Homemade Bagels
I won’t pretend for even a minute that I am an expert on this. I’ve only made them once, and I asked my friend lots of questions before attempting to make homemade bagels. Yet, here I am, unable to wait yet another minute to share this with you.
SECRET: Making homemade bagels is ridiculously easy.
I followed the recipe my friend E suggested for real homemade bagels, following her recommendation of using only 4 cups of flour and that there was no need to add any honey. Further, I was able to make 18 bagels instead of the 6 which I only assume must have been a typo on the recipe creator’s part. I also didn’t follow the instructions and instead chose to mix my salt, yeast, sugar, water and oil together prior to adding in the flour. And since we don’t own a stand mixer I kneaded to dough by hand until it formed a beautiful dough.
The recipe is basically a pizza dough. I had no idea it could be so easy. Since I’m pretty much a master of pizza dough, having made at least 100 batches since meeting Trig, I was confident that my dough would be great. When the bagel dough had sufficiently risen, I punched it down with satisfaction and continued with the recipe. I made 3 types: plain, sesame, and cinnamon sugar, and all three are absolutely delicious. I was nervous for the boiling and baking part, but the bagels turned out nicely brown on the outside and perfectly chewy on the inside.
Here is what I would change or recommend for next time:
1. Add just a touch more salt to the dough than what the recipe calls for. I found these to be slightly undersalted. Just a touch should do the trick (adjusted in the recipe below)
2. Instead of parchment paper I used nonstick spray in my baking sheet and found the bottoms of the bagels to be nicely browned that way.
3. I would give the bagels a smaller hole and make the shape slightly thicker. Trig asked for this modification next time and I couldn’t agree more. I made more flat, wide bagels.
4. Make sure you seal the bagel rounds well. I had 2 bagels come undone, and while they taste delicious they don’t look as perfect as the others.
5. At the same time, the bagels were still beautiful even though they looked horribly ugly before boiling, so don’t fret too much like I did.
Here is the original recipe for real homemade bagels, reprinted below with my modifications and instructions in case the recipe goes missing online one day.
Real Homemade Bagels, via allrecipes.com but with my modifications – Please see the original recipe for the recipe creator’s version.
Makes 18 bagels
Ingredients:
1 1/4 cups warm water
1 pack instant yeast
3 T white sugar
1.5 teaspoons salt
2 T vegetable oil
4 cups bread flour
Directions:
Combine the water, yeast, sugar, salt and oil in a large bowl. When the yeast is frothy add the flour and combine. Knead until the dough comes together nicely, about 5 minutes. Place in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and a towel. Let rise for 2 hours. Punch down on a lightly floured surface and cut dough into 8-10 rods.
Cut the rods in half and form into bagel shapes. Let rest an additional 15 minutes under a towel. Meanwhile boil a large pot of water. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F. Boil the bagels in small batches in the water, about 1 minute per side. Remove with a slotted spoon and dip in your toppings. I chose to do some sesame, some plain, and some in a cinnamon sugar mixture. Spray a baking sheet with oil and place your bagels on top. Bake for about 14 minutes until lightly browned. Enjoy!
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Sabrina, your bagels look fantastic!!! i love making homemade bagels, and figured out a great way to ensure they stay together: wrap the dough snake around your hand, and then grab the two loose ends in your palm. Squeeze, and then roll the bagel off your hand which sort of twists it together. Works every time!
Awesome! I always say bread baking is so so easy and people are always impressed by it. 🙂 It just takes a little time, really.
One thing I do differently is I form the dough into little balls and poke the hole in them that way. This might help create the rounder doughier bagel Trig is looking for.
I’ve been on a bagel kick lately so I’m so glad to see this recipe. I never thought about making them myself and I love to bake bread. Thanks!
Way to go! You do make it sound so easy. Even though I want to SO make these I have been eating way to many carbs and this would be too much of a temptation.
i did the same to make holes (poke holes through balls).
of course ive only made bagels once. so im certainly not an expert.
i’m going to try that next time! Thanks.
That sesame bagel looks SO good! And, your recipe sounds easy enough. Who would have thought that homemade bagels were pretty simple? I will have to try it out!
Why are you doing this to me? I love bagels. However, I cannot be controlled around them. If I make these, I’m going to blame you for not fitting into my pants anymore! 🙂
You must make them!
Those look SO darn good! nom nom nom!!
amazing! I’ve always wondered how they make bagels 🙂
The biggest disadvantage of bagels (even those from bakery) is that already the next day, they get really hard. Is the same happening with those ones?
I put them all in the freezer right away so I’m not sure. I take them out, microwave for a few seconds and then toast in the toaster oven and they are not hard at all.