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
I just tried this recipe, and it was my first attempt at making bagels. The flavor was delicious and they were nice and chewy! I did the overnight rise in the fridge. The only issue I had was lots of creases/seams in my dough when I went to shape the bagels and I couldn’t get them to go away. Any suggestions to help with this are welcome, and I look forward to making them again!
Hi SP, We are so happy that you enjoyed this recipe! You can watch the video above to see exactly how we shape the bagels (starting right around the 1:30 mark). They certainly are not perfect – but more of a rustic shape/look!
Based on years of making bread, knead the dough longer, this helps the gluten form better. Also, roll the balls more – until they are nice and smooth before making the holes. Place carefully in water bath.
I will never buy bagels again, this was so easy and they tasted amazing.
I made these bagels last week (2 batches). I used everything bagels seasoning on one and to the other I added Asiago cheese. My family went crazy! Said they were better than any they had ever had out! I will never buy bagels again. It’s easy, cheaper than a bagels store and better quality! I think. I’ll make some now.
The best bagel I ever ate. Visiting in Quebec and found a maple, pepper rub and mixed it with minced garlic OMG!!!!
These turned out amazing! First time making bagels and they were surprisingly easy. I’m from canada and all purpose flour worked just fine instead of bread flour.
Because we in Canada grow high grade milling wheat. Mine turned out excellent too but I added flax and oat bran as well.
First time making bagels, I tried three recipes, this one is absolutely the best. Bonus pints, people are so impressed when you make bagels. Do you have an egg bagel version? I tried one from another site and ended up with a dinner roll texture/taste.
Hi Christy, we’re so glad you’re enjoying our bagel recipe! We haven’t tested an egg version. If you do fine one you love, let us know!
Thank you for this recipe! I was wondering if I opt for the overnight method would I still want to use instant yeast or would it not matter?
It won’t make a difference. Enjoy!
I only have one baking sheet, is it ok to let half of the uncooked bagels sit on the counter while I bake the first batch? Thanks!
Absolutely!
We are in Bulgaria and there are no bagels to be found here! And our family of five was craving bagels – this recipe delivered to us a wonderful American breakfast 🙂 they turned out wonderful. As a hobby chef and baker, I was able to get a good feel for the dough, because I normally eyeball everything dough-related…
Great proportions, perfect amount of boil and just the right temp I bake at (oh, and thank you for the metric versions 🙂
We used to live on a sailboat and I have used some of your recipes while sailing as well – you have been all over the world 😉
Cheers!
This is a great recipe, but why the egg wash? The bagel toppings adhere after boiling. They glisten after baking with/without the egg wash. Just not sure why the egg wash is really needed. The the other thing I found helpful is to add some barley malt to the dough and the boiling liquid. Imparts a really nice color/flavor to the bagels!
I made these this morning and they were AMAZING!!! WOW! I love how my bagels are not perfectly shaped but they taste better than anything I could get at a bagel shop. I appreciated your note about the types of yeast. I was using active dry and I started to panic because my dough did not double in size after an hour. I thought I did something wrong until I read your note that the type of yeast I was using takes longer. Thank you for all of your recipes. I’ve made many of them and I’ve never failed. Thank you… thank you… thank you! Your scone recipe is always a hit at my house but now I think the bagels will become the new most requested.
Does anyone else have major problems with the bagels sticking to the parchment paper? I’ve tried this recipe about 5 times, once with cornmeal on the bottom which I didnt like to eat. I’ve tried drip-drying the bagels before placing them on the parchment, but they still stick so much I have to cut the bottoms off. What am I doing wrong?
Hi Ayla! Do you happen to have silicone baking mats? They’re really the best to prevent the bagels from sticking.
Even though I am an experienced baker, I always learn so much from your recipes and looks to see what Sally thinks when I am trying something new. I added molasses and baking soda to the boiling water. I really liked the results.
I made these bagels for the first time this past weekend. They are the best bagels I have eaten in a long time quick and easy recipe . They flew off the table making my second batch today.
My daughter really wants to make “rainbow bagels” just like the kind they sell at the bagel shop. I was wondering when you would recommend adding food coloring?
Hi Kate, I would divide the dough into however many colors you want after you mix it together, and then knead the color into the different doughs in the kneading step. Gel food coloring would be best.
I was weary, I’ve attempted bagels twice before and some how things went wrong at the boiling stage. This recipe helped me make the perfect crusty, chewy, soft bagels
Love this recipe! I have made it several times as written. Today I ran out of time to bake so I proofed them in the fridge then followed with step 6 on. They seemed a little doughy then previous times, has anyone else felt this way? Maybe I need to keep them in the oven a few minutes longer? Still delicious though!
Thank you Sally, without your confidence I would never have tried to make bagels at home. You have been a huge source of inspiration to me in many ways with many recipes!
This is a wonderful recipe, especially for a beginner yeast bread maker. I’ve been baking and making bread for many years and while this is a little different from a traditional bagel recipe, it’s actually my family’s favourite that I make. Couple of things worth noting that may be helpful to others: I find these bagels HUGE! My cheese bagels came out so big they barely fit in the toaster! LOL! I think I will divide the dough into 10 pieces next time and see if that is a better size for us. The second tip is if you have a bread machine, try using your dough setting. I’ve made these a number of times by hand and then the other day I used my bread machine’s dough setting and they turned out even better with less manual labour!
How exactly do you use the bread machine? Do you do step 1, let it sit in the bread machine pan for 5 minutes. Then push ” dough” to cover steps 2, 3 and 4? Or do you take the dough out for step 4? Novice here. Thank you.
I’ve been making more bread since the price of good bread is out of control. I can’t wait to try this recipe!
Do you have the nutritional information for this?
Hi Alyssa, 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
These were AMAZING. It was my first time making homemade bagels. I added everything bagel seasoning on top after step 9. The only issue I had was shaping them and it wasn’t anything to do with this recipe. I just need to find a technique that works for me. They still turned out great and held their shape. The taste was phenomenal! 10/10.
I’ve made this recipe twice, and each time the bagels came out perfect. Thanks so much!
I would like to try making these with high gluten flour. Would more water be needed, more yeast?
Hi Joanna, we haven’t tested these bagels with a high-gluten flour, so we’re unsure of the results. You may have to tweak some of the other ingredients. Let us know if you give it a try.
I am on my 3rd batch of bagels. Today was cheesy jalapeño. I love this recipe and have already previously also rated it 5 stars. But I have a question: I am using the barley malt syrup and it is rather pricey. Can I reuse the water for another batch on a different day? Can’t seem to find an answer. Thank you!
Hi Cindy! So glad you are enjoying these bagels, and I’m just seeing your question now! I don’t think I’ve ever reused the water before. I imagine it would be fine a few days later, refrigerating it during that time, and then boiling again.
I went ahead and saved the barley malt syrup water after my last batch. I kept it in the fridge. I reused it today. There was some sediment at the bottom which I poured out. The leftover liquid equaled about 1 .5 quarts. I added enough liquid to equal the 2 quarts and added a tablespoon of brown sugar. Bagels came out great! I will be saving my malt syrup in the future and saving a few pennies. 😉
Amazing bagels!! Thanks for an excellent recipe.
The recipe was straightforward and I followed it exactly and the bagels came out amazing! I am not a baker and I was so thrilled with how beautiful they looked that I sent a picture to my daughter, who is an outstanding home baker and is the one who told me about your site. (your chocolate chip cookies are amazing by the way). On my second batch and experimenting with the everything bagel topping. Next cheesy jalapeño. Fingers crossed. Thank you, my new favorite recipe.
I’ve loved every recipe I’ve tried from your blog! Anytime I search a recipe and see one of yours, it’s my first choice.
These bagels did not disappoint! I’ve got my third batch in the oven now. The only deviation I’ve made from the recipe is to generously sprinkle shredded parmesan on top before baking. So good! We love whipping up a pesto cream cheese to spread all over them and they remind us of a favorite bakery that unfortunately closed down.
I’ve tried both the overnight and the regular rise. They’re both delicious, but I prefer the overnight method. The dough has greater elasticity and I think the finished product has a slightly better chew to it. But either way, these are the best! Thank you for another amazing recipe!
So glad you enjoyed the bagels, Lisa!
I never thought I’d be able to make homemade bagels until I found this recipe. The instructions are so clear that it gave me the confidence I needed to give it a try. I’ve made this recipe at least 5 times now and it’s a big hit every single time. I love how straightforward Sally makes her recipes. I gain the confidence to give new recipes a try because of how easy Sally makes it. Thank you, Sally!
My Husband & I were just recently talking about making homemade bagels, I immediately told him “Absolutely not, I could never do that”. I searched online how to do it & your recipe came up ..Your tutorial & instructions made it look so easy & gave me the confidence to try. I am making my 1st batch now, it’s been so fun & I am so excited to see how they turn out! Thank You!!
Sally, I just made these for maybe the 20th time. This is our 3rd Christmas brunch where they’ve been a star! I just made a second batch…just for my husband, a self declared bagel expert who ranks these as #1 of all the (many) bagels he’s tried. The recipe is easy, ALWAYS consistently good and just a 5 star hit all around!! Thank YOU!