Why buy when you can DIY? Of course there are certain things that I’ll never try to do myself. Electrical work, car repairs, and such can be left to the professionals. But when it comes to bread making, I love a good challenge and I am up for an adventure. Bagels may seem daunting, but they’re actually easy to make. The most time consuming part of this homemade bagel recipe is the overnight dough proofing time. The mixing of the dough is fairly straightforward. The use of instant yeast makes it a breeze, however, if you only have active dry yeast, I have also included instructions for that method as well.
Most bagel recipes call for barley malt in the dough and poaching/boiling liquid. This isn’t something people normally stock in their kitchen. I used molasses for this recipe. It’s the perfect substitute. I’ve made bagels several times using this recipe, using both barley malt and molasses with successful results. I couldn’t taste the difference between the two. To make this dough, simply mix together warm water, instant yeast, molasses, bread flour, and salt. I highly suggest using a stand mixer. This dough is very tough and laborious to mix by hand. Do not substitute all-purpose flour for bread flour. Bagels require the use of a high protein flour (bread flour usually has 14-16% protein, while all-purpose flour usually has 9-12% protein). This higher protein content helps with gluten development lending to the iconic bite and chew of bagels.
This recipe makes 8 bagels. You can easily double or triple the recipe to make more. While you can portion out the dough by eye, I prefer to use a kitchen scale to ensure that each bagel is the same weight. Roll each portion into a ball. Use your thumbs to make a hole in the center of each ball. Gently pull and stretch until the dough is a uniform sized ring.
Cover the dough and let it chill in the fridge overnight. The following morning, the dough gets a quick bath in the poaching/boiling liquid. Afterwards, it’s time to coat the dough with desired toppings (or keep them plain!). There are countless variations on bagel toppings. My personal favorite- the everything bagel! Named so because it contains everything: poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic powder, onion flakes, salt and pepper.
The dough gets baked in hot oven until the bagels are a nice and golden. And then it’s finally time to reap your rewards. Slice the bagel in half and slather on the cream cheese!
Here are a few more bread recipes you might enjoy:
No Knead Einkorn Sourdough Bread by Organically Mandy Honey Beer Pretzels by The Little Epicurean Sweet Challah Bread by Recipe Girl Amish Potato Rolls (Bread Machine) by The Pudge Factor
