Easy Bagel Recipe | Skinnytaste - Furilia Entertainment (2024)

FAQs

What is the secret to making bagels? ›

For extra protein, serve this with egg salad, chicken salad or turn it into a bacon egg and cheese breakfast bagel!

Mix up a dough with bread flour, light brown sugar, kosher salt, water, and active dry yeast. Knead until a tight ball forms. Let rise 1 to 1 1/2 hours, then shape into balls and let rise for 30 minutes. Shape the bagels, then boil in a baking soda bath.

Normally, bagel dough does not contain eggs. Egg bagels do actually get their special name from the addition of eggs to the mix before baking! They often also contain a bit of sugar and yellowing coloring.

Bread flour – Because of its high protein content, bread flour makes these homemade bagels delightfully chewy. This recipe also works with all-purpose flour, they're just a bit less chewy than bagels made with bread flour.

The reason we boil the dough first is so that the outside crust sets before it goes in the oven. We generally let the dough boil for 30 to 60 seconds on each side, but the longer you let it boil, the thicker and chewier the crust. The amount of time the bagel is boiling also affects its interior texture.

What can you put on a bagel other than cream cheese? butter, cheese, ham, turkey, lettuce, mayo, smoked whitefish, tomatoes, peanut butter, olive spread, red peppers, etc. Literally anything you can add to a sandwich can also be added to a bagel.

Peanut butter is a healthy option, especially low sugar, natural varieties. It offers flavor and protein without weighing you down, and it tastes great on bagels. Try it with a sliced banana! If actual cream cheese isn't your favorite, tofu cream cheese is a delicious alternative.

The main difference between boiled and baked bagels is the cooking method used to prepare them. Boiled bagels are first made by shaping the dough into rings and then boiling them in water for a short period of time before being baked. This process helps to give the bagel its signature chewy texture and glossy exterior.

Why are my homemade bagels tough? ›

Moreira: Usually if you get dense bagels, it's because they were underproofed. But it could also be that your yeast is bad. When you're at home using dry yeast—especially if you don't use it that often—you should always bloom the yeast in a little bit of sugar and water to make sure it's active.

No boil is No bagel

This prevents the bagel from expanding as much in the oven, making for a firmer, tighter product. It stops the proofing process. Boiling also gelatinizes the starch in the flour. During gelatinization starches absorb water, swell and release starches in the water.

Egg bagels get their yellow color and chewy, airy texture from the addition of eggs — specifically, egg yolks. The egg yolks enrich the bagel dough with fat which gives them a texture slightly more similar to a challah bread. But the shiny, gelatinized crust and the low hydration makes them unmistakably bagels.

A flagel is a bagel that's boiled like usual, then flattened before it goes into the oven to bake.

There are a number of differences that set egg bagels apart from the others; they have a softer texture and richer flavor, for example. Plus, they're a little more nutritious because those eggs add protein, as well as vitamins and minerals.

A good bagel should have a thin, shiny, crackly crust spotted with the kind of microblisters that you can only get from proper boiling followed by a high-temperature bake. It's these little bubbles that add both surface area and crunch.

The Boiling Process

The process of boiling the dough is what gives the exterior of the bagel that great chewy texture, as well as what gives it that darker brown color. Some NYC bakers even add sweeteners such as lye or barley malt into the water before boiling the dough to give it a little extra something.

Add honey and baking soda to boiling water in a large pot. This will help give the bagels a nice sheen and golden brown color when out of the oven. Add a few bagels at a time to the pot, making sure they're not crowded. They should float immediately when added to the water.

If your dough is too wet, it'll create large holes in the crumb of the dough and your bagels will be more like French bread, with a fluffy interior (see top photo). When too much flour is kneaded in, bagels become dense, hard and tough, instead of crisp and chewy.