Easy Tasty Bagels
The best bagels I have ever made. They are fairly hands-off, but the results are incomparable. This recipe will quickly become a family staple.
Servings: 6 Bagels
Ingredients
For the Bagels:
- 1 teaspoon Diastatic Malt Powder (optional)
- 1½ teaspoons Instant Yeast
- 1½ teaspoons Kosher Salt
- 1 cup Warm Water (ideally it should be 90-95°F)
- 3¼ cups All-Purpose Flour (bread flour also works)
For the Poaching Liquid:
- 8 cups Water
- 1 tablespoon Honey
- 2 tablespoons Baking Soda
Toppings:
- 1 Egg White (optional)
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer add the water and sprinkle the yeast on top. Whisk the yeast into the water, making sure to break apart any clumps for even distribution.
- Add the salt and diastatic malt powder (if using) and whisk together until entirely dissolved.
- With the stand mixer running (at about a speed of 3), add ½ cup of flour at a time until you have added 3 total cups.
- When the 3 cups of flour have been added and you have a shaggy dough, let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
- After the dough has rested for 5 minutes and the gluten has been able to relax, pour the ¼ cup of flour on a flat surface, and knead the dough on top of this flour until all of it is incorporated and you have a smooth and supple dough.
- Form the dough into a taught ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap and allow the dough to rise in a warm area for an hour to an hour and a half, or until double in size. In the summertime, I like putting my covered dough bowl outside in the shade for its rise, and in the winter, I will leave the dough bowl on top of my stove with the oven set at 300°F so the residual heat gives it a warmer environment.°
- Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and divide the dough into uniform balls. If you are going to add ingredients to the inside of your bagel like blueberries or chocolate chips, add them now, rolling them into your dough balls as you work them into their correct shape and try to make sure you get an even distribution of the ingredients throughout the dough.
- Depending on the size of your bagels, this recipe will make between 6 and 8. I make sure my bagel balls weigh anywhere between 100 grams and 130 grams.
- Once you have between 6 and 8 smoothly rolled balls of dough, cover all of them with a moist paper towel except for the one you are going to start working on first.
- Punch a hole in the middle of the dough ball with your first finger and your thumb, then stick both index fingers into the space and roll while pulling the sides apart, widening the hole to about 2 inches in diameter.
- Set the holed bagels on a greased baking sheet, there is no need to cover the bagels once they have their hole. Repeat this process for all of the bagels until each has a hole in the center.
- Allow the bagels to rise again, uncovered, for another 1-1½ hours or until very puffed. You will notice that the bagel now has a skin of "dried" dough on the outside, but this is good because it helps give the bagels their signature crust.A way to make even better bagels is to give them a slow rise in the fridge. If you want to do this method, cover the bagels right after you have punched holes in them and place the entire tray of bagels in the fridge overnight. When you are ready to bake them in the morning, take them out of the fridge and allow them to rise for 30 minutes uncovered on your counter top before proceeding to the next step.
- Once the bagels are puffed and risen, they are now ready to be boiled and then baked.
- Preheat the oven to 450°F and line a large baking pan with parchment paper, or oil it well. DO NOT SKIP USING EITHER OIL OR PARCHMENT PAPER OR ELSE BAGELS WILL STICK HORRIBLY.
- In a large pot, (I use an ovular 5 quart pot) add the water, honey, and baking soda from the poaching liquid ingredient section.
- Bring this mixture to a boil.
- Once the poaching liquid is boiling, place 2-3 bagels in at a time depending on the surface area of your pot, and boil each bagel for 30 seconds per side. When the total 1 minute of boiling has elapsed, remove the bagels with a slotted spatula and gently place them on top of the parchment lined baking sheet. Repeat until all bagels are boiled.
- When all bagels are boiled you can now add your toppings. If you are going to use seeded toppings (like sesame seeds or everything seasoning), or toppings that might fall off easily, lightly brush the top of the boiled bagel with egg white before adding the topping. If you are using a cheese topping, you can just sprinkle the cheese right on top.
- Once the bagels are boiled and they have the desired toppings, bake them in the oven for a total time of 15-20 minutes, rotating the baking tray 180° after the first 8 minutes.
- Allow to cool for 30 minutes before enjoying!