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
My bagels turned out hard. What did I do wrong?
Hi Tammy! We’re happy to help troubleshoot. How did you measure your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or weight measure) to ensure the right amount — too much can make the bagels overly dry and hard. Over kneading the dough can overdevelop the gluten and cause tough bagels. Finally, if the bagels are slightly over baked, that can also make them a bit hard. Hope these tips help for next time!
I always add flour just until the dough doesn’t stick to my fingers and can be made into a ball. I always end up adding more flour than the recipe asks for but I blame that on grinding my own flour.
This recipe was a success the first time! I used dark brown sugar and a packet of active yeast. For the additional yeast called for, I used Caputo dry yeast, which is generally used for pizza. I let it rise 90 minutes. I don’t have a mixer so I mixed and kneaded by hand; kneaded about 5 minutes. I did the water bath and egg wash as suggested and they were phenomenal! I live at about 4500′ elevation and did not adjust for elevation and it was AOK. Good luck!
Fabulous and easy!
This recipe is fantastic. I’ve made three times- including rising the dough in the refrigerator and the bagels were perfect. I knead by hand because I prefer too. The sticky dough folks are discussing maybe because you are not kneading longer enough. When I made mine last night I kneaded for a full 12 minutes and had beautiful results. Thank you for sharing the recipe.
I tried making this recipe and they turned out pretty great, but never really browned. The bottoms got quite dark, but the tops never went past light beige, even with the full 25 minutes. I did both the boiling with honey and the egg wash – do I need more egg?
Hi Cyrene! They may have needed a few minutes longer to bake and get golden brown. If the bottoms of your bagels are burning, try lowering the oven temperature a bit or even flipping them over halfway through baking (if you’re making plain bagels). Also, wait for the bagels to somewhat dry before baking. It could be the water from the boiling step that is burning on the bottoms (you can dab up extra water with a paper towel if needed). Thanks so much for giving these a try!
I made this recipe over Easter – the bagels were amazing – even though I used All purpose flour and I kneaded all in my machine. Best bagel recipe I’ve found!!!!
My only go to recipe for bagels! They are perfect everytime and we have so much fun making our own variety packs!
I started making these bagels during our quarantine inn2020–and I’m still making them now in 2022! These bagels are delicious and pretty easy. My whole family loves them!
I need to double this recipe and did read the notes – but I want both batches to be warm and fresh together, at the same time (Eid, a Muslim festival, is coming up, and I want to make these bagels for my family). However, the rising time makes this pretty impossible to do. Any tips?
Hi Amal, You can complete the first three steps of the recipe, for step 4 place your dough in a different bowl to rise, and then get started on a second batch. That way the second batch is only a short time behind the first!
This recipe is amazing! I made plain the first time around and yesterday, I added everything bagel seasoning on some, and added cheddar cheese to the dough and top when baking. Delicious! Thank you so much for sharing. Have you, or have any readers, calculated any nutition facts, such as calories, for the plain bagels? Thanks again!
We’re so glad you enjoyed these bagels, Debbie! We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
Hey! Thought I would let you know that when I baked them on parchment paper that they did stick to it, maybe baking them on wire racks would work better? Bu you’re the expert just thought I would let you know! Loved the recipe!!
Make sure the bagels aren’t too wet on the parchment paper, otherwise the water could cause them to stick. So glad you enjoyed this recipe!
Hi ya, can these be frozen for use at a later date?
Hi Carol, 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.
They look great but the bottoms burnt black! Are they not supposed to go straight onto the parchment lined sheets from the water bath?
Hi Carrie, if the bottoms of your bagels are burning, try lowering the oven temperature a bit or even flipping them over halfway through baking (if you’re making plain bagels). Also, wait for the bagels to somewhat dry before baking. It could be the water from the boiling step that is burning on the bottoms (you can dab up extra water with a paper towel if needed). Thanks so much for giving these a try!
Thank you so much for sharing this easy to follow recipe Sally. I made these today and I LOVE it! It was super easy and so good I’m never buying bagels again. Thanks again.
Hi Sally! I made Everything bagels following your recipe. They only rose for an hour, and everything seemed to work, but after baking they got way too tough. More like jerky than bagels. Any tips for a softer bagel?
Hi Kez, bagels are meant to be white dense and chewy. If they seem too tough, they could have been simply over-baked.
I just made this recipe, it was so easy to follow the instructions. I added Serrano chili,s to spice it up a bit and a little sharp white cheddar just before baking. I will definitely make these begals again and again.
This was so easy and delicious. I already memorized the recipe after just one time making. I did some with cheese and some with everything seasoning. They were a hit and I don’t think I’ll ever buy bagels again when it’s this simple to make. Thank you!
hi sally!
I don’t have a bread hook, but I do have a paddle attachment. Can I use the paddle attachment to mix the dough ingredients instead?
Thanks,
–Cheyanne
Hi Cheyanne, You can simply bring the dough together with a wooden spoon or spatula if you don’t have a dough hook.
It was my first time making anything like this and they turned out perfect! Thank you so much!
Hi sally
I was wondering if I could use a bread machine to make the dough
Hi Lisa, We haven’t tested it, but other bakers have reported success using a bread machine with this dough – let us know if you give it a try!
Hello, i love making bagels with this recipe they turn out great everytime. Just a few questions, i use a bread machine to make this recipe once the bread machine has finished its cycle do i still need to place it in a greased bowl to rise or will the bread machine have done this for me? Also my dough always seems to be quite sticky should i add less water?
Hi Sophia, We don’t have a bread machine to test it but it would depend on what settings you use. You can use your machine to just mix and knead the dough, and then let it rise in a bowl as we do, or keep it in the machine to rise and then continue with the recipe after that step. Let us know what you try!
Your bagels are easy to make and fantastic as taste. Thank you very much for the wonderful recipe
Mine didn’t brown! Did I not put enough egg wash on them?
Hi Alex, did you do the water bath as well as the egg wash? Both steps are critical for the golden brown crust. They also may have needed a few minutes longer to bake.
I am excited to try this recipe. I am wondering, if I use a breadmaker to make the dough, what number step do I jump to? i.e do I skip the kneading and rising and go straight to forming the bagels? Thank you very much for letting me know:-)
Hi JB! We haven’t tested it, but other bakers have reported success using a bread machine with this dough – let us know if you give it a try!
Dough was too hard. I tried like 3 times to make this but it just doesn’t work. ♀️♀️
Do not let them rise in the bread machine. Remove as soon as kneading is done and put on a lightly floured surface and cover with a bowl. Let stand for 15 mins.
I have always want to try making Bagels but thought it would be too difficult. This recipe is easy and incredibly delicious, my family loved them. I will definitely make these again.
I would like to try to make mini bagels, any idea what the cooking time would be for mini bagels ( have the size for a total of 16 bagels?)
Thank you in advance for any advise you can give about mini bagels!
Stephanie
So glad you enjoy this recipe, Stephanie, thank you! I haven’t used this dough to make mini bagels but you can certainly try it. Bake until they are dark golden brown as pictured and perhaps start checking at 15-16 minutes.
I have been wanting to learn to make bagels at home this recipe did not fail. Thank you. I did use half whole wheat bread flour and half white. They are delicious. Thank you
I just finished making two batches of your bagel recipe — one cheese and the other sesame seed. I used the rise in the fridge method, which turned out great. When the dough is removed from the fridge it says to let the dough sit for 45 minutes. After that amount of time my dough was still really cold. Should I be dividing the dough while it is still cold or should I wait until it’s warmed up? After shaping the bagels I put them in a slightly warmed oven to warm them up. I also had trouble with the dough retaining the hole — is there a trick to retaining the hole?
They baked up well — not as pretty as Sally’s — but definitely good enough to eat.
Hi Donna, the dough can still be cold when you shape the bagels. In fact, they are easier to shape when cold. Make the hole a little wider next time and avoid keeping them in a warm oven as they rest because they will puff up too much (and may lose the hole shape). Again, the dough can be cold. I hope this helps!
Hi Sally, I really enjoy and love making homemade bagels; however, I have an issue with them becoming wet/moist on top. Not sure why as I let them completely cool before trying to store them. I have stored them in a Ziploc bag and optionally a Rubbermaid type container. They never seem to be dry on top like store-bought bagels are. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Glenda, the best way to store them is to tightly cover and store at room temperature – make sure to completely cool them before sealing. They will get a little moisture on them but always toast up perfectly! You could try leaving the container open just a crack to prevent the sticky tops. Hope this helps!
Bagels store best in tightly closed paper bags.
Hello, these have been delicious. I’m curious, I’ve made them twice and they grow big in the water bath and when they come out of the oven. Then they deflate. They’re tastily, just curious why they would go more flat instead of staying rounded.
Hi Colleen, 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. Hope this helps!
Just a question. I noticed there is no baking soda in the water bath. Other recipes include it. Just curious as to why this one doesn’t? Also, how long is too long if I am rising these in the refrigerator. I want to make the dough later today and bake tomorrow afternoon. Is that too long?
Can’t wait to try these!
Hi Julie, We add honey or barley malt syrup to the water bath. The sugar in these adds extra caramelization and a crisp exterior. See note number 1 for make ahead instructions. That should be fine! Enjoy!
I used the honey and they were crispy on the outside and super chewy inside. Very filling.
Can I add in sun dried tomatoes in a jar in the bagels
We don’t see why not! Make sure to pat dry to remove excess oil/moisture that could interfere with the dough texture. Some herbs or cheese would also be delicious with sun dried tomatoes. Let us know what you try!
I don’t own a stand mixer; I don’t bake often so I’ve never needed one.. is there a workaround or is the stand mixer a must-have for making these bagels?
Hi Cynthia, You can definitely make these without a mixer. You can prepare the dough by hand, and kneading the dough by hand is imperative anyway (it’s too heavy for a mixer).
Hi, I just made these this morning without a stand mixer. Once I incorporated the dry ingredients in, I kneaded it by hand for around 6-7 minutes. I also used an additional 20 grams of flour and it was perfect.