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
Whenever I’m Goggeling a new recipe, I go to Sally’s first. Today, it was bagels. House smells fantastic. Can’t wait for them to cool off enough to eat.
My first time making bagels. I looked through several recipes and decided on this one.
They are AWESOME! I don’t have a mixer so kneaded the dough completely by hand. I chilled the dough overnight in the fridge. Super simple recipe and fun to make.
I am looking forward to trying more of your recipes!
A friend recommended this recipe and I’m so excited to try it this weekend! I wanted to make a split batch, half cheese and half sesame seed, but I’m not sure at which point I should split the dough to add the cheese. What do you recommend?
Hi Jessa, we typically would add the cheese when you add the flour, so you could gently add the flour until it’s mostly incorporated, and then divide the dough in two and add cheese to half. Hope you love the bagels!
I loveee this recipe! My bagels are coming out a bit dense though, what should I do to remedy that?
Hi Jordan, we’re so glad you enjoy these! Bagels are meant to be quite dense and chewy. If they seem too tough though, they could have been simply over-baked. Be sure, too, that you’re spooning and leveling your flour (or using a kitchen scale) so that the flour isn’t over measured. Hope this helps for next time!
These are so perfect, quick and easy to make! Soooo delish! I’ll definitely be making them again like..: tomorrow morning lol.
This is my second time making these bagels, they are currently in the oven and I bet my neighbors are jealous because these are a new stable. I am 22 and i’ve followed a lot of your recipes. I love to bake and nobody really taught me besides you, so thank you. Every recipe I’ve followed of yours so far has come out amazing <3
Mine turned out amazing except they didn’t rise very much. They are little too flat. But taste is really good. What do I do so they rise more next time?
Hi Kate, The dough is supposed to be a little soft, so don’t over-flour it. A firmer dough should create puffier bagels for you next time!
I did the everything seasoning and cinnamon raisin ! I do have a question how would you incorporate fruit like blueberries or strawberries?
Hi Tabatha, For blueberry bagels, you can add dried blueberries in when we add the raisins in our Cinnamon Raisin Bagels.
I made this recipe, first time making bagels, I definitely will make them again.
These bagels are amazing! I make them fr gifts for my family. My favourite is cheese bagels. I add about 3/4 cup of grated old cheddar when I am mixing them. Then after I do the egg wash, I top them with about 1 or 2 tablespoons of grated cheddar. Mmmmm!
After they cool, I slice them and put them in a tightly closed ziplock bag and put them in the freezer. They are easy to take out, one at a time and toast.
GREAT RECIPE AND SO EASY TO MAKE. The bagel place up the street from me closed down recently, so I thought I’d try to make them myself. I used my bread machine with no problem. I may let them rise a last time for about 30 min before I boil them for a little more rise, but they were really good, especially for a first try.
I was so happy to see my success in making your bagel recipe for the first time.The was explained step by step and was so easy to follow.I got great compliments on them.I now have a order for one batch.
I want to bake these bagels and then take them to a family vacation, a 10 hour drive away. Then enjoy them over the next few days for breakfast. Should I bake them, freeze them, then let them slowly thaw in a cooler as we drive up? Or should I bake them the day before we leave and keep them at room temperature? What method would keep them the freshest? Or should I abandon this plan all together? I have made this recipe several times before and they are one of the best things that I have ever baked. Thank you for making a complex recipe attainable. I’m looking forward to your response.
Hi Karin, really either way will work! If you have access to a cooler, the freezing and thawing method would give them just a bit more time to be consumed on the other end. So glad this recipe is a favorite for your family!
Sooo good. They were gone in a second at my house. I feel like a professional bagel maker now! Thanks!!
I don’t have a stand alone mixer, but I have a bread machine and a hand mixer. What can I do?
Hi Sharon, we haven’t made this recipe in a bread machine, but other readers have done so with success. The dough will likely get caught in the beaters on a hand mixer, but you can do it all by hand with a wooden spoon and hand kneading. Hope you enjoy the bagels!
This recipe is amazing! I used to buy bagels all the time from Panera but from now on I will be using this instead. Trying to get into making more homemade bread at home to avoid the ingredients in store-bought. This was not even difficult either. Very easy instructions to follow also.
I’ve made bagels before and the results were ho-hum but these ones are so easy to make and the results are incredible. I have barley malt syrup which I use to make Malt Bread and I think that’s a key ingredient in the dough and in the boiling water. I put grated cheese in the dough and on top of the egg wash and the bagels are fantastic every time. I use the whole egg for the egg wash as I couldn’t be bother separating it and it turns out fine.
I can’t stress how simple this recipe really is. Once you’ve made the bagels, you’ll figure out a system to do it efficiently and they really take very little time to make from start to finish. My stand mixer is a good Kitchen Aid one so I let it do all the kneading and I followed the recipe exactly.
Thank you so much for such a great recipe.
I left my dough in the refrigerator for several days (as opposed to the overnight option) and the result was larger bagels. They are great; I added minced onions to the tops just before baking. I might next time add the onions during the baking time, as they sort of burnt. Draping foil over them while baking may help stave off burnt onions.
Oh My God!
I’m so excited over my first time making bagels,so easy and tasty.I I did the over night method because it worked with my schedule and I sent my family pictures and all I heard back was Wow!Thanks so much for perfect recipe No more bagel buying.
How to make a egg bagel
Hi Shirley, We haven’t tested an egg version. If you do fine one you love, let us know!
I made this just now, I did everything, plain, sesame, and asiago cheese. I only left them in for 20 minutes which is too long and the bottoms got too dark. I covered the top half way thru so the sesame and everything seasoning didn’t burn, so I’ll cut the time down to 15 minutes and see how that works, if it still is too hot, I’ll turn down to 400 degrees and just do a test. Instead of baking all at the same time, I’ll do a test run and see what temperature works for my oven. Thanks again.
Thank you SO much for this recipe. They are hands down the best bagels I’d EVER had and your instructions were great. (Might want to mention proofing the yeast though – I know to do that because I’ve been baking for a little bit but a brand new beginner may not know that). I’ve fallen upon very hard times and baking has been very healing for me, so thank you for giving your culinary medicine!
These were easy to make and so delicious!! I used brown sugar instead of the barley and they came out better than the local bagel shop. So good!
I didn’t have honey available so I used agave syrup and they were wonderful. I look forward to trying different boiling ingredients with this recipe.
If there were the option to give six stars, that would still not be enough. These are delicious. So. Delicious. I decided to hunt for some homemade bagels when our beloved Aldi brioche bagels went up to $4 for 5 bagels. This recipe is so easy and quick it’s hardly any more hassle than going to the store and buying our Aldi ones!
With the new year, came the FASTER Act, which requires food companies to declare sesame as one of the now 9 major allergens. Some companies decided that it’s easier to just declare sesame as an ingredient, which knocked a lot of baked goods out of our shopping cart.
This bagel recipe has become a family favorite! We’ve been making a double batch every week (dough on Saturday night, let it rise overnight, shape, boil, bake fresh bagels on Sunday morning). My daughter had never had “everything bagels” because of sesame, so we make our own version with dried onion, dried garlic, dried shallots, chives, poppy seeds, extra sharp grated cheddar, and Maldon sea salt. At this point, I have it down to a routine, and I freeze what we don’t eat after a day or two, providing our family with delicious bagels for the week. Thank you for an excellent recipe!
We’re so glad your family loves these homemade bagels, Gina!
I love this recipe and so many others that Sally has shared! I’ve used this bagel recipe several times now and the bagels always turn out so delicious! My last two batches, however, have turned out slightly flat (when my goal was actually to make them more fluffy). Sally, do you have any tips on determining when the bagels have been proofed enough? Or, any other tips to make the bagels more light and fluffy? Thank you so much!!
And this recipe is 5 stars hands down!!!
Hi Sarah, I’m so glad you enjoy these bagels! For a lighter, fluffier bagel, you could try kneading the dough for longer… perhaps 10 minutes. You could also try bumping up to 3 and 1/4 teaspoons yeast. Additionally, you could extend the rest time in step 6 to about 30-45 minutes. (Instead of just as you wait for the water to boil.)
Love this recipe could I sub the yeast for sourdough starter
We haven’t tested that but please let us know if you do!
This is my go-to recipe for making bagels they are never as pretty as I’d like them to be but the flavor is always great I can’t wait till I can get my hands on some barley malt syrup I usually use the honey and brown sugar but I think the flavor would improve with the syrup… Any tips on how to keep from making them look ugly when I pick them up to put them in the water bath?
I’m so glad you enjoy these bagels! Beyond just being quite careful and gentle, I don’t have a ton of advice when transferring them. Mine don’t usually look the best!
We love blueberry bagels. Can I just add some blueberries to the dough or how would you suggest going about that?
Hi Anna! For blueberry bagels, you can add dried blueberries in when we add the raisins in our Cinnamon Raisin Bagels.
I love this recipe and have made it many times! I’m making again this weekend but have a family member that is vegan. Can I substitute something else for the egg wash at the end?
Hi Chrissy, Instead of egg wash, brush them with some nondairy milk before baking. So glad you’ve been enjoying these bagels!
I’m looking forward to trying these! I don’t have any barley malt syrup on hand, but I do have malt powder (the kind used in some breads and pizza doughs). Could I use it here? If so, what recipe adjustments would you suggest? Thanks!
Hi Kathy, I’ve never tried it. Syrup dissolves easier into the water, so I’m unsure about the powder. The results may not be as intended if you make that swap.
The diastatic (or non-diastatic) malt powder is added to the bagel dough, not the water. For the four cups of flour (why don’t people use grams?), about 10 grams should work (more if you want more malt flavor). The diastatic malt powder will help with browning (as well as flavor). Don’t skip the boiling. You will do fine boiling with honey and/or baking soda (about one tablespoon of baking soda per liter of water). Experiment with the boiling time–30, 60, 90 seconds/side depending on the crispness you desire. Enjoy! A bagel eaten within 30 minutes of the bake is a great joy!
This was my first time making bagels, and they were amazing! The recipe was super easy to follow and they tasted SO good! I am never buying bagels at the grocery store again. If you divide the dough in 8, it makes MASSIVE bagels. So big that you can only fit 4 on the tray for the oven. I do 12 now and it’s perfect!