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 was so excited to try this but my bottoms burned a little 🙁 how can I prevent that?! I used olive oil to coat pan instead of parchment paper (parchment only went up to 420 so didn’t want to catch on fire). Beautiful on top but the bottoms are toasty. Any thoughts? Other thank that thank you for this easy recipe!!! I’m so excited to keep making bagels.
Hi Therese! Olive oil has a pretty low smoke point and will burn. We would use parchment or silicone mats next time!
Made these for the gazillionth time. This time I turned them into twelve cream cheese bagel bombs. Used molassas in the recipe since I can never seem to find barley malt syrup. And they are DIVINE.
How much water and molasses did you use?
Another Awesome one Sally! Tired them and they were so yummy! Thanks again! ❤️
Okay, so I’m on a baking kick which started with a white bread. Family loves it. My wife likes bagels; so I decided to look up a recipe and fell on this gem. First time trying and OMG. They came out magical. They definitely look homemade; but let me tell you. Light; fluffy and so tender. Great with butter; or anything. I sprinkled everything seasoning on them and wow! Daughter wanted plain. The recipe says cut into 8 pcs. I eyeballed 9 and it still worked. Very easy to make. Great way to save money and eat healthier. I will be making these again
Made two times with good success both times! The second time a did a split of half bread flour half whole grain and it worked well!
Hi Sally and team,
I’m not sure if I did something wrong, but I found that once I shaped the bagels after the dough rose, and then transferred them to the water bath, I lost a lot of the volume in the dough. My bagels then baked up a lot flatter than the photos. Do you have any suggestions on what I might have done wrong or any tips for next time? Thank you in advance!
Hi Veronica! It sounds like your dough over-proofed and deflated. Is your kitchen particularly warm today? You can try shorter rise times next time, or a cooler rising spot.
Hii!! I wanted to try out this recipe for my daughters birthday brunch. But ideally I wanted to make smaller mini bagels (and not the usual bagel size).
How would you recommend adapting the instructions and baking time?
Thanks!!!
Hi Michelle, 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!
Excellent recipe
So, so good! Easy to follow recipe too! All 8 were gone within 24 hours!
Last night my daughter said, can you see if Sally has a bagel recipe and then make them for me? She knows sally would never steer us wrong and the bagels were no exception. I did the overnight version and they came out beautifully! They are chewy and have great flavor. This is totally worth the time to make.
I have made these a few times and my family devours them. My husband doesn’t even like anything to do with bread and kept asking for more!!!
OMG these are delicious!!!! You made it look so easy that I simply couldn’t resist. Thank you!!!
I’ve made these bagels numerous times and they come out perfect every single time!! Super easy recipe. These bagels make wonderful gifts!
I make these once a week. With nut allergies it makes it hard to go to local bake shops. My granddaughter LOVES nana’s homemade bagels. Thank you Sally for this wonderful recipe !
These are delicious! I had a question though for next time, how long can you leave bagel dough in the fridge before it becomes over-proofed?
Hi Sarah, you can let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator for about 8-12 hours, we don’t recommend any longer than that. We’re glad you enjoyed the bagels!
These turned out beautifully however…. they stuck to the parchment paper. I literally had to cut the bottom off the bagels. Any suggestions?
Just made bagels for the first time using this recipe. Followed the directions exactly and they came out perfect! Adding this to my regular baking rotation.
I love this recipe but my dough always comes out very very sticky, to the point I can’t for them properly as it coats my hands… I weigh all my ingredients with a scale and follow directions to a tee. I usually end up adding another 80g of flour just to make it tacky but not sticky… what am I doing wrong?
Hi Kristie! 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. Nothing wrong with adding a little extra. Hope this helps!
This was my exact problem! The dough felt fine during kneading but I cold proofed overnight and the dough was so sticky that it stuck to the parchment after shaping. Definitely going to add a bit more flour next time to adjust 🙂
I’ve been mastering this recipe since February. I’m obsessed!! I’ve made cheddar cheese jalapeno, everything, cinnamon crunch. I use this as a base of all of my recipes.
Do you have a recipe for pumpernickel bagels?
Hi Debbie! We haven’t tested pumpernickel bagels yet, but please let us you know if you do.
I think the recipe is great but mine burned on the bottom. I must’ve done something wrong.
First time trying recipe they are in the oven now smells so good my 16 year old came out her room down stairs hahaha. My only issue was when I punched it down to get the air bubbles out, getting each piece back into some kind of circle was difficult it did not want to form
I did not punch to hard but it did flatten the dough.
Hi CH! You punch the dough down before shaping the bagels, not after – or am I misinterpreting your comment?
Great recipe! I followed the overnight version and they worked brilliantly.
Perfect with some home smoked salmon!
I love this recipe! so delicious and easy to make. a question: I have been adding my sugar to my yeast and water instead of to the flour. is this okay?
Hi Sarah, yes, that works just fine! So glad to hear you are enjoying the bagels.
Great recipe! I did need to add a lttle water when kneading the dough. My Family LOVES them!!!! Thank you so much. I look forward to trying more of your recipes!
I made these yesterday and the texture was amazing but way too salty. I will make again with less salt.
Maybe you add 2 tablespoons of salt instead of 2 teaspoons
Hi Sally I have made and love your recipes!! Everyone I have had try the bagels I made from your recipes has loved them. I was asked if you have a recipe for jalapeno bagels or any tips on how to make them?
Hi Pam! We would add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese diced jalapeños to the dough when you add the flour. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, sprinkle with extra cheese and sliced jalapeños. Let us know how they go!
Btw loved all the results of the recipes I’ve tried
We are in Japan and only have a toaster oven, however, these bagels still came out wonderfully! We gave them as gifts to our neighbors, who have never had real bagels! Combined with cream cheese, tomato, onion, lettuce and smoked salmon, it gave them an amazing American breakfast treat!
My first attempt to make bagels, and I got an A+, which I thankfully pass on to Sally!
These are incredible. I have made them twice and had great success. I did the overnight version both times. I have made everything, asiago, and plain. Really the only issue I have is that now my family now expects homemade bagels on the weekends
I’ve made these twice exactly how the recipe calls for and the bottoms have burned both times