Homemade New York Bagels

Make your own homemade New York bagels with this easy to follow recipe, that never fails, and step-by-step guide below.

This donut-looking bread with the iconic hole in the middle is one of the famous staple foods of New York and with very good reason. They are deliciously chewy (in a good way of course!) and the bagel filling can be adapted to suit all taste buds.

Fill them with any topping of your choice.

My kids love bagels too so they have become a staple in our house too. We adults like to fill them with smoked salmon, onions, capers and cream cheese, or for a vegetarian option, green pesto, buffalo mozzarella cheese and roasted vegetables. Or keep it simple with garlic/basil dressing, sliced tomatoes and cheese. My kids prefer something simpler like ham & cheese or cheese & tomato. They even taste delicious toasted with butter.

Homemade New York Bagels -simple, yet different than other bread recipes

The recipe is simple but there is still something quite unique about these buns -possibly because the dough has to be boiled before baking. The reason for boiling the dough first is so the outside crust sets before it goes in the oven. I usually boil it for about 1 minute on each side. The longer you boil them the chewier the crust.

I love baking bread and there are many more recipes to come soon. For now, if you are looking for a healthier homemade bread see this recipe: Wholewheat Oatmeal Bread -3 Easy Ways!

Here are my top tips for making these homemade New York bagels perfect every single time:

• Make the dough by following the guide below and let it rise under a cloth for about 30-45 minutes on the kitchen counter.
• Shape the buns and make the hole in the middle using your two thumbs as shown below.

*Tips continued after the pictures

Tips continued…

• Let the raw bagels rest on baking paper for another 10 minutes while you boil the water. I use the Oddy Baking paper from Amazon.in. The quality is great and you can reuse the sheets many times.
• Use a large pot or deep pan to boil the water. There should be a minimum of 7-10cm of water so the bagels don’t get stuck to the bottom of the pan.
• Make sure the water is boiling before you add the bagels. If the water isn’t boiling, the dough will suck in too much water and become deflated and hard. The same can happen if you forget about the bagels, while they are boiling, and they accidentally boil for too long. Trust me, this can easily happen when you are multi-tasking in the kitchen. 🙂 The bagels should float and not sink. This step is crucial to your success!
• Boil the bagels on both sides for about 1 minute. I can fit about 3-4 in at a time so there is room for them to rise in the water without getting stuck together. To make this process faster -especially if you are making double portion- you can also keep two pots to boil at the same time.
• Let the boiled bagels rest on a clean kitchen cloth for about 10-20 seconds before transferring them to the oven tray. This is just to dry off excess water.
• Put the boiled bagels on the baking sheet quite close together, as they will not rise further while in the oven.
• Bake the bagels at 200 degrees Celsius for 20-22 minutes depending on your oven.

Can kids make these alone?

Kids can easily help out with this recipe as the dough is smooth and non-sticky. My kids (ages 4 and 8) regularly make these on their own. They make the dough and shape them alone, and I then help out with the boiling and the hot oven. My 8-year old can easily add the bagels to the boiling water and flip them, but has a tendency to splash water when she tries to take them out again. So I prefer to stay close by to help and prevent any accidents (while trying to give her room to learn. One of the hardest tasks as a mum, I am sure you will agree.)

You can also add sea salt or sesame seeds on top before baking if the bagels are for lunch. If they are for breakfast, I recommend adding 1 tsp cinnamon powder to the dough for tasty cinnamon bagels.

Yield: 10 medium sized bagels