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 made it and tastes good. However, my bagel is kind of flat!! Any suggestions on what I did wrong. I followed the instructions to the “T”. Thanks.
Hi Lenny, if they’re coming out flat, they may be rising for too long and deflating. Try letting the dough rise for a shorter amount of time to prevent this. Our baking with yeast guide may be a helpful resource as well!
Hi Sally, I think this is great recipe, especially for a first time bagel baker like me. My bagels came out really chewy on the inside, is that normal? I also had really sticky dough and it was hard to shape the bagels. It is quite humid where I am.
Hi Anamika, yes, you’ll want the bagels to be quite chewy! However, the weather and humidity can play a big role in how yeast breads perform. If you find the dough is excessively sticky, you can add a bit more flour (1 Tablespoon at a time) to help bring the dough to a kneadable and shapeable consistency. Hope this helps!
Loved it
Love these bagels. The first time few times they came out great and perfectly salted. Then the past two times I’ve had trouble. About a month ago, I made them and found them to be way too salty. This time, they are not salty enough haha. To clarify, should these be made with table salt or kosher salt? I currently have Morton Kosher Salt. Any help would be appreciated! Love your recipes!
Hi Joelle, Our recipes always use table salt unless otherwise specified.
This was my first time. My bagels didn’t float in the water bath and they still looked doughy once they were done. I’m not sure where I went wrong
Hi Brittnie, There may not be enough boiling water in the bath step if they aren’t floating. (Or the water isn’t hot enough.)
This recipe is amazing. It was my first time making bagels from scratch and was a success! I did have to knead it longer to get the window pane affect but was only 5 more minutes. Do you by chance have the nutrition info for this recipe?
Hi Tori, 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 Hope you enjoy the bagels!
Easy to follow and cant wait to try out this recipe! 🙂 By the way, may I know how much carbs and protein content each bagel in this recipe has?
Hi Nicole, 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 Hope you enjoy the bagels!
are these ok to store and reheat? I need to make these ahead of time and only want to head them at the time of serving. Tips for this?
Hi Tegan, yes, store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. Then reheat to your liking.
I’ve made these as written several times and they turn out great! I was wondering if you had recommendations for making a pumpkin bagel? I imagine I could add pumpkin puree but I’m worried how much moisture it would add.
Hi Jacqui, Thank you so much and we’re so glad you enjoy these homemade bagels! We wish we could help, but we’ve never tried making pumpkin bagels. You’d likely need to *slightly* adjust the liquid and add more flour if you add some pumpkin puree. Let us know if you test anything!
Super simple and absolutely delicious!
Do you have a recipe for blueberry bagels?
Hi Jfeaster, for blueberry bagels, we recommend using dried blueberries and following our cinnamon raisin bagels recipe, swapping the raisins for blueberries. The moisture from fresh blueberries is too much for the bagel dough. Hope this helps!
I love this recipe. I would love to turn it into mini bagels for my kids so instead of 8, make 16 smaller bagels. Would I use the same oven instructions or would I need a lower temp or shorter baking time, or do you know? Thanks!
Hi Erin, we haven’t tested this recipe to make mini bagels but you certainly can! Bake until they are dark golden brown as pictured and perhaps start checking at 15-16 minutes. Hope you enjoy!
Hi Sally. This is my go to recipe for bagels. I rotate between sesame, your cinnamon raisin and the cheese for my husband. They always come out perfect! I have modified it a bit with great results, though. After the 90 minute rise, I shape the bagels, put them on a sheet pan and into the fridge to cold retard overnight. I bake them the next morning and they never fail me. I have tried to venture into sourdough now, but still haven’t been able to make a sourdough bagel as good as this one. Have you made a sourdough bagel and do you have any tips? I have made many recipes from your site….your site is the first one I go to when I’m looking for a special recipe!
Hi Tonya, We wish we could help but we have never tried making sourdough bagels before. If you ever find good directions for making them, let us know!
THANK YOUUU! I needed to find a way to let them rise in the refrigerator, but I tried as the recipe said to without shaping, and when I took it out the next day I left it out for an hour and a half and it never raised. When I do the boil and put onto the parchment lined sheet they always look wrinkly and not smooth, did you ever find that happening and did rising the shaped bagels in the refrigerator help solve that?
Help!! The flavor is AMAZING but the bottoms burn. I have made them 8 times and this last time I baked at 400 for only 18 minutes.
Hi Elisabeth, If the bottoms of your bagels are burning, try lowering the oven temperature a bit more 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). Finally, are you using an especially thin or dark baking sheet? Those can both cause burning. Thanks so much for giving these a try!
Elizabeth H, if your bottoms are burning, try adding an empty cookie sheet to the bottom rack, just below your bagels. It works as a heat shield to keep your bagel pan from scorching. I do this when baking my sourdough in a Dutch oven, as it always burns on the bottom. Works great!
I loved this recipe! We didn’t rise them (so I know we are a bit crazy), but it totally worked without rising them as well! Super tasty and by far my favorite bagels ever! Thank you!!!! I love your recipes so much!
They were delicious! First time using yeast. Easier than I thought.
Great results!
Why does my bagels stick to the parchment paper
Hi Jack, it sounds like the temperature was off for your batch or it could be from using a thin baking pan. For next time, you can try lowering the temperature a bit and that should help prevent any burning/sticking on the bottoms. Thanks for giving these a try!
Corn meal works great for bagels to get them to not stick
Can whole wheat flour be used instead of bread flour
Hi Jim, We would recommend replacing only half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour, if desired. Bagels require a high protein flour, so you will definitely want some bread flour in the recipe. Let us know how they turn out for you!
BEST bagels I have ever tried – they are everything one could want in a bagel – crispy on the outside, soft on the inside while still leaving that slightly sweet aftertaste – PERFECTION
Sick with Influenza B the whole week already but had a craving for thos. Came out perfect…
This recipe was perfect
Best bagel recipe ever! I tried to make bagels a few years ago and they were so bad. These were perfect. I’ll never purchase store bought again!
My first go at bagels and this is probably the best bread I’ve ever made! I proved @30C for 1.5hours, I didn’t have any eggs so glazed with milk.
I really enjoyed this recipe! it came out better the second time around. My only concern is that they get chewy by the next day which makes them tough to eat. Any recommendations?
Hi GV, these are definitely chewy bagels and will seem even more so after the first day. Toasting them will help, and you can also keep the bag or container you store them in open just a crack to help keep some moisture from forming inside. We’re glad you loved the bagels!
Making the dough four times and it’s coming out so sticky! I’m using the same amount of water(106°) and same yeast mixture with king Arthur’s flour. Any advice? TIA!!
Hi Susie, is it particularly hot/humid where you live by chance? The weather and humidity can play a big role in how yeast breads perform. If you find the dough is excessively sticky, you can add a bit more flour (1 Tablespoon at a time) to help bring the dough to a kneadable and shapeable consistency. Hope this helps!
When I placed the bagels in the pot of boiling water they did not float. I used bread flour (Pillsbury) I noticed the dough did not rise much either. Any thoughts
Hi Canella, There may not be enough boiling water in the bath step if they aren’t floating. (Or the water isn’t hot enough.) We’d also double check the expiration date on your yeast if it doesn’t seem to be rising. Also be sure that when activating the yeast, that the warm water isn’t too warm to the point where it kills the yeast.
Cooked mine for 20 minutes and came out very crispy any advise?
Hi Hailey, was the overall texture of the bagel crispy? They should be crispy on the outside and chewy on the inside. You can always try decreasing the bake time by just a minute or so for next time.
This recipe works perfect in Florida where it is difficult to make bread
Easy peasy! Lovely golden colour. Good texture.
I add barley malt syrup to the dough (not the water bath). They taste more New York that way. And I put a baking stone in the oven (heated, 1 hour before baking).
Great recipe! So refreshing to find an American cook giving measurements in grams – you have no idea how confusing your cup system is to us Europeans….