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🛒 Bagel Ingredients List

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🥣 Make Bagels at Home: Step-by-Step Recipe for Perfect Texture & Flavor

Mix all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with a wooden spoon until it forms a shaggy ball.

Fit the stand mixer with the dough hook and knead the bagel dough 6-7 minutes until its smooth and bouncy. It should feel dense, not soft like sandwich bread dough. Bagel dough is stiff for a reason which is what gives it that classic chewy bite.

Pro Tip: Too soft = too fluffy. That’s not a bagel. That’s a roll with a hole. Don’t be that person.

Cover the bagel dough, and let it rise at room temp for 1–1½ hours until puffed up but not doubled.

“Puffed but not doubled” is bagel gospel. Unlike sandwich bread, where you want a light, airy crumb and a big rise, bagels should be dense, tight, and chewy. If your dough doubles in size during the first rise, you’re introducing too much air and softness.

Letting the dough rise just until it’s slightly puffed keeps the gluten structure tight, which means a chewier bite. The hallmark of a great bagel. It also helps prevent over-proofing, so your bagels get a better oven spring and don’t bake up flat or overly airy. Plus, that tighter structure helps the bagels hold their shape during boiling, so they won’t collapse, wrinkle, or turn into sad little blobs.

Punch it down to release the gas and redistribute the yeast, then divide the dough into 8–10 equal pieces. Use a kitchen scale if you want perfectly even bagels (they’ll bake more uniformly that way).

“Punch it down” sounds a little aggressive, but it’s really just giving your dough a gentle push in the middle to release built-up gas from the first rise. After the dough has puffed up a bit, yeast has created carbon dioxide bubbles inside which is like stretching a balloon. Punching it down deflates those bubbles, resets the structure, and makes the dough easier to shape. You don’t have to actually punch it. Just press your fist or hand into the center and fold the dough over itself a few times to tighten it back up. It keeps your bagels from getting big air pockets and helps build that dense, chewy texture we’re after.

Roll each piece into a tight, smooth ball by cupping your hand over it and making small circles on the counter. This builds surface tension and helps the bagels keep their shape during the rise and boil.

Now shape them: the easiest way is to poke your thumb through the center of each ball and gently stretch the hole out to about 2 inches wide. Bagels puff up a lot as they rise and boil, so if the hole is too small now, it’ll disappear later and you’ll end up with a weird bagel-bun hybrid.

Alternatively, you can roll each ball into a rope about 8–10 inches long and wrap it into a ring, overlapping the ends slightly and pressing them together to seal. A little water on the seam helps if it’s not sticking. This method takes a little more time but gives that classic, hand-rolled look.

Pro Tip: If your bagel hole is smaller than a ping pong ball, stretch it wider.

Cold fermenting the bagels builds flavor, chew. Place shaped bagels on parchment-lined trays, cover, and refrigerate overnight (8–24 hours). You can skip this and go straight to boiling after a 20–30 min rest, but the flavor won’t be as complex.

Bring a wide pot of water to a gentle boil and add your malt or honey. Drop bagels in (don’t crowd the pot!) and boil 30–60 seconds per side. The longer the boil, the chewier the bagel.

After boiling, place bagels back on the tray and immediately sprinkle with toppings while they’re still wet. Load seeds, onions, salt, etc. them up with your desired toppings. I like everything bagel seasoning.

Let the bagels dry while you preheat the oven. You can use a drying rack if you prefer but I find it puts lines on the dough so I don’t get too fussy about how I dry them.

Bake at 450°F (230°C) for 18–22 minutes, until golden brown and beautiful.

Baking hot and fast is absolutely key to nailing that classic, bagel-shop texture. Bagels have a dense, low-hydration dough that’s been boiled, which sets the crust early and gives them their signature chew. When you blast them with high heat, it rapidly caramelizes the sugars on the outside, creating that beautiful golden-brown, slightly blistered crust. This also locks in moisture, so the inside stays soft and chewy while the outside gets that firm, satisfying bite.

If your oven isn’t hot enough, you risk dull, pale bagels with a leathery crust and an interior that turns out more bread-like than bagel-y. A lower temp also means they stay in the oven longer, which can dry them out or make them puff too much, ruining that tight crumb and dense chew we’re going for.

Let cool at least 15 minutes before slicing. (Good luck waiting.) Serve them with your favorite cream cheese flavor. You can slice and freeze them so they last longer. Toast them while they are still frozen.

Serving Suggestions

Bagels aren’t just a breakfast staple. They’re a blank canvas for all kinds of delicious creations. For something classic, you can’t go wrong with a warm toasted bagel slathered in plain cream cheese, butter, or your favorite jam.

Want to level it up? Try flavored cream cheese (like chive, veggie, or strawberry), or go sweet with a drizzle of honey, peanut butter, or Nutella topped with fresh fruit. Cinnamon sugar bagels with apple slices and whipped cream cheese? Absolute heaven.

They also make the perfect base for sandwiches. Build a hearty breakfast bagel with scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese, or go savory with avocado and a soft-boiled egg. For lunch, stack turkey, provolone, and arugula with a swipe of Dijon mustard.

Hosting brunch? Set up a DIY bagel board with a mix of bagel flavors, cream cheese spreads, smoked salmon, sliced tomatoes, cucumbers, red onion, and capers. You can even turn them into pizza bagels. Just top with marinara, shredded cheese, and your favorite toppings, then bake until melty. However you serve them, bagels are as versatile as they are irresistible.