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 petrified to try this – homemade bagels? Impossible. But I have been using your no-knead artisan bread recipe to such success that I felt confident you would not steer me wrong. THIS IS SO EASY IT SEEMS CRIMINAL! 😀
I have made three batches of bagels so far, and toppings have been everything, salt, sesame, and parmesan cheese. Every single one has been devoured and received rave reviews. Sally, you are my new hero.
Has anyone tried to make egg bagels with this recipe?
My family refused to eat store bought bagels anymore after I tried this recipe!
Is the egg wash necessary? My grandson has egg allergies and I would love if he could eat these. Haven’t made them yet, but am excited to ry them
Hi Dyan, A light brush of milk or melted butter works too!
First bagel I ever made. Thank you the detailed walk.
Thank you so much Sally for this wonderful recipe and explanation of the process. I made them for the first time this morning and they turned out delicious. Happy 4th of July!
I’ve made so many recipes from your website and they’ve all been delicious, including these bagels!! I have a couple of questions though about adjustments I might need to make. I live in Denver so how should I adjust for elevation? Also, fresh out of the oven they were great. I stored them the way you suggested but the next day they were a little dry and rubbery. Is it possible I need to let the dough rise longer or I overworked it? Thanks in advance for any advice!
Hi Shaina, We wish we could help, but we have no experience baking at high altitude. Some readers have found this chart helpful: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html Regarding the texture on the next day, elevation may play into that or the dough could have over-proofed or over-worked. You could also try shortening the boiling step to 30 seconds on each side. That could help, too!
I can’t wait to make this recipe! I don’t have barley malt syrup, but do have diastatic barley malt powder. How much do I use of the powder, is it the same measurement that you would use of the syrup in the flour mix and the water bath?
4th time making this recipe and finally got some barley malt syrup which I think makes the difference between very good bagels and AMAZING bagels. They add that specific subtle round “bagel” flavor, and do a better job of achieving the caramelized exterior. Love this recipe. I’m truly addicted!
I agree Tonya. My batches with the barley malt syrup were significantly better.
I have attempted to add chopped jalapenos. Even though I have blotted them as dry as possible on paper towels, They still add enough liquid that it keeps the interior too doughy, while the exterior is getting overdone. Suggestions would be appreciated.
I’ve now used 3 different seasoning blends, and they all got burnt in the oven when baking the bagels: Trader Joe’s “Everything Bagel” seasoning mix, and then two random ones I had in my cabinet. Is there a trick to getting these toppings to stick and get some cook to them, but then not burning? The Sesame seeds do great when put on right at the start of baking, but it seem slike anything i’ve used with garlic, minced onion, etc just burns.
I’ve also discovered that *finely* grated cheese also dries out and gets burnt/crusty on the top. The first time, i used Tillamook’s really wide/coursely shredded cheese, and it worked beautifully, as it just got toasted on the edges, but the rest of the cheese stayed tender.
These bagels turned out AMAZINGLY when I made them, texture and flavor wise, but for some reason, when my girlfriend made them this weekend, they were flat-ish, and super dense. I’m thinking she overworked the dough when mixing. We both noticed that the amount of flour in the recipe was much too light, and we had to keep adding more and more, mixing and mixing more. i think she must not have been as agressive in adding the dough as i was, and it took longer for hers to get to where it needed to be, over-working it in the process.
You may have made them too floury but continuing to add flour. The dough will be slightly sticky, you don’t want it completely dry when kneading. Kneading helps the process so knead away!
5th time making them now… great recipe! I’ve made everything, blueberry, sesame, and now I’m making cheese. Highly recommend. I am 13 and made these very easily.
We LOVE these bagels. So simple to make. Did the overnight in fridge batch and I liked them so much better. The puffed up so nicely. Highly recommend this recipe! 3rd day in a row of making these bagels – my teen boys can’t get enough of them!
Hubby wants blueberry bagels. Anyone try adding blueberries to the recipe?
Hi Kirsten, You can use fresh or dried blueberries. You can add them in when I add the raisins in my Cinnamon Raisin Bagels. Follow those instructions. A caution, though, fresh blueberries will make this dough very wet. I prefer dried berries.
When I make blueberry muffins, I coat the fresh berries in flour and then add to the dough mixture and the berries do not bleed. Would that not work the same with Bagels
I am shipping chocolate chips bagels (next Day) to his family. In the day, the bagel shop would add choc chips and they lined the streests for it. I actually saw my cousin on line, and we lived in different areas.
BTW,, Kive and appreciate your site.
I love this recipe and have made it many, many times. However, the comment from this thread gave me the idea to make chocolate chip bagels. Unfortunately, by putting the chocolate chips into the dough (similar to the raisins) the chocolate chips melted into the dough and the dough became a chocolate color. Any other tips? Maybe put the chocolate chips in prior to finishing kneading the dough?
I made the cinnamon raisin bagels my husband loved them. I did the overnight method then baked them fresh in morning for breakfast. Going to make some today and see if they are the same as letting them proof overnight. Great easy recipe!
Amazing bagels! Made them the first time near the end of April 2020 during Covid lockdown and was very pleasantly surprised at how they turned out. Can’t find good bagels where I live so out of necessity I made these. They are the best we’ve ever had! Not hard to make and I keep a batch in the freezer to always have them around.
My bagels turned out great! I will say that I only used the one packet of yeast without adding the extra amount called for – it worked just fine and they rose up nicely. I used the full amount of honey in my water but forgot the egg wash & bagels were still golden brown.
My bagels turned out great! I will say that I only used the one packet of yeast without adding the extra amount called for – it worked jyst fine and they rose up nicely.
Hi Sally! I’m 32 weeks pregnant and recently diagnosed with gestational diabetes. Wondering if there would be any way to make these bagels using whole wheat flour only? I tried making them today but they baked pretty dense and hard. TIA!
Hi Sabryna, I 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 me know how they turn out for you!
I have made so many recipes from Sallysbakingaddiction! This is another yummy recipe! Due to the covid-19 crisis I am unable to find bread flour so I used all purpose! It was great! Not as much as In fullness but delicious! Rich in flavor! Great texture! A little butter and it was tasty and chewy with a little crunch! I’m making them for a second time in 3 weeks! Yum!!!
Delicious 10/10 recommend
Hi Sally,
I made this recipe before using white bread flour (and they were DELICIOUS), all I have on hand is wheat bread flour at the moment… Will using wheat bread flour make a difference?
Thank you, Gwen
Hi Gwen, I would recommend replacing only half of the bread flour with whole wheat bread flour, if desired.
These are AMAZING bagels! The instructions are written perfectly and are easy to follow. I have made these about 6 or 7 times in quarantine – plain, everything, Asiago and cranberry-orange! SO GOOD! I now have many friends and family members begging for more each week haha! Thank you for my new favorite recipe!
Bagels turned out well and nice and chewy. We made the dough overnight and then cooked next morning. Just a lot of work!
I made a half recipe of this with 1 cup whole wheat flour and 1 cup AP flour. I also used the mixer the knead the dough for the full 5 minutes. The bagels were really tasty, but a little dense (probably from the whole wheat flour). Next time I’ll probably let the bagels rise a little longer before boiling them!
I cut the recipe in half and my dough turned out way too dry. I’m not too sure why, since other people were saying theirs were even too wet, but I followed all the measurements to a tee, and it turned out almost like sand
I made these today for the first time and they were awesome!!! I had one cup of whole wheat flour that I used with the other three. I added sesame seeds.
Also, after taking them out of the water bath I did let them sit on a tea towel for about 30 seconds before putting them on my silicone mat. No problem with them sticking after cooking. I will definitely make these again! Five stars for sure!
Hi Sally! I love your recipes. I am not sure what I did wrong with the bagels except I did use all purpose, there is no bread flour anywhere. My bagels did not come out puffed up and smooth.
Thank you!
Hello Sally,
Made the Bagels for first time and they turned out really good. My husband loved them a lot. Could not believe that I would be so successful the very first time. Was wondering if you have any suggestions on what changes would be required in the recipe, if I used whole wheat flour?
Thanks
I’ve made these 4 times now. The first 3 times were….delicious but the dough was finiky to work with. I live in a very dry very warm climate and I’ve found it works a lot better if I cut out half a cup of flour but keep everything else ! I love all your recipes and always check you first if there’s something I want to try !
These were amazing. I was worried because my dough was quite wet, not dry at all as stated in the recipe, but they turned out so well and they were delicious! Thank you for sharing, as a northern transplant to the south, homemade bagels are a game changer!
Here’s the deal these are ok tasting. We have made them a few times, but in no way do they taste like a NY bagel. To make a real NY bagel it takes more time and you need to boil the bagel to get the correct texture. This is a gimmick that is just OK not great at all.