Easy Bagel Recipe :Best Recipe for Homemade Bagels

Easy Bagel Recipe will help you make the best homemade bagels with crispy crust and chewy texture in 90 minutes!

For this quick bagels recipe, you don’t need to proof the dough two times.So you can save a lot of your time.

This quick and easy bagel recipe was one of my experiments with making easy homemade bagels..and the result was so beautiful..I learned a thing that, we can make super delicious bagels at home, without double proofing.

I am so happy to share this quick and easy method of making awesome bagels at home.

What you will love about this easy homemade bagel recipe

• Quick and Easy to make: You can make homemade bagels from scratch within 90 minutes!
• Simple Ingredients :In this Easy Bagel Recipe, we use only five basic ingredients to make the bagel dough.
• For this quick bagels recipe, we don’t need to proof the dough two times.So we can save a lot of our time.
• The resulting bagels are super tasty and they have a shiny golden crust which is crispy and has a soft crumb with that characteristic chewy texture.

Ingredients needed for making Easy Homemade Bagel

For making bagel dough

1. Flour :390 g or 3 cups loosely packed
2. Water :270 ml or 1 cup+2 tbsp
3. Salt :6 g or 1 tsp
4. Sugar: 12 g or 1 tbsp
5. Yeast :3 g or 1 tsp.(if using active dry yeast, use 1 and 1/4 tsp)

For Sprinkling on top (optional)

• You can use sesame seeds or poppy seeds, kosher salt, chopped onions, or minced garlic etc

We are not using oil or fat while making the bagel dough in this easy bagel recipe. This kind of dough is called a lean dough. Lean dough is ideal for recipes like Rustic artisan bread, Ciabatta bread, Ciabatta rolls, Sweet bread, such as Soft dinner rolls, Fluffy cinnamon rolls, crescent rolls, parker house rolls, challah rolls include fat for richness and flavor.

How to make homemade bagels using this Easy Bagel Recipe

In this easy bagel recipe, we use only five simple ingredients and “one rise” proofing method.

You can make this quick and easy bagels in five simple steps

1. Prepare the dough
2. Divide and shape the bagels
3. Proof the bagels
4. Boil and sprinkle with toppings
5. Bake the bagels

1.PREPARE THE DOUGH :How to make bagel dough

Into a bowl,add all our ingredients one by one and mix them to form a shaggy mass of dough.

Pour in some lukewarm water, water which is not hot nor cold but just slightly warm.Ideally around 95-100F.Just as warm as of a baby food.

Yeast love to grow and develop in a slightly warm environment.So warmth of the water will enhance the action of yeast.

We need to be careful about the temperature of the water, as it may kill the yeast cells if the temperature of the water that we use is higher than 120 F.

Add the sugar, salt and yeast.Stir until all ingredients get dissolved in water.

Add flour and mix them together to form a shaggy mass of dough.

Transfer the dough onto a clean work surface .Knead the dough until the dough become soft and elastic.

Only a well kneaded dough can produce amazing and soft bagels.

How to check if your bagel dough is kneaded well?

We can test the doneness of dinner roll dough.

If properly kneaded, the dough should stretch, without tearing or breaking, into a thin membrane that you can see through.

If we are using bread flour it is easy to attain this stage of dough (it may take around 10 minutes of kneading).As bread dough contains more proteins than all purpose flour.

But if we are using all purpose flour,it may take longer to attain this stage of perfection.

Our bread would still be good and soft even if our dough didn’t pass this window pane test.

But if the dough passes the window pane test ,then it is guaranteed that your bread will be super good.

It will be so much easier if you are using a stand mixer to prepare the dough.In a stand mixer,just knead the dough for 8-10 minutes using the dough hook attachment.

2.DIVIDE AND SHAPE THE DOUGH

Once our quick and easy bagel dough is ready, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.For more precision,I weighed the dough and then divided; each of them weighed 82-83 g.

This easy bagel recipe is sufficient to make 8 medium sized bagels.

Flatten each piece of dough and then roll each piece of dough into small balls.Tuck in the edges towards the centre and roll each of dough into small round balls.

Press gently on top so that it will have a disc shape.Keep it aside.

Repeat the same with all the rest, dough pieces.

Now take the first one that we shaped and place it on a lightly floured work surface.

I lightly dusted the top of the disc with some flour.

Then use your thumb to poke a hole into the middle of each piece.

Stretch the dough little by little as you turn until the hole has enlarged to 1-1/2 to 2 inches. The dough ring should be an even thickness all around.

Place the shaped bagels into a nonstick baking tray or on to parchment lined baking tray or on to a well greased baking tray.

Now we need to cover it with cling film.When I first made this easy bagels, the dough got stuck to the cling film.So I would suggest you to dust the top of shaped bagels with some flour before covering the tray with cling film.

3.PROOF THE BAGEL DOUGH (15 minutes warm +15 minutes in freezer)

Unlike other bread doughs, this easy bagel dough need only a small proofing time.

Keep the bagel dough in a warm environment for 10-15 minutes.(15 minutes if your place is colder)

During this time the bagel dough will start to puff up slightly.(around 30% rise)

Then keep the tray in freezer for 15 minutes.

This will slow down the fermentation and it will help the shaped bagel dough to get firmer structure.

(If you want to keep them longer ,then keep tray in refrigerator (not in freezer)for 2 hours to 24 hours)

4.BOIL THE BAGELS (1 minute each side)

Bring a large pot of water to a boil (the wider the pot, the better) ; have ready a slotted spoon. 

Gently drop the bagels into the boiling water. It doesn’t matter which side goes in first.

Boil only as many bagels as will comfortably fit; they should float within 10 seconds, if not immediately.

Boil for 1 minute, flip them over, and boil for another 1 minute. If you want very chewy bagels, boil for 2 minutes per side.

As the bagels finish cooking, lift them out with the slotted spoon and place them on the baking sheet with the top side up.

You may find some wrinkling on the surface of the first batch of bagels while boiling the second batch, which is normal.It will puff up and come out great after baking.

We should take care to take the boiled bagels as fast as we can into the oven for baking.We don’t want them to get dry.Baking should be a continuation of the cooking process after the boiling step.

Sprinkle the top with your favorite topping…sesame or poppy seeds, kosher salt, chopped onions, or minced garlic etc

Why do we need to boil bagels

Boiling bagels before baking them is what gives them their characteristic chewy texture and crispy crust.

If we don’t boil the bagels before baking, it will come out like a regular bread shaped like a bagel.It will not have that characteristic chewy texture.

What happen when we boil bagels before baking

While we boil bagels before baking, the starch on the surface of the bagel get gelatinized and thus producing a thicker crust on the bagels.This will help to get that crispy crust and chewy texture to the baked bagels.

5.BAKE THE BAGELS

Bake the bagels in a 425 F or 220 C preheated oven for around 25 minutes or until they turn golden brown in color.

Remove the pan from the oven and transfer the bagels to a cooling rack. Let cool for at least 10 minutes

Bagel Baking temperature

Best temperature to bake homemade bagels is 425 F or 220 C.Bake for around 25 minutes.

Transfer the bagels from baking tray on to a cooling racket prevent any soggy bottom and wait for ten minutes before serving.

After Baking you will get the best bagels that have crispy crust, chewy texture and delicious homemade bagels.

Enjoy it with some cream cheese or any of your favorite filling.

Easy Bagel Recipe :Step by step Video

How long will fresh homemade bagels last at room temperature

Fresh bagels can last for 2-3 days at room temperature (covered in a rolled paper bag or bread bag).It may start to stale or harden within 48 hours if not properly stored.

Bagels eaten within 48 hours will still be relatively fresh, but might be a little chewier.

How to store Baked Bagel

You can put the cooled bagels in a paper bag and then put the paper bag inside a resealable plastic bag before storing them in the pantry. 

If you need to store bagels for longer, then it is best to freeze them.

How to freeze baked bagel

Freezing bagels is very easy.If you plan for long term storage then freezing is the best way of storing bagels.

Homemade Bagels will stay good for up to 2 months in the freezer.

Make sure the bagels have cooled down completely.

Wrap each bagel in plastic wrap, then place the individually wrapped bagels together in a resealable freezer bag.

Be sure to squeeze as much air out as possible and make sure it’s sealed all the way to avoid freezer burn.

How to Thaw Frozen Bagels

To thaw a frozen bagel,You can use either toaster, conventional oven or microwave

In toaster:place bagel in the toaster oven for a couple of minutes.

In conventional oven: spray the bagel with some water and pop it in the oven for around 5 minutes at 425 F or 220 C.

In microwave: put the bagel wrapped in a damp paper towel in the microwave for 20-30 seconds on low power.