This easy homemade bagels recipe proves that you can make deliciously chewy bagels in your own kitchen with only a few basic ingredients and baking tools! Watch the video tutorial before you get started.
Today I’m teaching you how to make homemade bagels with only a few basic ingredients and kitchen tools. Today you’re going to tackle any fears of yeast-bread baking—and I’m right here to guide you along! This recipe is such a fan favorite that I included it in my New York Times best-selling cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Bagels, crème brûlée, soft pretzels, and French macarons. What do these foods have in common? Each seem really complicated to make at home. That’s why you’ll often find them on your baking bucket list. But secretly, they couldn’t be easier. Homemade bagels taste fresher, are cheaper, and you’ll earn the bragging rights for from-scratch baking. (P.S. Each of those recipes has a video tutorial!)
Bagels Require a Lean Dough
The first step is to make the bagel dough. You need only 5 ingredients:
- Warm Water: Liquid for the dough.
- Yeast: Allows the dough to rise. I recommend an instant or active dry yeast.
- Barley Malt Syrup or Sugar: Bakeries use barley malt syrup to sweeten the bagel dough—it can be a little difficult to find, but either white or brown sugar is a fine substitute.
- Bread Flour: A high-protein flour is necessary for bagels. We want a dense and chewy texture, not soft and airy like cinnamon rolls. Bread flour is the only solution!
- Salt: Flavor.
Notice how there is no fat? This is called a lean dough. Lean dough is ideal for recipes like focaccia, pizza dough, artisan bread, and cranberry nut no-knead bread. Breads like dinner rolls and homemade breadsticks, and sweet bread, such as cinnamon rolls, include fat for richness and flavor.
You can prepare and knead the dough with a stand mixer or by hand. If you’d like a visual of how to knead the dough by hand, you can watch the full video tutorial in my post on How to Knead Dough.
After the dough has been kneaded, let it rise for 60–90 minutes. Punch it down, then divide into 8 sections and shape into bagels.
How to Shape Bagels
Shaping bagels is easier than it looks. Poke your finger through the center of the ball of dough, then use 2 fingers to widen the hole to about 1.5–2 inches. That’s it! I don’t really do anything fancy and the bagels don’t need to be perfect. Mine never are!
Bagel Water Bath
Bagels must cook for 1 minute on each side in a pot of boiling water. This is actually the most important step in the whole recipe. Why?
- Boiling the bagels gives the bagel its beautiful shine. But looks aren’t everything—this shine is actually a result of the dough’s starches gelatinizing which creates a crisp, shiny coating. I learned this from Cooks Illustrated.
- Boiling bagels cooks the outer layer of dough, which guarantees they’ll hold their shape in the oven.
Add honey or barley malt syrup to the water bath. Why? The sugar adds extra caramelization and crisp. Brushing the boiled bagels with egg wash does the same. Don’t skip either!
Homemade Bagel Varieties
- Plain Bagels: Follow the recipe below. These are excellent as the base for breakfast casserole.
- Cinnamon Raisin Bagels: Follow my cinnamon raisin bagels recipe.
- Everything Bagels: Follow my everything bagels recipe.
- Blueberry Bagels: Follow my blueberry bagels recipe.
- Sesame Seed Bagels: Use 1/3 cup sesame seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. Use more as needed.
- Poppy Seed Bagels: Use 1/3 cup poppy seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. Use more as needed.
- Salt Bagels: Use 1/3 cup coarse sea salt. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. These are pretty salty, so feel free to go lighter on the salt.
- Cheese Bagels (Asiago, Cheddar, etc.): Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese to the dough when you add the flour. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, sprinkle with extra cheese.
- Cinnamon Crunch Bagels: Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough recipe below when you add the salt. Double the cinnamon crunch topping from cinnamon crunch bread. After brushing the bagels with the egg wash in step 9 below, spoon cinnamon crunch topping on each.
Some readers have used this bagel recipe to make whole wheat bagels by replacing half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but I do use some whole wheat flour when making homemade English muffins, another breakfast staple!
Homemade Bagels Recipe
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 8 bagels
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Make fresh bagels right at home with this tested dough recipe. Don’t skip the water bath and egg wash—both provide an extra chewy and golden brown crust. This recipe is also in my cookbook, Sally’s Baking 101.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360g/ml) warm water (between 100–110°F/38–43°C)
- 2 and 3/4 teaspoons (8g) instant or active dry yeast*
- 1 Tablespoon barley malt syrup, granulated sugar, or brown sugar*
- 4 cups (520g) bread flour (spooned & leveled), plus more as needed*
- 2 teaspoons salt
- for coating the bowl: nonstick spray, butter, or oil
For Boiling & Topping
- 2 quarts (1.9L) water
- 1/4 cup (85g) barley malt syrup or honey
- egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, whisk the warm water, barley malt syrup/sugar, and yeast together. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *If you don’t have a stand mixer, use a large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in the next step.*
- Add the flour and salt, and beat on medium speed for 2 minutes, until the dough comes together and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. If it seems too sticky and clings to the sides of the bowl instead of forming a rough mass around the dough hook or spoon, add more flour, 1 Tablespoon at a time, and continue to mix until the dough pulls away from the sides of the bowl. The dough should be stiff and somewhat dry. If it is crumbly and breaks off in pieces, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, mixing well after each addition.
- Knead the dough: When the dough has reached the proper consistency, beat on low speed with the dough hook for an additional 6–7 minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 6–7 minutes, until the dough feels smooth, supple, and elastic. (If you’re new to bread-making, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Lightly grease a large bowl with nonstick spray, butter, or oil. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 1.5–2 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Shape the bagels: When the dough is risen, punch it down to release the air. On a lightly floured surface, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces, about 4 ounces (113g) each. Shape each piece into a ball. Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole, then stretch and widen the hole to about 1.5–2 inches in diameter. Arrange the shaped bagels on the prepared baking sheets. Loosely cover the shaped bagels with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let them rest for 5–10 minutes as you prepare the water bath.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Water bath: Fill a large, wide pot with 2 quarts (1.9L) of water. Whisk in the barley malt syrup or honey. Bring to a boil over high heat, then reduce heat to medium-high. Drop 2 or 3 bagels in at a time, making sure they have enough room to float around. Boil the bagels for 1 minute, then use a spatula to flip each bagel over and boil for 1 minute more. Using a slotted metal spatula, lift the bagels out of the water, letting the excess water drain off. Place the bagels back on the lined baking sheets. Repeat with remaining bagels.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top and around the sides of each bagel. If you’re adding toppings, dip the tops of the bagels into the toppings immediately after applying the egg wash.
- Bake for 20–25 minutes, rotating the pans halfway through, until the bagels are dark golden brown. Allow the bagels to cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to cool completely.
- Slice, toast, top, enjoy however you want! Cover leftover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for up to 4 days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Overnight Make-Ahead Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 4, but allow the dough to rise overnight in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature. The slow rise gives the bagels wonderful flavor! In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let the dough rise for 45 minutes at room temperature. Continue with step 5. I don’t recommend shaping the bagels the night before as they may puff up too much overnight.
- Freezing Make-Ahead Instructions: Baked bagels freeze wonderfully! Freeze them for up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then warm to your liking. You can also freeze the bagel dough. After punching down the dough in step 6, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then punch the dough down again to release any air bubbles. Continue with the rest of step 6.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer | Baking Sheets | Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats | Large Pot (such as a 5- or 6-quart Dutch Oven) | Pastry Brush
- Yeast: Use instant or active dry yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise time may be closer to 2 hours. 1 standard packet is about 2 and 1/4 teaspoons, so you will need a little more than 1 packet of yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Barley Malt Syrup: This ingredient can be a little hard to find, but truly gives bagels that traditional malty flavor we all know and love. Most natural food stores carry it. I offer alternatives such as brown sugar in the dough and honey in the water bath; I’ve made bagels with these alternatives AND with barley malt syrup and honestly love both versions.
- Bread Flour: Bagels require a high protein flour. Bread flour is a must. Here are all my recipes using bread flour if you want more recipes to use it up. All-purpose flour can be used in a pinch, but the bagels will taste flimsy and won’t be nearly as chewy.
- Bread Machine: Place the dough ingredients into the pan of the machine. Program the machine to dough or manual, then start. After 9–10 minutes, the dough will be quite stiff. Allow the machine to complete its cycle, then continue with the recipe.
- Bagel Varieties: See blog post above for various add-ins and toppings. Note that the toppings are added after the egg wash in step 9. Some readers have used this bagel recipe to make whole wheat bagels by replacing half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but let me know if you do!
- Halve or Double: You can halve this dough recipe by simply halving all of the dough ingredients (do not halve the water or honey for the boiling step). No changes to the recipe instructions. For best taste and texture and to not overwhelm your mixer with excess heavy dough, I do not recommend doubling this dough recipe. Instead, make separate batches of dough.
- Adapted from a mix of recipes I’ve tried: King Arthur Flour, Cook’s Illustrated, and Complete Book of Breads
Reader Comments and Reviews
Love this recipe. I can never eat store make bagels again!
Can you post a variation for sundried tomato, and/or sundried tomato and basil? My favorite shop used to make a great sundried bagel, but alas, no more.
Hi Keith, We haven’t tested this exact flavor combination but I would suggest adding 1/2 cup of sundried tomatoes and basil (the dried kind, not the kind packed in oil) to the dough when you add the flour. Let us know if you try it!
Amazing recipe! I actually wanted “bagel thins” to make egg, bacon, and cheese sandwiches- so I halved the recipe and still made 8 thin bagels. I also used half wheat flour and half bread flour. They still puffed up very nicely with a great consistency!
Thank you! I am not a baker. Your great directions and recipe resulted in my husband saying, “These are the best bagels I have ever eaten in my life!” I was shocked. My kids laughingly tease me about my cooking as they know my talents are in other areas. I really appreciate your effort and talent.
I would love if you made a recipe for egg bagels! The plain bagels that are yellow from egg yolk. I only trust you as a baker and don’t want to make one from another person/site. 🙂
Delicious bagels, every time! Super easy recipe! Any chance you have an egg bagel recipe? I didn’t see one in the variations.
Hi Cheryl, We are so happy you enjoyed these! We haven’t tried egg bagels yet, but let us know if you test anything.
Made these today (4 plain, 4 everything) for a brunch with New Yorkers! They loved them! I followed the overnight instructions to a tee. Bagels were gorgeously puffed and perfectly chewy! For anyone complaining about this recipe.. please note it is likely user error.. no shame in that either- happens to all of us- buuut don’t let those reviews discourage you. I am a decent baker but have never tried bagels before and these were fun and straightforward.
I am knew to the bagel making process and found that the dough was very, very dry and stiff. It was pretty hard to form. It’s resting right now so hopefully it springs back. Any tips on how to prevent this from happening again?
Hi Adrian, A dough’s consistency relies on many variables including how you measure the flour, brand of flour, even the weather and humidity in the air. While this should be a soft dough, it sounds like yours could benefit from less flour. If you try this recipe again try reducing your flour.
Hi Sally thank you for shaRING YOUR RECIPE . GOD BLESS AND HOPE TO WATCH YOU AGAIN .
I made this recipe for my first time ever baking experience. I’m a bagel lover, being from NY, and these came out absolutely amazing! My only mistake was it looked like there was so much dough that I made 12 of them. So they ended up much smaller than I expected. Oh well. Lesson learned! But these were great!!
Sally never disappoints with her recipes, and even though she is my first choice for any baked good, I almost never comment on recipes. However, this recipe was ridiculously easy and possibly the best bagels I’ve ever had. I made the dough the night before, and the flavor is unparalleled. I will not be trying any other bagel recipes. This is it. I’m on my first one as I just baked them, and I’m already contemplating making a second batch. Seriously. They are chewy, fluffy, soft, with just enough salt, honey/brown sugar, and now a staple for a weekend breakfast. I want to make these for all my friends and family. Everyone needs to know about these bagels. My only issue is that I wish the recipe yielded more, but I know doubling baking recipes can be tricky/sometimes not have successful results.
I’ve been playing with different bagel recipes for a few weeks. This is the best recipe! If your bagels are flat try letting them rise after forming them into a bagel before boiling them. Handle with care when you boil them. Overhanded will cause flattening! Use flour for sticky dough. I did 425 for 25 minutes. Perfect!
BEST RECIPE! Just amazing and my whole family is delighted. AMAZING!
These exceeded my expectations by a mile. I’m a pretty decent baker, and as long as a recipe is good, I can usually make something turn out properly. This recipe was absolutely perfect.
This was my first time making bagels, and although some of them were a little ugly, they were some of the best tasting bagels I’ve ever had in my life. My wife would’ve eaten all 8 in one sitting if I didn’t stop her. I can’t wait to make them again and try some other flavours!
Nope! First they bagels are super ugly (they’re fat and short) and the don’t taste anything like a good bagel… i don’t recommend this recipe!
I don’t know what you did wrong, but I’m sure that you did. These turned out great for me and tasted like some of the best bagels I’ve ever had. I don’t know what you meant by “fat and short” either, because mine were the same dimensions as any other bagel I’ve ever had, except for Montreal bagels which are flatter.
First time making bagels and they were great!! Very impressed with myself lol…thanks for the recipe!
I used this recipe to make plain bagels with cheddar on top. They came out great and were hit in my house. The recipe calls to leave the bagels on for 1 minute on each side, I would recommend 30-45 seconds on each side. However, recipe was so easy to follow. I am making cinnamon raisin next!
Excellent bagels! We live overseas where the bagels here are more like bread. I looked for a good recipe online instead and found this one. The first time I made them, they were perfect and better than the New York bagel bakeries we had in Chicago. They continue to be perfect and I’ve shared this link with anyone who has tasted the ones I’ve baked. Thank you so much for posting this recipe for us all to enjoy!
I made these for the first time yesterday, and they turned out delicious! Thanks so much for showing how easy good home made bagels can be!
Hi! I was wondering what you lift the bagels out of the water/honey mixture with?? I used a chopstick and it leaves a small indent. Any suggestions?? Thanks!
Hi Janet, try using a slotted spoon or slotted spatula!
These bagels are amazing!!!
Can they be made with Almond Flour for our friends that cannot eat bread flour?
Thanks!
Hi Thom, No we don’t recommend almond flour as it has very different properties. We haven’t tested this with any gluten free substitutes but let us know if you try.
Thank you for the feedback!!
I have made the basic recipe a number of times now, including the cinnamon bagel recipe, and they always come out perfect!! They are the first bagels that could compete with those from the famous H&H bagels that was in NYC for so many years!!
I’ve been making these for months with great chewy results, overnight rise in fridge. But the bagels are often too flat, not tall/rounded enough. The instant yeast is ok, 1 hour warm up wait after fridge. Any suggestions?
Was the dough particularly sticky? A little more flour will help for next time– a firmer dough should create puffier bagels. Did they puff up during the boiling step?
Another tip is to not let your dough rise too long (you want it to double in size). Yeast recipes/breads will deflate if the dough has risen/proofed too long. I hope this helps!
I’ve tried that I think my yeast is just not activating at least not fully because I tried it the other day but the yeast fizzed a little for like 2 minutes not even but when I came back 2 minutes later no sign of the yeast being active so I think I’ve figured out the problem now
I’ve made all kinds of bread successfully for 40 years and bagels is the one thing I haven’t been able to get right. They collapse after the boiling stage and turn into little wrinkled hockey pucks. Any idea why and what I can do about it?
very good recipe I have made it multiple times but recently I’ve been having issues the dough barely rises and is very dense that it sinks to the bottom of the pot and come out very chewy not in the good way like half raw even after cooking them past the recommended time still trying though love the recipe i’ve had good batches from it before just seem to be messing up recently
Hi Leah, I’m concerned your yeast may be inactive or the dough isn’t rising long enough. There should be enough air in the shaped bagels that they float. Try again with new yeast and let the dough rise a little longer in step 4.
I added a little sugar to my yeast and it really helped the dough rise
Hi Emily, There are a lot of variances that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. There’s nothing wrong with adding just a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency. Just remember that the dough is supposed to be a little soft, so don’t over-flour it. Flour your hands and work surface well when you are shaping them. I hope this helps!
Yeast grows in the dough, so it is ALWAYS possible to add less yeast and just raise the rising time (growing time). I typically make all my bread with about half the typical yeast and just rise longer. As she says, a long rise improves flavor anyway. (Conversely if you are in a hurry you can add more yeast for a shorter rising time. I’ve seen fast raising recipes use as much as a tbsp in a loaf! It’ll just taste more yeasty!)
Hi Sally
I’ve substituted half the flour for whole wheat twice now. The whole wheat bagels are delicious!
Hi Sally! I just made this recipe for the first time and I officially love making bagels now. As always, I appreciate how you make things look so easy and un-intimidating! 1 quick question: have you ever adapted this recipe to make egg bagels, or do you have any plans to do so in the future? I imagine I could not just add eggs to the dough and expect it to work out the same, given the added water content. Let me know. Thanks!
Hi Rachel, We are so happy you enjoyed these! We haven’t tried egg bagels yet, but let us know if you test anything.
I had them made before I read about the yeast! Oh,well next time.
Hi, I want to know if I can use all purpose flour? I live in Chile, South America and bread flour is not available in this area?
Hi Maria! You can use all-purpose flour in a pinch. The bagels won’t be as chewy, but they’ll still turn out!
My dough came out too moist after mixing, had to keep re-oiling my fingers to shape the bagels, and then I over baked them. But, in spite of all these mishaps, the flavor was pretty good! Can’t wait to turn these pandemic bagels into redemption bagels.