How to Make Homemade Bagels

A freshly made bagel is one of life’s greatest pleasures. Slather a still-warm bagel with cream cheese and you’ve got yourself the perfect on-the-go breakfast; top one with an over easy egg and it’s a complete meal in one. The best bagels don’t even need to be toasted, and are good enough to just munch on plain.

I have a hunch that many people have only experienced this carb-laden joy via their local bagel shop — but I’m here to tell you that you can (and should!) make your own bagels at home.

Bagels are likely one of those foods you’ve never thought to make at home. But not only are homemade bagels possible, they’re absolutely worth making. Here’s why:

• Homemade bagels are irresistibly chewy, and boast a crisp, golden-brown exterior.
• They taste fresher and more flavorful than anything you can buy.
• You can get endlessly creative with toppings and mix-ins.
• Unlike other from-scratch breads, they require just a handful of staple ingredients, and no special equipment.
  
  Here, we’ll walk you through every step of the process, showing you how to make and shape bagels like a pro — and how to prep the dough in advance so you can bake off a fresh batch in the morning.

One of the most sought-after qualities of a good bagel is a dense, chewy interior. It’s one of the defining characteristics of classic New York-style bagels — and it’s easy to achieve at home.

Our recipe uses 100% bread flour to create that satisfying chewy texture. Bread flour has a higher gluten content than all-purpose flour, meaning your dough will be more elastic. This results in bagels that have a pleasant chew and a tight, toothsome crumb that contrasts the crisp exterior.

Bread flour can be found in the baking section of most well-stocked grocery stores or ordered online. Any leftover flour can be used to make a variety of homemade breads (like Japanese milk bread) or used in savory non-baking applications like roux-based sauces or as a coating on chicken cutlets.

Yes! Boiling bagels sets and thickens their crust before they’re baked — it’s the step that makes a bagel a bagel, not just a round piece of bread. Boiling also prevents them from rising too much in the oven, giving bagels their signature dense, chewy centers.

Recipes vary in the exact makeup of the boiling water bath, but after many rounds of testing, we’ve concluded that a baking-soda bath is the most effective. Baking soda makes the water more alkaline, giving the bagels a pretzel-like quality that contributes to their chewiness. Just one teaspoon helps the bagels develop a shiny, dark-brown exterior as they bake.

One thing to keep in mind: Keep the water bath at a constant simmer. After you boil the first batch, be patient and let the water return to a simmer before adding the second.

Nope! Boiling the bagels eliminates the need for an egg wash. Instead, you’ll simply sprinkle your seasonings onto the still-wet bagels as soon as they come out of the water. Everything bagel seasoning is a favorite, but poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion flakes, and cracked black pepper all work well.

The trick is to pick toppings that won’t burn in the oven, so avoid things like dehydrated herbs that are too delicate to stand up to the heat.

As I mentioned before, bagel-making isn’t hard, it’s just time-consuming! If you’d prefer to make the dough the day before and boil and bake them the following morning, you absolutely can:

1. Shape the dough into balls, place on a baking sheet, and spray the tops with cooking spray.
2. Cover loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
3. When you’re ready for fresh bagels, let them sit at room temperature until slightly puffy (about one hour), then proceed with shaping and boiling.

Although they’re best enjoyed warm, your homemade bagels will keep for up to five days, meaning you and your family can enjoy them throughout the week. Or, wrap ’em up and pop in the freezer for future bagel consumption.

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