Bagels

bagels

Bagels are crisp on the outside, chewy on the inside and so easy to make, and are a staple in all my books, the basic recipe’s in The New Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day, but more here…

Preheat the oven to 450° with a pizza stone on the top rack. (Yes, this is different than the book.)

Also have ready a cookie sheet lined with a clean kitchen towel that is dusted with flour.

bagels

Form several 3 ounce balls of dough, as you can see they are about the size of a head of garlic. I used the Master recipe here, but you can also use the Bagel recipe, Montreal Bagels, Whole Wheat or any other non-enriched dough from the book for this. Cover the balls loosely with plastic wrap and allow to rest for about 20 minutes or until they no longer feel chilled.

While they are resting bring to a boil:

8 quarts of water

1/4 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

Have ready:

Sesame seeds, poppy seeds or any other toppings you may want for your bagels.  There were strong opinions expressed on Twitter about the toppings for bagels, let us know what your favorites are.

bagels

Once they have rested, dust the ball in flour and poke a hole in the center using your thumbs.

bagels

Continue to stretch the hole and add more flour if the cut part of the dough gets sticky.

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You want to stretch the hole quite a bit,

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because it will shrink back like you see above.

bagels

Place the bagels in the water, get as many as will fit without crowding. Boil for 1 minute, then flip over and boil for another 30 seconds.

bagels

Scoop out the bagels with a slotted spoon and allow the water to drain off.

bagels

Place on the towel covered cookie sheet. Continue the last 3 steps with the rest of the bagels. If you are doing more than 2 boiling batches, you will need to get those first two batches in the oven and then continue with the rest.

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Carefully lift the boiled bagels and dip them on both sides with your topping. If you are using something that may burn easily like onions or garlic then only coat the top of the bagel and dust the peel with flour. If you are using seeds then you don’t need the additional flour on your peel.

bagels

If you are using seeds then you don’t need the additional flour on your peel.

bagels

Slide the bagels into the preheated oven, add the water to a broiler tray to create steam. bake for about 25-30 minutes, until golden brown and crisp.

Serve them slightly warm with anything you like!  A bagel cutter can be a helpful and safer tool for cutting bagels than using a knife.

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329 thoughts to “Bagels”

  1. Happy anniversary! And thanks so much for sharing these bagels; as I told Zoe yesterday, bagels don’t exist in southern Italy unless I make them, so this is quite exciting. If the Master recipe was supposed to be linked, though, it’s not showing for me?

    My best bread-baking memory is just as you mentioned…my Italian grandmother kneading, kneading, kneading, letting rise, kneading, kneading, kneading some more. She showed me just how relaxing, soothing, and full of love the whole process is; I’m so grateful for that, because I grew up feeling time in the kitchen was a gift, not work to be avoided 🙂

  2. Hi Michelle,

    I will fix the link right now, thanks for leaving the lovely story and bringing this to my attention! 😉

    Zoë

  3. Bagels! You can find them in Lisbon but it’s no way close to the real thing. Just bookmarked the recipe for future use!

    My story is similar to many others. As I happen to have blogged about it recently, I’ll just bring what I wrote here. “Both my grandmothers were talented bakers, either by choice, by chance or simple need. Bread flour bags, large terracotta bowls, immaculate white sheets and wooden trays are part of my childhood memories, when my grandma use to bake a weekly bread batch in a wooden oven she had at the end of the backyard. I vividly remember those days as being truly emotive and messy. Saturday was the day we’d make small cakes using the dough leftovers, roast vegetables and bake sardines in olive oil “to take advantage of the oven”, and beautiful breads to feed us throughout the week.

    Every time I bake some bread I re-live those Saturdays with grandma – it works both as therapy and meditation whilst kneading, punching and shaping the dough. Me with myself, and the dough. It’s the same ritual every Sunday, and, boy, do I love it. There’s nothing better than bread!”

    (link is perfect now) 😉

  4. My two cents from that night is the giddy excitement we both felt when we saw the books displayed in the store. I was told not to take pictures inside the bookstore by the manager!

    But that’s not exactly a baking story is it? Well that’s OK, I’m not up for the raffle anyway! Thanks for reminding me of that night, Zoe, it was a blast. As the whole experience has been. Want to write another? Too late, already said yes! Jeff

  5. Bagels – yum! This might go on my weekend baking to do list.

    I don’t ever remember being taught how to make bread. It was just something I decided to do and learned instinctively. I think there is something in my DNA, left over from the generations of women before me, that just knew how to bake.

    Making bread for me is very soothing and almost meditative. Even though my husband and I own a bread machine, I never use it, partly because I much prefer the hands-on approach, but also because I can’t seem to get a good loaf from it. They fall every time. But I have no such problems making it myself. Go figure.

    I love the whole process of bread making, but my favorite part is when I give it away. I love the look on someone’s face when you hand them a fresh, homemade loaf of bread as a thank you or just because. At its core, bread is a very simple thing – a few ingredients and some time. But it’s all of the things that bread connotes that make it so special – home, warmth, comfort.

    That’s why I love to make bread.

  6. I have yet to try the bagels! I have tryed 4 of your breads from the book and they were all great! I think my favourite so far was the broa. Nothing beats thew smell of bread baking! Congratulations for 1 year of a wonderful book!

  7. Congratulations Zoe and Jeff!! I can imagine the excitement you both had seeing your book on the shelves at Barnes and Noble… and now seeing the excitement of soooo many around the world .. and the renewed interest in bread making.

    My mom used to bake bread for our family when I was a child. I loved the smell of her fresh baked bread. My favorite was a dilly-bread that she’d make. One of my sisters and I were discussing that recently – and have decided we must get that recipe from her. I’d like to try to adapt it w/ your method.

  8. Thanks for the bagel recipe! I’m very excited to try it.
    I’ve tried your master recipe so far and my husband and I both love it; thank you so much for sharing!
    My husband is a nut for poppy seed bagels but they’re tough to find, so I’m very much looking forward to hopefully becoming his supplier.

    No one in my family has been much of a baker, but I really wanted to try it on my own. I’d never known anyone who baked bread in their home oven but I decided to give it a try, not expecting much for results. Once that first loaf came out (despite its funny looks), I was hooked! Nothing beats the taste of a freshly baked loaf of bread to go along with a hearty soup to dip it in! I love experimenting and getting better and better at it. We’re to the point now where most of the time we’re unimpressed by the bread at restaurants because we know we can make it better at home. It’s so much fun!

  9. My husband and I have just recently started experimenting with bread making. The first thing we tried was bagels. We used a recipe similar to yours and they came out delicious. We’ve done breadsticks which also turned out good. Our next venture is going to be something to add to our Thanksgiving dinner.

    Congratulations on your 1 year!

  10. I can’t remember exactly when I started to bake bread, but I know the days of the old Prodigy boards really got me into it, especially with the rise in popularity of bread machines and Donna German’s little bread machine cookbooks (I still have and use a circa 1991 Zojirushi).

    I’m with Jeff’s grandmother – a good piece of Jewish rye is better than cake for dessert! And this week, after many, many batches of the master boule recipe, peasant bread, and a few variations for pizza dough, I finally tried the deli rye recipe.

    Why did I wait so long??? (well, probably because the peasant bread is so darned good 😀 ) Of course now I want to combine the deli rye recipe with the sourdough method you showed for the whole grain baguette rolls.

    And now bagels…. just like the absence of good rye and good pizza (which I’ve also learned to make on my own), we can’t find good, REAL bagels here in Texas.

    But I’ll bet with your help I can make them!

  11. Happy Anniversary!
    Those are some lovely bagels indeed!

    It was with my hair pulled back – usually with a purple hairnet once intended for nighttime curlers, I’m sure, my Nana introduced me to the fundamentals of cooking. She let me flip (& drop) my first pancake, taught me the word impetuous and how to bake bread – slowly.
    It’s that bread that I’m not intimidated by today but it’s that same smell that I yearn for and those simple dropped ball dinner rolls we would eat warm and smothered with butter.
    My grandmother would start the bread at night leaving it on the back of the stove to warm overnight. It would never cease to amaze me how such a small bundle of dough could grow so immensely that it would touch and push up the protective tea towel above it.
    It’s because of Nana and her bread that I cook so passionately today.

  12. Congrats on the anniversary!

    My bread story is a teach-yourself type of thing. My mother an grandmother weren’t bakers, but one year my father wanted Stollen at Christmas. (German sweet christmas bread with dried fruits and nuts.)

    I turned to the Joy of Cooking, and followed the recipe as closely as I could. I was so nervous the whole time, since I had no one to tell me if I was doing it right or not. In the end, I overkneaded it and it was a bit tough, but it came out well enough that I chose to keep trying.

    I’ve gotten better and more comfortable, but I still make Stollen every christmas.

  13. Well both sides of my grandparents baked. On my Mom’s side, Granny baked all the bread we ate at her house. I don’t think she EVER bought a loaf of bread. On my Dad’s side, Gramps as a bakery owner. I don’t remember him baking at home, and don’t ever remember ever going to the bakery (I was one of the youngest of the grandkids) My baking mmeory of him is his awesome Scottish Shortbread. Yum. 😉

    I bake bread at home quite often. My favorite memory there, is of my children, all lined up, covered in flour with their own little “personal” doughs – worked so much they had turned grey. . . (grin)

  14. Congrats! I tried to bake bread as a teenager, with horrible results as I wasn’t patient enough for the risings. Coming from a Vietnamese family, we didn’t really bake (too hot in Vietnam I guess)

    Fast forward to 2 years ago. I got a bread machine from Freecycle. The first few loaves I made just like the directions said. It wasn’t great bread but it wasn’t bad either. Now I’ve gotten more adventurous and mainly use it to mix my dough and for the first rise. I love the smell of bread baking in our home. I would love to win a copy of your book. It’s been on my wish list ever since I heard your interview on the Splendid Table radio show.

  15. Now I’m craving fresh bagels for lunch… too bad I can’t make those at work!

    I don’t necessarily have a bread story, but just wanted to say that I NEVER would have thought I could bake bread, but I checked your book out of the library and gave it a shot anyway. I love it – suddenly, *I* am a baker! I have proselytized the book a bit to my friends and family, I admit (mostly by sending them the link to the NY Times recipe and telling them that they need to at least give it a shot!).

  16. My sister was nine years old than me, and was very much a mom as well as a sister. She loved to bake when she was in high school and I loved to sample her creations. Her favorite thing to make was bread. I still remember watching her make it with fascination. She died several years ago, and to this day when I am missing her I make a loaf of bread and remember the good times.

  17. I forgot to mention that I had a baby girl just a month ago and I also have a 2 year old daughter, and I found out about your master recipe after I gave birth and still tried it…it’s so delightfully simple that even a mother of a newborn and toddler can handle baking bread at home with ease! Thank you!

  18. Yum – I love bagels – and I’m a cream-cheese and lox girl, all the way. (Or, oddly enough, I just munch on them plain.)

    Bread and I have a funny history. When I was a kid, I *hated* the loaves my grandmas baked, preferring the mooshy store-bought stuff instead. Then when I was in college, some switch flipped, and I discovered there was no flavor I loved more than that which comes from a big, warm, crusty sourdough baguette. And I decided that I could bake bread too. And then I discovered that I couldn’t. I’d try and try and several hours later, I had a tasteless loaf, or one that had failed to rise, or one that had a lame crust. In the past couple years, again, some switch must have flipped, because now I can turn out a fairly pretty and consistent simple whole wheat loaf. That said, I am dying to learn how to make more artisan-type breads, and consequently, I’m really interested in checking out your book. (Plus anything that turns conventional wisdom on its head is instantly appealing to me!)

  19. I bought your book and have shared loaves of bread with friends and family. They can’t believe it came from my kitchen.

  20. Every summer my mom would try to teach me how to make bread. It was a long and hot and tiring process. She had very specific kneading requirements that involved pounding, pulling, throwing, and punching. I remember being sore for weeks afterward and being relieved that bread-making was done for the year (although it was delicious). This is just ONE reason why I love your breadmaking method (a friend gave me the master recipe and I’ve make it all the time now). The Artisan Bread in Five is on my Christmas wish list. Thank you.

  21. This is fabulous–I just found out about your site through an article in the Seattle PI and can’t wait to try making bread this way.

    I would love to get a copy of your book, if I’m so lucky. My story is that when I was little I remember my Mom spending an afternoon making french bread, and giving my sisters and I a little bit of dough to make into our own loaves–often shaped like turtles or bears or fish, which she would bake and we would have for dinner. And since the recipe she used always made several loaves, one of us would be sent out with a towel-wrapped loaf to one of our neighbors.

  22. Congratulations Zoe & Jeff! Your book is amazing, and I both show it and use it during my “Breadmaking without Tears” class that I teach for adult education. (In fact, there’s a whole section of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day recipes and info in the handbook I created for my students, who are strongly urged to get your book!) Students are very receptive to the concept of making a master dough batch & storing it for use.
    My breadmaking parents almost never bought bread at the store. My father was a better baker than my mother, and always turned out the best whole wheat bread and rolls. My mom made excellent sandwich loaves and rye bread. We especially enjoyed when Granny visited from “down South” too-she brought her sourdough starter with her when she visited & made us the best goodies during her 2 or 3 week stay. Ahhhhh, bread making at home. There sure is a revival of that! Thanks for your great book!

  23. I find bread baking to be very centering. There is nothing like working the dough on a cold, rainy day, letting it rise, smelling the bread as it bakes. It just makes the cares melt away.

  24. After the birth of my second son, I so desperately craved homemade bread. And it’s not like you’re out running around too much with two young kids at home, so what better thing to do than learn to bake bread? Granted, in retrospect, loaves of hot oatmeal maple bread did their share in slowing my after-pregnancy weight loss, but we’ve had a great time. And now, with three kids, we love to bake bread and show them the magic that is risen dough.

  25. I grew up on wonder bread. Only recently, for the first time ever, have I made a bread product, and, incidentally, it was bagels. It was my sister’s idea, really. I was all, sure, we’re going to make bagels?!?! And then we did. As I sat in my kitchen, eating a bagel covered in homemade chive cream cheese, I was dumbfounded. Yes, people actually bake things. And, they taste good. And, it doesn’t take that much work. Holy baking goodness. It was a major epiphahy for me. I want to learn more!

  26. You know how most memories are visual? Well, olfactory memories can last a lifetime, and my strongest memory of the holidays growing up in a family of 10 is the yeasty, buttery smell of homemade dinner rolls filling the kitchen. Just recalling the memory makes my mouth water.

    I circled your web address in the Seattle P-I article and left it on a chair in our home office. Later my wife cautioned me, “don’t recycle that section of the paper with the bread story,” as she and our nine year-old daughter want to use it to start baking bread at home!

  27. Those bagels look delightful. I think I will be giving this a try!

    My story…I don’t have a family baking history. I have no memories of childhood bread baking. As a new wife, I tried my hand at bread and could only come up with bricks. Years later I got a bread machine and churned out some adequate loaves.

    Then one day the machine quit working and I didn’t have the budget to replace it, so I was determined to master the art of the kneading and rising and baking from scratch. I did it, but struggled to find the time to get it done. Then I found a reference to your book on someone’s blog and looked it up at my local library. It was nothing short of revolutionary! To be able to create great bread with such a small commitment of time is a marvel. I was instantly hooked and have tried several of the recipes in the book. I even got my sisiter-in-law hooked on this, too. She and I both purchased the book, so if I win, I would pass my copy along and hopefully create another 5 minute bread groupie.

  28. I love your book, and I love your blog!! I have long been a fan of baking quick breads and muffins, and playing around with sweet and savory fillings. There’s nothing like the smell of freshly baked banana zucchini bread…and nothing beats that first hot bite!

    But my favorite bread-baking memory is actually all thanks to you. I had read another blogger’s rave review of your book and, finding it at the local library, decided to give your light whole wheat recipe a try. I didn’t have high hopes — the extended preparation time to allow for rising, the directions being a step more complex than for my quick breads, and my general tendency to flub baked recipes the first time out didn’t bolster my confidence. So when I managed to turn out an amazingly delicious recipe on my first try, I was thrilled! Elated! Bounding with exuberance! So naturally I tried out a second recipe from the book — and the resulting batard was even better than the first loaf!!! I blogged about it (and you even commented on it, Jeff — thank you): https://muffinlovechick.blogspot.com/2008/08/bread-baker.html

    Thank you for opening up my life and kitchen to new and fantastic baking adventures!

  29. My dear Portuguese daughter-in-law used to lament the dearth of good local bread–until I bought the book and started treating her! If my comment is drawn, she’ll get her own cookbook!

  30. My bread-making memory is kneading bread with my grandma and having her feel it, then me feel it until I got a good “feel” for when it was kneaded enough. What an art! 🙂

  31. I have memories of dense, whole wheat bread that didn’t appeal to my youthful palate. Once older and married, I made delicious egg bread from a recipe in a Penzey’s catalog. From there, I got a bread machine. The next morning we awoke at 4:30am to the smoke detector because the machine was defective (or I was-could have gone either way!)
    Now, my bread from your book is on my daughter’s “Favorite Foods” list. THAT is an awesome feeling! Unfortunately, it is the only thing I make that is on her list. Not for long, bagels are next! Mwah-hahaha

  32. Happy anniversary! I love your book and, although I do love kneading and waiting and going about bread the long way, it is not so practical in these busy times…so your book has really been a magical bread-baking wand for me 🙂 Thanks for putting wonderful, freshly-baked, homemade bread back within reach more often! (My friends can’t believe it when I say it’ll just take 5 minutes, but then I lead them to my fridge and point at the tupperware of dough and say “see, there it is!” hehe)

  33. My bread-baking story is recent. Just decided a few weeks ago that I do not want to feed my kids the squishy shelf stable product anymore. Started playing around with recipes and I am absolutely loving the pace and practice of baking our own. I started a flickr group of weekly bakers and we currently have 85 participants (some more consistent than others) who are doing the same. I’m having a great time and for someone who hasn’t even liked bread in years, I’m a convert. There’s little similarity between what comes from the oven and what comes from a store shelf. Your blog is lovely and I would love a copy of your book. Thanks for the chance.

  34. I’ve really had a great time trying the different recipes in your book. One ot he greatest things is the website.I find it helps immensely with some problems I may be having. I have made the bagels,but they did not come out as well as I thought they should. Sometimes, I do need to read the directions a little more carefully!

  35. Congratulations on your anniversary,

    You have brought joy to our so restricted life here in Islamabad!

    Every day is a new happy day baking one of your recipes, thanks and to many, many more successful years.

    S & S

  36. I grew up in a bread baking family in L.A. OK, with the exception of rye bread, which we bought, everything else was homemade.
    I coveted the squishy white bread my friends brought to school each day in their lunch boxes. I thought they were the lucky ones.
    Fast forward 35 years. Now I’m the family bread baker and my kids are the ones who covet squishy white bread and store-bought challah. Go figure.
    Still, there’s something about baking bread from scratch…and so, in spite of jam packed schedules with overflowing to do lists, I try to make challah every Friday for Shabbat. Last year at Rosh HaShanah I took on the goal of making a different type of challah each week. I came close.
    Baking bread is more therapeutic than anything else. Maybe it’s a little inspirational too.
    There’s something about kneading dough that really grounds you. Most times I skip using my KitchenAid. Instead I pull out a chipped bowl and a wooden spoon and make the dough by hand. In this simple act I feel connected to my mother, my grandmother and all of those who’ve measured, kneaded and braided loaves for hundreds of years before me.
    Now with the no-knead loaf I’ve added another winner to the recipe box. Thanks for a delicious loaf and those yet to come.

  37. Congrats Zoe and Jeff!

    The first thing that comes to my mind when you say “Bread” – is a memory of my younger brother (no longer living) When he was a kid, probably 6 years old, he had an old beat up ‘little red wagon’ (you know the kind) We lived in a small community and our Mom would let him walk up to our Grandma’s with the wagon. He always had this funny habit of ‘singing and dancing’ as he went along – he was a cheerful little guy. Kind of swayed along and hummed and people would all know him.

    When he arrived at Grammas house she would invariably be making bread, something she did almost daily and wonderfully. Before he would leave for home she would wrap up a small ball of raw dough in plastic and send it home with him in his wagon. When he’d get home he’d shape it and Mom would bake it for him.

    Your bread recipes and book have opened a whole new world for me. I made bread sticks last night with the peasant bread recipe and they were AMAZING, and taught a young lady who’s 22 (ha, I’m getting older, thats a sure sign) to bake your basic recipe. She’s NEVER made bread before.

    I’m doing two demo’s of your recipe in the near future, one for the school where my husband teaches and one for a church thing where several churches get together and share a hobby or craft.

    I wish you all the success – you’re generous and genius. I’m going to promote your contest on my blog tomorrow and…

    Please, I’m pretty passionate about this bread so if I comment too often as I try things, please don’t hesitate to tell me LOL! (I’d love to let you know how the demo’s turn out!)

  38. Dear Jeff and Zoe
    Happy Anniversary. Your book has changed our lives with weekly homeade bread. It has not been so good for the waistline but we wouldnt change a thing. Thank you. I am looking forward to the next book
    Conrad

  39. Happy anniversary! My childhood memories of bread baking certainly involve the heady aroma and the taste of that first slice, still warm from the oven. I also remember that making bread was a very mysterious process that had to be timed perfectly and could easily turn into a complete disaster. These feelings of apprehension surrounding bread accompanied me into adulthood, but your recipes have made the process almost foolproof. Because of your method, I rarely buy bread anymore. It’s so gratifying to know that I can easily put a fresh-baked loaf of bread on the table every day with very little stress or fear of things going wrong. I’m very eagerly awaiting your next book!

  40. My mom never baked, but my sister did. My favorite days we’re coming home from school to the smell of monkey bread…mmm. I tried artisan bread in 5 because I wanted my kids to have those memories too…and because I craved it!

  41. Opps I forgot to add my funny story. Since I have been using your book I have created a bit of a monster. My wife and 2 children love the bread and unfortunately I have made a couple of underage bread snobs. My 2 children 3 and 5 years old spent the night at a friends house. At the dinner meal they found the offerred bread to be subpar and voiced their opinion, “This bread is not how my daddy makes it” Luckily the parents are good friends are were not too offended especially after being given a fresh loaf of bread. The kids love to make their own loaves. Thanks again.
    Conrad

  42. I have always wanted to try making bagels… looks like I have no excuses anymore. Actually, as a young wife I went for years baking bread boring breads until about 15 years ago when my mother in law gave me a bread machine for Christmas. I was so disappointed after trying and trying to come out with something that even resembled a nice loaf of bread that I quit all together.

    Then about 2 years ago I got an itch I couldn’t scratch and tried making a good old fashioned loaf of white bread. Nice but not amazing. Still I was itching to make something crusty and wonderful. Thank God for the www and great folks like you who have made my baking days come alive.

    Bless you for sharing all your experience, talents and recipes with wanna b’s like me. Without you my breads would still be boring. Now they are the talk of the town. You deserve The Prize!

  43. Oh! Congratulations on 1 year!

    I have been looking everywhere for your book here in Australia and I’m struggling to find one.

    My Grandma (Sadie) is an amazing baker. I make a lot of her recipes, but she never really made bread. So my childhood baked goods stories are all about sweet treats.

    I’ve been practicing and perfecting baking bread though so my little 1 year old boy can grow up enjoying the delicious smells and tastes of home baked bread. And so far, he’s a carb monster (sour dough is his fav) so we’re on the right track!

  44. First off, congrats!

    Secondly, that last picture looks like my dream come true…

    As for my bread experiences: I’m still learning to bake, but part of my motivation for wanting to be able to bake bread is memories of my Granny and the country bread omnipresent at her house (not to mention homemade jam and perfect fried chicken and garden fresh vegetables…). As a kid I would help her knead as best I could. She had a patented spanking method that I really got a kick out of. Slapping dough as hard as you can? Yes please!

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