Yield: Makes 6 or 8, depending on how giant you want your bagels to be
People feel strongly about their bagel recipes. I mostly feel strongly that even people who live in Oregon deserve good bagels. Some tweaks to a traditional recipe: first, some purists say a bagel can’t be a bagel without barley malt syrup, but it can be hard to find in stores. I listed some alternatives—I think any of these makes a great bagel! Second, I don’t have a lot of time or especially good planning skills, so I don’t let my dough rise in the fridge overnight. The only rule you absolutely cannot break, in my humble opinion, when making bagels: you have to (have to!!!) boil them before baking.
These are best if you eat them the day you make them, but they can be frozen or stored for a few days in a sealed container. You’ll just probably want to toast them after day one.
— Gene
These are extremely fucking good.
— Luis
—7g / 2 ¼ teaspoons / 1 packet active dry yeast
—4 teaspoons (plus 2 tablespoons extra for boiling) of one of the following yeast foods[*1] (in order of my preference): barley malt syrup, molasses, or brown sugar
—1 ¼ cups warm water[*2]
—480g / 4 cups[*3] bread flour
—10g / 1 ¾ teaspoons kosher salt
—Everything seasoning
—Sea salt (Nada buys the fancy flaky kind & I like to steal it for bagels)
—Poppy seeds
—Cinnamon sugar
—Cheese
—Etcetera—the world is your bagel shop, baby!
Combine the water, yeast, and four teaspoons of your yeast food of choice. Whisk with a fork and let rest for 5–10 minutes. A weird-looking sort of foam will form along the top when the yeast activates.
Measure out your flour and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer or a large mixing bowl. I highly recommend a stand mixer if you have it, but if you are really buff, and/or want to be really buff, and/or just don’t have a stand mixer, it can be done by hand.
Attach the bread hook to your mixer and start mixing on the lowest speed as you drizzle in the wet ingredients. If you’re going the mixer-less route, mix with a wooden spoon. It will look like there isn’t enough water, but there is—it shouldn’t be an especially wet dough. If you gotta add extra water, do it a teaspoon at a time.
Let your mixer keep kneading for 7–8 minutes on low speed (or knead by hand on the counter). The dough should be stiff and easily pull away from the sides of the bowl. It’s ready when it feels elastic and smooth.
Form the dough into a ball. Lightly grease the bowl with cooking spray or another neutral oil, place the dough back into the bowl, cover with a lid or damp towel, and let rise on the counter for 1–2 hours, or until more or less doubled.[*4]
When the dough has risen, gently punch it down and let it rest for 10 more minutes.
During those 10 minutes, line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Preheat your oven to 425° Fahrenheit and set a large pot with approximately 2–3 quarts[*5] of water and two tablespoons barley malt/molasses/brown sugar to boil on the stove.
Divide dough into six or eight[*6] roughly equal portions. I personally like to weigh my dough out, but no worries if you need/prefer to eyeball it.
Shape your bagels. I personally roll each piece of the dough into a ball, then stretch a hole in the center. I’d recommend watching a video if this is your first time making bagels! Set your shaped bagels two-ish inches apart on the baking sheet and cover with a towel.
When the water is boiling, carefully transfer 2–3 bagels at a time into the water bath. Don’t crowd them. Boil for ninety seconds, then flip with a slotted spoon or spatula and boil for ninety more seconds. Remove from the water and place on the baking sheet.
If you’re adding toppings, do so immediately after boiling—this helps them stick better. I personally don’t like egg washes on bagels but do whatever floats your boat.
Repeat with remaining bagels.
Bake for 20–25 minutes, or until golden. They should sound hollow when tapped.
When they’re cool enough to handle, you can slice them open and add whatever you’d like. I’m partial to grilled Halloumi and tomatoes, egg and cheese, or a classic schmear. Follow your heart.
Share with a friend/teammate/colleague you sleep in the same room as sometimes/boyfriend/whoever.
*1 Yeast eats sugar, so any of these options work. I don’t really get the science beyond that because I am a baseball player. (Nada is telling me baseball players should try reading a book every once in a while.)
*2 About 95–105° Fahrenheit. It should feel like when you’re running a hot bath or a shower—you should be able to keep a hand in the water for at least a couple seconds. If you can’t, it’s probably too hot.
*3 A kitchen scale is the easiest way to measure this, but no worries if you don’t have access to one! Just be sure you spoon and level the flour, rather than packing it into the cup.
*4 This will generally take closer to one hour in warm weather, and closer to two hours in cold weather.
*5 I have never measured this in my life. I just fill a big spaghetti-cooking pot like…one-third to one-half full.
*6 If you want them to be the size you’d get in a bagel shop, do six. If you want to see your perpetually hungry boyfriend eat a whole bagel in thirty seconds flat, do eight.