Homemade bagels are really fun to make. I love how many different forms of bread can be made with basically the same ingredients, just different techniques. If you’ve never made your own bagels, here is a project to try. 🙂 If you would like more basic info on bread making, check out my post on our favorite sandwich bread.
For a lot of bread dough, you want a pretty high water content so your bread is soft and supple, but for bagel dough, you want a stiff dough with not too much water. This gives the dense chewy texture we want in a bagel.
One of the fun things about making your own bagels is that you can make them any flavor you like. I have made different ones over the years, but our family loves onion bagels so I mostly make those. I add both dried onion and onion powder to the dough, which gives it a nice onion flavor. You can add mix ins to the dough or add toppings when you bake.
The bagels are boiled before you bake them, and adding some baking soda and honey to the water helps them get a nice brown color when you bake them. I will be posting a reel on instagram/facebook too showing how to shape them.
Homemade Bagels
Ingredients
- 2 tsp instant yeast
- 1 1/2 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/4 cup water plus extra 1/4 if needed
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- toppings or mix ins
Instructions
- Mix the water, salt, yeast and flour in a stand mixer with a dough hook. If adding mix ins to the dough add them now.
- Knead the dough until smooth and supple and can pass the window pane test. The dough should be stiff but not dry.
- Place into a greased dough bucket or bowl and cover. Allow to rise until doubled (about an hour or 1.5 hours depending on the temp).
- Divide the dough into 8 (I like to do 10 for slightly smaller bagels) . Shape each piece of dough into a round ball. Let the balls rest for 10 minutes covered with plastic wrap.
- Using a finger dipped in flour, make a hole in the center of the ball and gently stretch the hole to make the bagel shape. If there are any open holes in the dough pinch them closed to make a smooth ring.
- Place on a lightly greased cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap. Rest for 10 minutes. Meanwhile heat the oven to 425.
- Fill a large shallow frying pan with water and add a tsp of baking soda and a tbsp of honey.
- Bring the water to a boil and then reduce to a simmer. Add a few bagels at a time and boil for 45 seconds to one minute on each side, then place on to a parchment lined baking sheet sprayed lightly with oil. If topping them, brush with egg wash and sprinkle on topping.
- Bake the bagels for 15-20 minutes, rotating the pan half way through. You want them nicely browned but not burnt so keep a close eye on them.
- Cool and then slice. You can store them in the freezer to keep fresh.