Baking bagels
Trial and error process results in a recipe for bakers to try at home
Like everyone else, I’ve been baking bread while staying at home during isolation. While I bake – a lot – bread is not something I do regularly, so it was a fun experiment as I tried making different types of loaves and rolls. Soft pretzels were particularly fun – and yummy – so I began thinking about what I could try next.
The answer was simple: bagels.
There are hundreds of instructions to make homemade bagels floating around on the Internet and, of course, none of them has a consensus for the best recipe or even a common recipe.
So, I began a quest to make the perfect homemade bagel through a trial and error process.
But not all bagels are made equal. New York-style bagels – the kind you’re likely most familiar with – are heavier and are boiled in a mixture of water and baking powder before they’re baked in the oven.
Montreal-style bagels are traditionally boiled in a mixture of water and honey to create a slightly sweeter tasting bagel.
I decided I liked the idea of staying Canadian and focused on making the perfect homemade Montreal-style bagel, but my final recipe could easily be used as the basis for a New York bagel as well, as long as you swapped baking soda and honey.
My experiments also showed no real difference in the outcome between making dough by hand or throwing everything in the bread maker and pressing start on the dough setting, so feel free to do that if you’d like to save some time.
Bagels
Makes eight
2 1/4 tsp yeast
1 cup warm water
2 tbsp sugar
3 cups flour
1 tsp salt
1 1/2 tbsp oil
1 egg
1 egg white
3 tbsp honey
6 cups water
1/2 cup poppyseeds, sesame seeds, cheese, etc (to top your bagels)
Start off by activating your yeast (it’s not strictly necessary to do this with instant yeast, but it won’t hurt and I found it made a lighter bagel). Mix yeast, sugar and 1 cup warm water in a bowl and allow to sit for three or four minutes or until the yeast flowers.
If you opt to make your bagel dough in a bread machine, you can allow your yeast to activate directly in the bread machine pan and add one egg, flour, salt and 1 tbsp oil directly on top, then place in your bread machine and select the dough cycle.
If you are mixing by hand, in a large bowl, mix flour and salt. Create a well in the centre and add yeast mixture, then add one egg, slightly beaten, and 1 tbsp oil. Mix well until completely incorporated.
On a lightly floured counter, turn out dough. Knead for at least seven or eight minutes – you want to be able to press on the dough and have it bounce back. Use remaining ½ tbsp of oil to coat your bowl lightly. Place dough back in the bowl, making sure your dough is lightly coated with oil, and cover with a clean tea towel. Set in a warm place and allow to rise for one hour – it should at least double in size.
When your dough is ready (either from the bread machine or your bowl), lightly dust a cutting board with flour to prevent sticking. Pour dough onto cutting board and spread out into a rectangle that is approximately the length of a ruler. Using a sharp knife, slice dough into eight pieces, roughly equal in size.
Roll each piece of dough into a ball shape, making them as smooth as possible – they’ll hold this shape, so while lumps and rough edges won’t impact the taste of your bagel, it will impact the appearance. It’s completely OK if they don’t look perfect!
Using your thumb, create a hole in the centre of your bagel, stretching the dough slightly to widen the opening. Repeat until you have done this for all your bagels.
Cover and let rest for 25-30 minutes. You don’t strictly have to allow for a second rise, but it will make for a thicker bagel.
While waiting for your bagels to rise, create your boiling station.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat and set aside. Set up a second tray with a clean dishtowel.
If using poppyseeds or sesame seeds for your bagel topping, pour them into a shallow, flat-bottomed dish that’s large enough to fit your bagel in.
If you opt to use cheese, grate your cheese of choice and set aside to sprinkle on top of your bagel.
Separate an egg, discarding yolk, and place the egg white in a bowl with 1 tsp of water to create an egg wash.
If you have a pastry brush, this is a great tool to use to add your egg wash to your bagels; otherwise, you can use a piece of paper towel to coat your bagel.
Add six cups of water and honey to a pot and bring to a boil. Uncover your bagels, and if necessary, widen the hole in the centre again with your thumb. Preheat oven to 450 F.
Using a slotted spatula, drop two or three bagels at a time into the boiling water.
Allow to boil for two minutes, then flip and allow to boil for another minute and a half.
Remove each bagel from the water and place on the tray with a tea towel to remove excess water.
Place your next batch of bagels into the boiling water and reset timer.
While they are boiling, spread egg wash on both sides of your bagels, then dip one side into the mixture of sesame seeds or poppyseeds and place on lined cookie sheet.
If you’d prefer to make cheese bagels, place your bagels on the cookie sheet and drop some grated cheese on top.
Repeat process until all of your bagels have been boiled and topped.
Place cookie sheet into preheated oven and allow to bake for 18-20 minutes, until bagels are a nice brown colour.
Careful, the bottoms will cook quicker than the tops, so it’s worth checking on in the last few minutes as you cook.
Remove from heat and allow to fully cool, then store in an airtight container.