Homemade Bagels

This recipe was our first attempt at homemade bagels!  I love a good bagel, and this recipe from Tammy caught my attention.

{first attempt photographed above - 2007}

{A more recent bagel making!}

These bagels were so easy to make; they tasted wonderful too!  They were crunchy on the outside and soft in the inside.  Since our first attempt, we've made these bagel a half dozen times or so -- and we've become a bit better at making bagels since then!

Easy, Homemade Bagels - Modified from Tammy's Recipes
Yield: 8-12 bagels

Bagel Dough
1 1/2 C warm water (112-115 degrees F)
2 T (yes, tablespoons) yeast
2 T sugar (or honey)
1 T salt
4 1/2 C bread flour

Add-ins: raisins, cinnamon, sugar, onion, garlic, ect.

For Prepping and Baking
8 C water (for boiling)
1 egg white (or additional water) for coating the bagels, if desired

In a small bowl, mix yeast, sugar and water and let stand for 3 minutes.

Meanwhile, mix together 2 C flour and salt in a bowl.

Add yeast mixture to the flour and stir until combined.

Slowly add the remaining 2.5 C flour.

I cheated... and used my mixer to do the kneading :-) Knead for 5 minutes, or until dough is fairly smoth and somewhat firm.

You can also make the dough in your bread machine, if desired.

Place dough in a greased bowl; cover and let rise until doubled.

Punch down dough, and divide into 12 balls*. Cover, and allow to rest for 5 minutes.

Make a hole in the center of each ball and pull open into a bagel. Place the bagels on a cookie sheet covered with parchment paper. Cover, and allow to rest for 10 minutes.

I've also made these bagels where I've covered them and refrigerated them overnight.  In the morning, I've picked up with the boiling step.  It's a great way to have fresh bagels in the morning without having to wait for the dough to rise!


While bagels rest, bring water to a boil, and find some tongs. When bagels are ready, pop the bagels in the water and boil for about 45 seconds -- this makes them crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside!

Drain the bagels, and then find one really tired husband and he coats the bagels with egg white and adds the toppings -- cinnamon and sugar anyone?

Bake bagels at 350 for about 35 minutes. You may wish to turn once during baking. I've found that parchment paper works wonders for getting a nice, crispy outer bagel!

*You can add your add-ins here, or, I found a new way to get cinnamon raisin bagels....
I've always struggled with keeping the raisins in the bagels... so I tried something new-- stuffed bagels!

After shaping the dough into balls, roll the dough out using a rolling pin. Then, sprinkled cinnamon and raisins on the dough and roll up! Using just a bit of water, you can easily seal the bagel roll, and then roll/stretch to make the roll a bit longer... long enough to connect up and make a bagel! These were fun to eat (there's surprise in the middle) and they look beautiful!

Note: photos updated January 2011.