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Recipes · Baked Goods

Bagels, Many Variations

Baked Goods · Breads · Breakfast · High Protein · Meal Prep · Weight Loss Friendly

★★★★★

Bagels, Many Variations
Prep 2 hours
Cook 25 minutes
Serves Yield: 8 bagels

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups warm water (between 100-110°F)
  • 2 3/4 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast
  • 4 cups bread flour (spoon & leveled), plus more for work surface and hands
  • 1 Tablespoon barley malt syrup (or brown sugar)
  • 2 teaspoons salt

Nonstick spray or 1 Tablespoon olive oil

  • Egg wash:
  • 1 egg white beaten with
  • 1 Tablespoon water
  • For Boiling:
  • 2 quarts water
  • 1/4 cup barley malt syrup (or honey)

Directions

  1. Prepare the dough:
  2. 1 - Whisk 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.

  1. 2 - Add flour, barley malt syrup and salt.

Beat on low speed for 2 minutes.

  1. The dough is very stiff and will look somewhat dry.
  2. Let Dough Rise:
  3. 3 - Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.
  4. With lightly floured hands, knead the dough for 4-5 minutes.

The dough is too heavy for the mixer to knead it!

  1. 4 - Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray.
  2. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil.
  3. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel.
  4. Allow dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size.
  5. 5 - Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
  6. Shape the bagels:
  7. 6 - 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.
  8. 7 - Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole about 1.5 – 2 inches in diameter. Loosely cover the shaped bagels with kitchen towel and rest for a few minutes as you prepare the water bath.

Preheat oven to 425°F.

  1. Water bath:
  2. 8 - Fill a large, wide pot with 2 quarts of water. Whisk in barley malt syrup.
  3. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-high. Drop bagels in, 2-4 at a time, making sure they have enough room to float around. Cook the bagels for 1 minute on each side and then remove from water bath to draining pan.
  4. 9 - Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top and around the sides of each bagel.

Place 4 bagels onto each lined baking sheet.

  1. Bake:
  2. 10 - Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.

You want the bagels to be a dark golden brown.

  1. 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.

Notes

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.

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.

Sea Salt Bagels

Use 1/3 cup coarse sea 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.

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.

Cinnamon Crunch Bagels

Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough recipe when you add the salt.

Whisk together the cinnamon crunch toping -

4 Tablespoons (56g) unsalted butter, melted

2/3 cup (134g) packed light or dark brown sugar

3 teaspoons ground cinnamon

4 teaspoons all-purpose flour or bread flour

After brushing the bagels with the egg wash in step 9, spoon the cinnamon crunch topping on each.

Overnight Make Ahead Instructions:

Prepare the dough through step 4, but allow the dough to rise overnight in the refrigerator. 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.

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.

Special Tools:

Stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, large baking sheets, big pot (I use my 5.5 quart dutch oven), pastry brush.

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.

Bread Flour:

Bagels require a high protein flour. Bread flour is a must. All-purpose flour can be used in a pinch, but the bagels will taste flimsy and won’t be nearly as chewy.

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.

Bagel Varieties:

Note that the toppings are added after the egg wash in step 9.