If you have a little extra time on your hands and are looking for a fun baking project, these New York-Style Bagels will hit the spot! Be sure and use bread flour and don’t skip the boiling step–they’re both essential for authentic bagels with a satisfying chew. Be sure and read more after the recipe to learn more!
New York Style Bagels
Description
These authentic New York style bagels have the rich flavor and satisfying chew that is hard to find in grocery store bagels. Be sure and use high-protein bread flour and don’t skip the water bath–they’re both essential for these classic bagels! Recipe from King Arthur Flour.
Ingredients
Dough
4 cups (482 grams) bread flour
1 tablespoon instant yeast
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 tablespoon brown sugar
1 1/3 cups warm (about 105 F) water
Water bath
2 quarts water
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon granulated sugarhttps://ourbestbites.com/deli-style-whipped-cream-cheese/
Instructions
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a medium mixing bowl if mixing by hand), combine flour, yeast, brown sugar sugar, and salt. Add water and mix to combine. Using a heavy-duty mixer, knead for 10 minutes. If kneading by hand, knead for 15 minutes. Kneading is very important because bread flour is essential for the texture of good bagels, but it has more protein and needs to be kneaded to activate the proteins.
When done kneading, transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and turn to cover the dough ball in oil. Cover with a flour sack towel and allow to rise for 60-90 minutes. This step can also be done in the evening and the dough can be placed in the refrigerator overnight.
When the dough has risen (it most likely will not double like yeast doughs typically do), line a sheet plan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray or sprinkle with cornmeal. Set aside.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces. Shape the pieces into 8 balls and place the balls on the prepared baking sheet. Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
While the dough is resting, preheat oven to 425 F. Bring the water bath ingredients to a boil in a large pot. When the dough has rested, carefully poke your index finger through the center of a dough ball and then twirl the dough around your finger (the motion of spinning a basketball, using centrifugal force to widen the hole inside the bagel.) Repeat with all the dough balls.
Carefully transfer 4 bagels to the waterbath and boil for 2 minutes. Flip them over and boil 1 more minute. Transfer to the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining bagels.
If desired, sprinkle the bagels with toppings (Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning, kosher salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, etc.) and/or brush with an egg yolk. If using dehydrated onion, add in the last 10 minutes of baking. Bake for 20-25 minutes (mine needed the full 25 minutes) or until the bagels are deeply golden brown but not burned. Serve toasted with butter, Deli-Style Whipped Cream Cheese, or use to make sandwiches.
about these bagels
Remember the ’90s when we all loved bagels because they were lowfat and therefore health food? And then low-carb happened and bagels disappeared and now all we can get is bread with a hole in it? If you’ve never had a bagel, and I mean a real bagel, one that’s a little shiny on top and has incredible texture and rich flavor and you have to really chew it, but in a good and really satisfying way, you need to make these bagels. And if you have had a real bagel, chances are unless you live in New York, you haven’t had one in awhile. Even in big cities, most of the best bagel shops around the country have not survived, which is a damn shame because great bagels are like nothing else.
A few notes before we get started:
- Don’t be scared of the boiling step. It’s not hard or even very time consuming, but it’s really important for authentic bagels.
- I got this recipe from King Arthur Flour. It’s pretty legit. There’s another bagel recipe over there that looks very legit, but I think one of the steps requires sacrificing a virgin unicorn over the time span of 3 days and while I have a lot of time on my hands these days, I don’t have that much time. However, if any of you make that one, please let me know how it goes (and where you got your unicorn.)
- This dough will not rise as much as typical yeast doughs. That’s okay. Don’t be scared. As long as it is rising, you’ll be fine.
let’s get started!
You’ll need 4 cups bread flour (it’s very important to use bread flour because the higher protein content results in a bagel with a satisfying chew), instant yeast, kosher salt, and brown sugar. 
In the bowl of a stand mixer (or a medium mixing bowl if mixing by hand), combine flour, yeast, brown sugar,
and salt.
Add water and mix to combine. Using a heavy-duty mixer, knead for 10 minutes. If kneading by hand, knead for 15 minutes. Kneading is very important because bread flour is essential for the texture of good bagels, but it has more protein and needs to be kneaded to activate the proteins.
When done kneading, transfer to a lightly oiled bowl and turn to cover the dough ball in oil.
Cover with a flour sack towel
and allow to rise for 60-90 minutes. This step can also be done in the evening and the dough can be placed in the refrigerator overnight.
When the dough has risen (it most likely will not double like yeast doughs typically do), line a sheet plan with parchment paper and spray with non-stick cooking spray or sprinkle with cornmeal. Set aside.
Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled work surface. Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces.
Shape the pieces into 8 balls and place the balls on the prepared baking sheet.
Cover and allow to rest for 30 minutes.
While the dough is resting, preheat oven to 425 F. Bring the water bath ingredients to a boil in a large pot. When the dough has rested, carefully poke your index finger through the center of a dough ball
and then twirl the dough around your finger (the motion of spinning a basketball, using centrifugal force to widen the hole inside the bagel.) Repeat with all the dough balls.
Carefully transfer 4 bagels to the waterbath and boil for 2 minutes. Flip them over and boil 1 more minute. Transfer to the baking sheet and repeat with the remaining bagels.
If desired, sprinkle the bagels with toppings (Trader Joe’s Everything but the Bagel seasoning, kosher salt, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, etc.)
and/or brush with an egg yolk.
If using dehydrated onion, add in the last 10 minutes of baking. Bake for 20-25 minutes (mine needed the full 25 minutes) or until the bagels are deeply golden brown but not burned.
Serve toasted with butter, Deli-Style Whipped Cream Cheese, or use to make sandwiches. If you want another Jewish deli baking experience, try this challah!
Questions & Reviews
Rather than yeast, is it possible to make with sourdough? — I’m swimming in starter over here!
I don’t know—I’ve always sent my sourdough starter to the “sourdough starter farm” before I get to that point! ????
Made these today – bagels have been on my bucket list ever since I had my first “real” bagel in New York. 30 something years later – I finally did it because this recipe looked manageable – and it was!!!! The bagels were chewy on the outside, soft in the middle and delicious!!!
I love these bagels!! I added some fresh blueberries right before kneading it. It was so delicious! I’ve tried making bagels once before in my life and it didn’t work – but these were perfect!
So I’ve read online that a good bread flour substitute is to take a cup of all purpose flour and take out 1.5 tsp of flour and replace with gluten.
Will this still work for this recipe? I don’t have any bread flour and want to still try these.
I imagine it would!
Yum! Nothing like a homemade bagel. I will say, if you’re in a natural foods/health foods/whole foods kind of store it’s worth picking up a jar of barley malt syrup. So much better than brown sugar for both the dough and the boiling water.
Yes! I couldn’t find any here and wasn’t willing to wait for amazon, haha.
How long would you let the dough rest if you refrigerated it overnight? And with an Asiago topping, would you add it right at the end of baking? So excited to try these!!
I imagine at around 8 hours, you would want to check on things. If they’re under control, you could go even longer, but if things are getting wild, pull it out. And yes, add the Asiago at the end.
My step-dad makes homemade bagels, the best bagels I’ve ever eaten! However, I think these might tie :).
I have always been intimidated to make my own bagels, but this feels pretty doable. I think I will need to double this as the first eight are going to be hid under my pillow before my children discover them. Thanks for the inspiration (and for not making me spend three days looking for a unicorn to sacrifice!).
“Nobody asked you Patrice!” I love it! I totally laughed out loud! And these days, I’m so grateful when something can make me laugh like that :). The bagels look awesome. The difference the bread flour makes really comes through in the photos. I made bagels once before my first child was born. Homemade bagels are absolutely worth the work: only a bit more effort than making a loaf of bread, and the result is delicious. I’ll try to make these with the kids before the weather gets too hot.
❤️❤️❤️ And yes! Do it before it gets too hot because ain’t nobody baking bread in here in another month! ????
I make bagels frequently — there is nothing better! If you want to make a fruit bagel (blueberry, cranberry, etc), use dried fruit. Fresh has too much water and your bagels will fall apart. Also, I add it towards the end of the kneading process so that they don’t get pulverized