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Bagels are among some of the most versatile foods, beaten only by bread. There are so many things you can do with a bagel, from making a pizza to a nice breakfast. Making bagels, though, is more than easy, it's fun!
Ingredients
- 2 teaspoons, instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon, dark brown sugar
- 1 ½ cups water, at room temperature
- 1 tablespoon, salt
- 4 cups, bread flour
- 2 teaspoons, baking soda
- About ½ cup cornmeal & flour for dusting
Steps
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1Mix the yeast in a large bowl with the brown sugar and the warm water. Stir in the salt and flour, ensuring all the flour is well hydrated. Knead the dough 5-7 minutes, until it is smooth. Cover the bowl and set aside for 2 hours.
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2Lightly dust a cutting board with flour. Turn out the dough onto a floured board. With a dough knife, cut a 4oz portion and mold into a ball. Allow the dough balls to rest 5 minutes. Pierce the ball with your finger and rotate the dough around until the hole is of desired size. Set the bagel on a cornmeal-flour dusted sheet tray and repeat. Cover and refrigerate overnight.Advertisement
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3Preheat the oven to 450 F or 232 C. Dust another baking sheet with a mixture of cornmeal and flour.
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4Fill a large, wide pot two-thirds full of water, and bring to a boil with the baking soda. Drop the bagels in batches into the water; they must not touch. Boil on one side for 2 minutes. Turn the bagels and boil on the second side for 1½ minutes. They should firm and puff up. Carefully remove from the water and drain for 1 minute on a rack.
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5Place the bagels on the prepared baking sheet. Immediately place the sheet in the oven and bake for 15 minutes. Rotate the sheet tray 90 and cook for another 5 minutes, or until the bagels are tan to medium brown. The finished bagel should reach 185 on an instant read thermometer. Remove from the baking sheets and cool for 30 minutes before attempting to cut.
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6Finished.
Community Q&A
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QuestionMy family exercises in the morning. What would be the right breakfast?
Community AnswerSomething with carbs and protein. That way, your body has something to metabolize during and after exercise. -
QuestionIs it okay to replace brown sugar with regular sugar? And can I just use flour for dusting? I don't have cornmeal.
Community AnswerThe bagels will taste a little different if you use white sugar instead of brown, but if you have molasses, you can mix a little of that into the white sugar to make brown sugar. Dusting with flour would be fine, it just might make the finished bagels a little less soft. -
QuestionAre bagels less digestible than ordinary bread?
Community AnswerBagels and ordinary bread are made of the same ingredients, so they're equally digestible.
Warnings
- Cooling is a necessary part of making bagels. Cool for, at very least, 30 minutes. If possible, refrigerate in a tightly closed and sealed paper bag.⧼thumbs_response⧽
About This Article
To make bagels, start by mixing yeast, dark brown sugar, flour, salt, and warm water and kneading the mixture for 5-7 minutes to make the dough. Then, cover the dough and let it rise for 2 hours. Next, divide the dough into smaller pieces and shape each piece into a bagel with your hands. When you're finished, refrigerate the bagels overnight before boiling them in water and baking soda for a couple of minutes on each side. Finally, bake the bagels for 20 minutes at 450 degrees Fahrenheit. To learn how to shape the dough into bagels with your hands, scroll down!
