Name: Homemade Bagels Recipe
Prep time: 2 h 30 min
Cook time: 30 min
Total time: 3 h
Cuisine: New York
Ingredients: 2-1/4 teaspoons instant yeast (2-3/4 teaspoons active dry yeast can be substituted); 1-1/2 cups lukewarm water; 2-1/4 teaspoons kosher salt; 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar; 530 grams bread flour (or 4 cups, weight is more reliable if you have a scale); all purpose flour can be substituted; Canola oil for greasing the rising bowl; Your choice of toppings (sesame seeds, poppy seeds, grated parmesan or asiago cheese and garlic, dried rosemary and sea salt, "everything bagel" mix, etc.); 1 egg white if you are using sesame seeds; 1/2 teaspoon barley malt syrup (honey can be substituted)

Jump to Recipe

Hi everyone - this is Eddie, Lisa's husband, with a guest appearance here on Panning the Globe to share my recipe for homemade bagels, which Lisa has described as 'the best bagels ever!'

It's so rewarding to make delicious, chewy, New York style homemade bagels. And once you try one of these freshly baked bagels out of your own oven, you may never go back to the bakery!

I have always loved and admired a well made bagel - crisp on the outside with a variety of seasonings, soft and chewy on the inside, toasted with butter or with cream cheese and smoked salmon - so simple and delicious! Honestly, I could eat them every morning.

HOMEMADE BAGELS

Baking bread is one of my specialties, from olive bread to bialys to bagels, and over the past few years, I have officially become addicted to making homemade bagels.

It has become bi-weekly routine for me, and in addition to producing bagels better than I can buy in any store or bakery, I find the whole process to be extremely rewarding and spiritually nourishing.

Homemade bagels are also great as gifts if you find yourself making too many, as I often do.

8 bagels lined up on a cooling rack, 2 poppy, 2 everything, 2 sesame and 2 parmesan garlic

This bagel recipe incorporates what I have learned from many different sources over the years. After considerable experimentation with ingredients, proportions and timings, I feel I can finally put forward this recipe with confidence in consistently excellent results.

an asiago cheese bagel on a white surface

As an interesting point of confirmation, Lisa and I recently visited Russ & Daughters, an iconic New York "appetizing shop" that dates back to 1914. After sampling fantastic bagels there, on the lower East Side of Manhattan, we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge to the Brooklyn Navy yard location which is their production facility.

We spoke there with the Director of Operations, Rebecca Zauss who was very generous with her time, about Russ & Daughters' bagel making method. One specific question I had was how long the bagels were boiled before baking. The recipe I developed has a boil time, at a total of four minutes, that is double or more what most online recipes recommend. Rebecca responded that their boil time isn't very long at all (at this point my heart sank for a second), then she said "maybe four to five minutes". I felt such vindication!

BAGEL VARIETIES

I have used a number of traditional toppings in my bagel making journey and have come up with some of my own. Once when I ran out of the toppings I had on hand, I grated some parmesan cheese and mixed it in with granulated garlic (pictured below) - this became Lisa's favorite bagel (she asked me at one point why I would bother making any other kind!)

Though these parmesan garlic bagels are absolutely delicious (and the only ones Lisa ever wants), there are a variety of other bagels that I also love. Here is a non exhaustive list:

Poppy seed bagels - a classic
Sesame seed bagels - (white or black sesame seeds or both) - note, these require that you first brush on egg white or they will all fall off
Everything bagels - you can buy everything bagel mix off the shelf - Trader Joe's has a nice version
Asiago bagels - make these with fresh grated asiago cheese - so much flavor!
Parmesan garlic bagels - topped with freshly grated parmesan cheese combined with granulated garlic (garlic powder can be substituted) - Lisa's favorite
Dried rosemary and sea salt bagels (pictured below) - my personal favorite
Any combination of the above.

HOW TO MAKE HOMEMADE BAGELS

Making bagels is very similar to most other bread making processes except for one, somewhat jarring step: boiling the dough.

Here's the bagel making process in a nutshell: mix together flour, yeast, salt and water along with some brown sugar, form this combination into a dough, let it rise, divide it into eight equal pieces, shape into bagels, boil them, add toppings, and bake.

The whole process takes about three hours from start to finish, the majority of which is a combination of rise and bake time. I'll walk through the steps here with pictures and then provide the more detailed recipe below.

Step one - Make the dough

Here's what you need to make bagel dough

Instant dry yeast
Lukewarm water
Kosher salt or fine sea salt
Bread flour
Brown sugar

Combine the dough ingredients in a stand mixer or large bowl (see recipe card below for exact amounts)

adding flour to wet ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer

Time-saving tip: Many recipes for bagels and other bread forms will begin by having you "proof" the yeast by mixing it with warm water and letting it sit for long enough to form bubbles to show it's active. I am going to let you in on a secret - I haven't proofed my yeast (either active dry or instant) for over 15 years and have never had a dough fail to rise. Today's store-bought yeast is very reliable (I tend to use Fleischmann's or Red Star) so as long as your yeast isn't expired, my advice is just mix it all in and save yourself the time.

Step two - Form the dough

If you have a stand mixer with a dough hook, use it to form the dough, starting on a low speed and gradually moving to a medium-high speed, mixing for about 8 minutes total, and adding more flour if necessary. The goal is to create a dough that is smooth and tacky, but not sticking to your fingers.

If you don't have a stand mixer or prefer kneading by hand, fully combine the ingredients in a large bowl with a wooden spoon and then turn out onto a lightly floured surface and knead firmly for 8-10 minutes until the dough is smooth and tacky.

forming bagel dough in a stand mixer and then hands removing it from the dough hook

Step three - Let the dough rise

Pat the dough into a ball and place it into a large lightly-greased bowl (canola or olive oil is fine). Roll it around in the oil to coat, and leave it for about an hour and forty-five minutes until the dough is about double in size.

forming dough into a big ball, the dough ball in a large oiled bowl

Step four - Divide the dough and roll it into balls

Using a dough scraper or large knife on an un-floured surface, divide the dough into approximately 8 equal size pieces, tucking the pieces under a clean dish towel as you go. I use a scale for this but you can also just eyeball it.

dividing bagel dough with a dough scraper and weighing a piece on a kitchen scale.

To roll the dough into balls, take each piece, set it on an unfloured surface, pull its edges up and over into the center, then flip it over (so it's folded-side-down) and with a cupped hand roll in a circular motion until a ball is formed.

Preparing to make dough balls by folding dough in and pinching it together.

Place the dough balls on a parchment-lined baking sheet and let them sit for ten minutes while you get water boiling in a large pot (16-quart or the biggest pot you have), and preheat the oven to 425ºF/220ºC.

8 balls of dough on a parchment lined rimmed baking sheet

Step five - Shape the bagels

Some recipes will have you roll the balls out into strands and then form circles and join the ends. I prefer the simpler approach of just pushing my thumbs through the center of the ball and slowly expanding the hole with two or three fingers on each hand to form the bagel.

Let the bagels rise for 5-10 minutes in their bagel form on the parchment paper. By that time, the water should be fully boiling.

shaping a ball of dough into the shape of a bagel with a parchment lined baking pan in the background

Step six - Boil the bagels

Add half a teaspoon of barley malt syrup (honey makes a good substitute) to the fully boiling pot of water. Then four at a time (or however many fit in your pot without being crowded against the sides) boil the bagels for 2 minutes per side.

Note - this is longer than most recipes will tell you, but after considerable testing I am convinced it is right for the perfect chew.

As you flip them over after the first two minutes, flip them towards each other versus against the side of the pot where they can sometimes stick.

adding a teaspoon of malt syrup to a pot of boiling water, then 4 pieces of bagel-shaped dough boiling in the pot

After two more minutes, remove the bagels and place them onto a clean flat surface.

Step 7 - Add the toppings

After about 30 seconds out of the boiling water, while the bagels still have a little stickiness to them (you can absorb excess water on the bottom if needed with a paper towel), press into your choice of toppings.

I have provided some ideas above for toppings. If you are using sesame seeds, brush with an egg white first - the rest of these toppings will adhere nicely to the bagel with no need for this step.

dipping boiled bagels into everything bagel mix and rosemary-sea-salt mix, to coat them.

Place bagels onto two parchment-lined sheet pans.

Tip: Add the toppings to your first batch of bagels before putting the second batch in to boil. I find it is too difficult to keep track of both topping the bagels and timing their boil simultaneously.

Step 8 - Bake

Bake the bagels for 23-24 minutes at 425 degrees - or until golden brown on both sides. Set a timer initially for 12 minutes, then swap positions of the pans in the oven and bake for an additional 11-12 minutes. When fully baked, place onto a rack to cool for at least 15 minutes before eating.

8 freshly baked everything bagels and rosemary sea salt bagels and parmesan garlic bagels on a sheet pan and then on a cooling rack.

Enjoy!

I would advise that you have at least one bagel fresh out of the oven (after 15 minutes). Even though they have just been baked, I still like to slice and toast them at this point.

These bagels are so delicious I usually put nothing more than butter on them and perhaps a little bit of sea salt.

sliced parmesan garlic bagel with cream cheese on a white plate with a pink flower in the background

How to store bagels

Please, please slice and freeze any bagels you don't eat within hours after baking - I feel like any freshly made bagel that sits out more than three hours is going stale by the minute and it drives me nuts!

Even if you are planning to eat them the next morning, I am going to have to insist that you slice and freeze your bagels within three hours after making them. Allow them to thaw for half an hour before toasting - you will be amazed at the difference this makes. Ok, I feel better now.

If you make these homemade bagels, I hope you'll come back to leave a star rating and a review. Lisa and I would love to know what you think!