There’s nothing like a “real” New York style bagel. Every deli in New York seems to be able to get it right; whereas very few in Chicago do. This recipe makes a bagel that’s as good as any I’ve ever had anywhere. I can’t wait to make myself an egg and cheese sandwich for breakfast!
Original recipe comes from SallysBakingAddiction.com.
Makes 12 smallish bagels
1-1/2 c 120° water
2-3/4 t regular or quick-rise yeast
4 c bread flour – I used all-purpose flour and they were yummy; I suppose bread flour would be even better??
1 T packed brown sugar – barley malt syrup is supposed to be even better
2 t salt
2T honey for the water bath
1 egg white for the egg wash
1/2 c topping of your choice* – poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried onion flakes, coarse salt, or a mixture of them all for an “everything” bagel
* if you want cinnamon raisin bagels, scroll down for modifications
Combine water and yeast in the bowl of your stand mixer. Let sit for 5 minutes. Combine the dry ingredients in a separate bowl, then add to the water and yeast. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. It should come together in a pretty dry ball.
Turn out and knead for 4-5 minutes. You won’t need to incorporate much flour.
Lightly grease a heavy ceramic bowl with oil and turn the dough around to coat it on all sides. Cover and put in a warm place to rise for 1 hour for quick-dry yeast, 2 hours if you’re using regular yeast.
Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
When the dough has doubled in size, turn it out onto your work surface and using a knife, divide it in half, then slice each half into 6 pieces. (Don’t saw it the you would with a loaf of baked bread. Rather, make little slashes with the knife and allow the dough to fall away from itself).
Shape each piece into a ball, smooth it out some, then poke a hole in the center. Tug and pull on it to make the hole pretty big (1-1/2″ at least), as it will close up as it cooks.
Put a quart of water in a saucepan, ensuring that the water is at least 3 or 4 inches deep. You can use a bigger pot; but then you’ll just waste more water and use up more honey. Add the honey to the water, bring to a boil and then reduce the heat to medium-high.
Drop the bagels 2 or 3 at a time into the boiling water for 60-90 seconds each, flipping them partway through. Any longer, and your crust will cross over from chewy to tough – and you don’t want that! Remove with a slotted spoon to your parchment-lined cookie sheet. They’ll still feel quite “raw” and soft, but don’t worry – the chewy texture comes in the oven!
Combine the egg white with 1 T of water, then brush all over the tops and sides of each bagel. Roll each bagel in your topping of choice. Work in batches of 3 or 4 bagels, so the egg white doesn’t dry out before you can roll it in your topping. If you’re using everything blend, go easy – that stuff is potent!!
Bake for 22-24 minutes at 425° (the ones in my photo were baked for 25.5 minutes – and they’re a wee bit too dark).
Cool for 20 minutes on the cookie sheet and then transfer to a wire rack to finish cooling.
Cooked bagels will keep on the counter a few days, the refrigerator for a week, or in the freezer for 3 months. You can also freeze the raw dough after it’s risen and punched down.
Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
Add 3/4 c raisins and 1 t vanilla extract to the dough in your mixmaster.
When you turn out the dough to knead it, first sprinkle it with 3 T granulated sugar and 1t ground cinnamon. Doing it this way creates nice little swirls of cinnamon-sugar, rather than mixing it uniformly through the dough.
Proceed cooking as above, but of course skip rolling them in anything.