer | Baking Sheets | Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats | Large Pot (such as a large 5.5 quart dutch oven) | Pastry Brush
  4. Yeast: Use instant or active dry yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise time may be up to 2 hours. 1 standard packet is about 2 and 1/4 teaspoons, so you will need a little more than 1 packet of yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
  5. Bread Flour:Bagels require a high protein flour. Bread flour is a must. Here are all my recipes using bread flour if you want more recipes to use it up. All-purpose flour can be used in a pinch, but the bagels will taste flimsy and won’t be nearly as chewy.
  6. Barley Malt Syrup:This ingredient can be a little hard to find, but truly gives bagels that traditional malty flavor we all know and love. Most natural food stores carry it. I offer alternatives such as brown sugar in the dough and honey in the water bath; I’ve made bagels with these alternatives AND with barley malt syrup and honestly love both versions.
  7. Bread Machine:Place the dough ingredients into the pan of the machine. Program the machine to dough or manual, then start. After 9-10 minutes, the dough will be quite stiff. Allow the machine to complete its cycle, then continue with the recipe.
  8. Bagel Varieties: See blog post above for various add-ins and toppings. Note that the toppings are added after the egg wash in step 9. Some readers have used this bagel recipe to make whole wheat bagels by replacing half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but let me know if you do!
  9. Halve or Double: You can halve this dough recipe by simply halving all of the dough ingredients (do not halve the water or honey for the boiling step). No changes to the recipe instructions. For best taste and texture and to not overwhelm your mixer with excess heavy dough, I do not recommend doubling this dough recipe. Instead, make separate batches of dough.
  10. Adapted from a mix of recipes I’ve tried: King Arthur Flour,Cook’s Illustrated, andComplete Book of Breads
Homemade Bagels Recipe - Sally's Baking Addiction (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making bagels? ›

10 Tips for Making Schmear-Worthy Homemade Bagels
  • Moisture: Wetter dough means crispier bagels. ...
  • Water temp: The colder the better. ...
  • Dry active yeast: Let it chill. ...
  • Flour: Embrace the gluten. ...
  • Mixing: Low and slow is the way to go. ...
  • The rise: Your kitchen climate is A-okay. ...
  • Flavor kick: After the proof.
Jan 13, 2023

Is baking soda or baking powder better for bagels? ›

To make bagels properly you need to give them a bath. Make sure you use only baking soda and not baking powder. The baking soda helps the bagels form that beautiful golden crust and give them the distinct bagels taste.

Is it cheaper to make your own bagels? ›

Is it cheaper to make your own bagels? Yes! It is so much cheaper to make your own breads at home, especially bagels! The ingredients (flour, water, yeast, sugar, honey, and eggs) are pretty cheap to buy compared to the price of premade bagels.

Are homemade bagels healthier than store bought? ›

If you've never made bagels before, you're reeeeeaally missing out. Homemade bagels are a bajillion times better than the store bought kind, are WAY healthier for you (no dough conditioners, preservatives, etc.), and even cost less. Yep, that's right—they cost less!

What kind of flour is best for bagels? ›

Bread flour – Because of its high protein content, bread flour makes these homemade bagels delightfully chewy. This recipe also works with all-purpose flour, they're just a bit less chewy than bagels made with bread flour. Maple syrup – It activates the yeast and gives the bagels a hint of sweetness.

Why are my homemade bagels tough? ›

Moreira: Usually if you get dense bagels, it's because they were underproofed. But it could also be that your yeast is bad. When you're at home using dry yeast—especially if you don't use it that often—you should always bloom the yeast in a little bit of sugar and water to make sure it's active.

What happens if you don't boil bagels before baking? ›

No boil is No bagel

This prevents the bagel from expanding as much in the oven, making for a firmer, tighter product. It stops the proofing process. Boiling also gelatinizes the starch in the flour. During gelatinization starches absorb water, swell and release starches in the water.

What is a substitute for yeast in bagels? ›

Baking Soda, Milk and Vinegar

Vinegar, milk and baking soda mixed together helps the bread rise. Use one teaspoon of baking soda, half a teaspoon of vinegar and half a teaspoon of milk to replace two teaspoons of yeast. Lighter batters may have a slightly different texture, but you will still get a rise from the dough.

What makes New York bagels so much better? ›

NYC bagel purists will claim the main difference between a New York bagel vs. a regular bagel is the water you boil them in. Much like a specific vineyard terroir is used to make a wine, certain minerals in New York City tap water are attributed to creating the best bagels.

How long do homemade bagels last? ›

Fresh bagels are best eaten on the same day they're baked. When stored at room temperature in a paper bag, fresh bagels can last for about two to three days. Fresh bagels can last for about three to four months when stored in the freezer, and thawed in a toaster.

Why are bagels more unhealthy than bread? ›

First, bagels can have more calories and carbs than bread because the serving size tends to be higher. However, this does not inherently make bagels less healthy, it just means when you eat a bagel you need to pay attention to how much you're eating and what you're pairing with it.

Is it OK to eat a bagel everyday? ›

"The portion size of most packaged bagels is equal to just over three slices of bread. Enjoying a bagel every morning is fine if you watch your portion size. Consider eating half a bagel one day and the other half the next day," says Laura M. Ali, M.S., RDN, a culinary nutritionist in Pittsburgh.

Are frozen bagels as good as fresh? ›

Now, when it comes time to eat them, you can easily unwrap the two bagel halves and put them directly in the toaster, still frozen. The result will be as good as if they were freshly baked, and — thanks to my mom and her Magic Slice — maybe even better.

What is the healthiest thing to put on a bagel? ›

2 Tablespoons of egg salad gives you just 55 calories and 3.6 grams of fat, and yields 3 grams of protein, making it a good low calories choice. 2 Tablespoons of peanut butter is a clear winner, with a whopping 8 grams of protein that offset the 198 calories and the 16 grams of healthier than butter fats.

What makes New York style bagels different? ›

A New York–style bagel is always boiled in water that has had barley malt added, which gives a bagel its signature taste, texture, and leathery skin.

How do you make homemade bagels less dense? ›

If you want a thinner crust and airier texture in your bagels, shorten the boiling time slightly (around 45 seconds, instead of the 60 seconds called for in the recipe). The shorter boil means the crust has less opportunity to preset, which allows more rising, and thus a “fluffier” bagel.

What makes a great bagel? ›

There are five main elements that go into the the texture, flavor, and appearance of a great bagel: Hydration (the amount of water the dough contains) Flour protein content (this dictates the amount of gluten in the dough) Shaping (determines how structured that gluten is)

Why are my bagels not fluffy? ›

Over proofed dough will lose its strength too early and cause the bagels to deflate either during the second rise or while cooking. To correct this, try to find a warm, — not hot — spot to rise your dough.

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