This easy homemade bagels recipe proves that you can make deliciously chewy bagels in your own kitchen with only a few basic ingredients and baking tools!
Today I’m teaching you how to make homemade bagels with only a few basic ingredients and kitchen tools. Today you’re going to tackle any fears of yeast and bread baking—and I’m right here to guide you along!
Bagels, crème brûlée, soft pretzels, and French macarons. What do these foods have in common? Each seem really complicated to make at home. That’s why you’ll often find them on your baking bucket list. But secretly, they couldn’t be easier. Homemade bagels taste fresher, are cheaper, and you’ll earn the bragging rights for from-scratch baking. (PS: Each of those recipes has a video tutorial!)
Bagels Require a Lean Dough
The 1st step is to make the bagel dough. This is the same dough you use for everything bagels, a recipe already published on my blog. There’s only 5 ingredients.
- Warm Water: Liquid for the dough.
- Yeast: Allows the dough to rise. I recommend an instant or active dry yeast.
- Bread Flour: A high protein flour is necessary for bagels. We want a dense and chewy texture, not soft and airy like cinnamon rolls. Bread flour is the only solution!
- Brown Sugar: Bakeries use barley malt syrup to sweeten the bagel dough—it can be a little difficult to find, but brown sugar is a fine substitute.
- Salt: Flavor.
Notice how there is no fat? This is called a lean dough. Lean dough is ideal for recipes like focaccia, pizza dough, artisan bread, and no knead bread. Breads like dinner rolls and homemade breadsticks, and sweet bread, such as cinnamon rolls, include fat for richness and flavor.
You can prepare and knead the dough with a mixer or by hand. If you’d like a visual of how to knead the dough by hand, you can watch the full video tutorial in my post on How To Knead Dough. After the dough has been kneaded, let it rise for 60-90 minutes. Punch it down, then divide into 8 sections and shape into bagels.
How to Shape Bagels
Shaping bagels is easier than it looks. Poke your finger through the center of the ball of dough, then use 2 fingers to widen the hole to about 1.5 – 2 inches. That’s it! I don’t really do anything fancy and the bagels don’t need to be perfect. Mine never are!
Bagel Water Bath
Bagels must cook for 1 minute on each side in a pot of boiling water. This is actually the most important step in the whole recipe. Why?
- Boiling the bagels gives the bagel its beautiful shine. But looks aren’t everything—this shine is actually a result of the dough’s starches gelatinizing which creates a crisp, shiny coating. I learned this from Cooks Illustrated.
- Boiling bagels cooks the outer layer of dough, which guarantees they’ll hold their shape in the oven.
Add honey or barley malt syrup to the water bath. Why? The sugar adds extra caramelization and crisp. Brushing the boiled bagels with egg wash does the same. Don’t skip either!
Homemade Bagel Varieties
- Plain Bagels: Follow the recipe below. These are excellent as the base for breakfast casserole.
- Cinnamon Raisin Bagels: Follow my cinnamon raisin bagels recipe.
- Everything Bagels: Follow my everything bagels recipe.
- Sesame Seed Bagels: Use 1/3 cup sesame seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. Use more as needed.
- Poppy Seed Bagels: Use 1/3 cup poppy seeds. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. Use more as needed.
- Salt Bagels: Use 1/3 cup coarse salt. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, top with or dunk each bagel into topping. These are pretty salty, so feel free to go lighter on the salt.
- Cheese Bagels (Asiago, Cheddar, etc): Add 1/2 cup of shredded cheese to the dough when you add the flour. After brushing with egg wash in step 9, sprinkle with extra cheese.
- Cinnamon Crunch Bagels: Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough recipe below when you add the salt. Double the cinnamon crunch topping from cinnamon crunch bread. After brushing the bagels with the egg wash in step 9 below, spoon cinnamon crunch topping on each.
Some readers have used this bagel recipe to make whole wheat bagels by replacing half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but I do use some whole wheat flour when making homemade English muffins, another breakfast staple!
See Your Homemade Bagels!
Many readers tried this recipe as part of a baking challenge! Feel free to email or share your recipe photos with us on social media. 🙂
PrintHomemade Bagels Recipe
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 8 bagels
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Make fresh bagels right at home with this tested dough recipe. Don’t skip the water bath and egg wash—both provide an extra chewy and golden brown crust.
Ingredients
- 1 and 1/2 cups (360ml) warm water (between 100-110°F, 38-43°C)
- 2 and 3/4 teaspoons instant or active dry yeast*
- 4 cups (520g) bread flour (spooned & leveled), plus more for work surface and hands*
- 1 Tablespoon granulated sugar or packed light or dark brown sugar (or barley malt syrup)*
- 2 teaspoons salt
- coating the bowl: nonstick spray or 2 teaspoons olive oil
- egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
For Boiling
- 2 quarts water
- 1/4 cup (60g) honey (or barley malt syrup)*
Instructions
- Prepare the dough: Whisk the warm water and yeast together in the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment. Cover and allow to sit for 5 minutes. *If you don’t have a stand mixer, simply use a large mixing bowl and mix the dough with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula in the next step.
- Add the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Beat on low speed for 2 minutes. The dough is very stiff and will look somewhat dry.
- Knead the dough: Keep the dough in the mixer and beat for an additional 6-7 full minutes, or knead by hand on a lightly floured surface for 6-7 full minutes. (If you’re new to bread-baking, my How to Knead Dough video tutorial can help here.) If the dough becomes too sticky during the kneading process, sprinkle 1 teaspoon of flour at a time on the dough or on the work surface/in the bowl to make a soft, slightly tacky dough. Do not add more flour than you need because you do not want a dry dough. After kneading, the dough should still feel a little soft. Poke it with your finger—if it slowly bounces back, your dough is ready to rise. You can also do a “windowpane test” to see if your dough has been kneaded long enough: tear off a small (roughly golfball-size) piece of dough and gently stretch it out until it’s thin enough for light to pass through it. Hold it up to a window or light. Does light pass through the stretched dough without the dough tearing first? If so, your dough has been kneaded long enough and is ready to rise. If not, keep kneading until it passes the windowpane test.
- Lightly grease a large bowl with oil or nonstick spray. Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil. Cover the bowl with aluminum foil, plastic wrap, or a clean kitchen towel. Allow the dough to rise at room temperature for 60-90 minutes or until double in size.
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Shape the bagels: When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. (Just eyeball it—doesn’t need to be perfect!) Shape each piece into a ball. Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole about 1.5 – 2 inches in diameter. Watch video below for a visual. Loosely cover the shaped bagels with kitchen towel and rest for a few minutes as you prepare the water bath.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Water bath: Fill a large, wide pot with 2 quarts of water. Whisk in the honey. Bring water to a boil, then reduce heat to medium-high. Drop bagels in, 2-4 at a time, making sure they have enough room to float around. Cook the bagels for 1 minute on each side.
- Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top and around the sides of each bagel. Place 4 bagels onto each lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. You want the bagels to be a dark golden brown. Remove from the oven and allow bagels to cool on the baking sheets for 20 minutes, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Slice, toast, top, whatever you want! Cover leftover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week.
Notes
- Overnight Make Ahead Instructions: Prepare the dough through step 4, but allow the dough to rise overnight in the refrigerator instead of at room temperature for 60-90 minutes. The slow rise gives the bagels wonderful flavor! In the morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator and let the dough rise for 45 minutes at room temperature. Continue with step 5. I don’t recommend shaping the bagels the night before as they may puff up too much overnight.
- Freezing Make Ahead Instructions: Baked bagels freeze wonderfully! Freeze them for up to 3 months, thaw overnight in the refrigerator or at room temperature, then warm to your liking. You can also freeze the bagel dough. After punching down the dough in step 6, wrap the dough tightly in plastic wrap, then a layer of aluminum foil. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator, then punch the dough down again to release any air bubbles. Continue with the rest of step 6.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Stand Mixer | Baking Sheets | Parchment Paper or Silicone Baking Mats | Large Pot (such as a large 5.5 quart dutch oven) | Pastry Brush
- Yeast: Use instant or active dry yeast. If using active dry yeast, the rise time may be up to 2 hours. 1 standard packet is about 2 and 1/4 teaspoons, so you will need a little more than 1 packet of yeast. Reference my Baking with Yeast Guide for answers to common yeast FAQs.
- Bread Flour: Bagels require a high protein flour. Bread flour is a must. Here are all my recipes using bread flour if you want more recipes to use it up. All-purpose flour can be used in a pinch, but the bagels will taste flimsy and won’t be nearly as chewy.
- Barley Malt Syrup: This ingredient can be a little hard to find, but truly gives bagels that traditional malty flavor we all know and love. Most natural food stores carry it. I offer alternatives such as brown sugar in the dough and honey in the water bath; I’ve made bagels with these alternatives AND with barley malt syrup and honestly love both versions.
- Bread Machine: Place the dough ingredients into the pan of the machine. Program the machine to dough or manual, then start. After 9-10 minutes, the dough will be quite stiff. Allow the machine to complete its cycle, then continue with the recipe.
- Bagel Varieties: See blog post above for various add-ins and toppings. Note that the toppings are added after the egg wash in step 9. Some readers have used this bagel recipe to make whole wheat bagels by replacing half of the bread flour with whole wheat flour. I haven’t tried it, but let me know if you do!
- Halve or Double: You can halve this dough recipe by simply halving all of the dough ingredients (do not halve the water or honey for the boiling step). No changes to the recipe instructions. For best taste and texture and to not overwhelm your mixer with excess heavy dough, I do not recommend doubling this dough recipe. Instead, make separate batches of dough.
- Adapted from a mix of recipes I’ve tried: King Arthur Flour, Cook’s Illustrated, and Complete Book of Breads
Keywords: Homemade Bagels Recipe
I doubled the amount of yeast, but the dough is not expanding as much as I remember, bagels come out a little heavier, so one of my sisters recommended me to use freash yeast instead, I’ll be trying that in a couple weeks. On other side, flavoring Cream cheese was not as difficult as I thought. I just added some maple syrup, and half cream, and that made a similar Honey-Almond cream-cheese flavor. I also added some banana extract and the result was a delicious banana cream cheese with color included. i’ll be trying also a mixture of tofe and other salted flavors like onion, avocado and jalapeño next weeks using probably onion flakes and natural avocado and jalapeño sauces.
Sally!! These are divine…I can’t believe how simple they were to make because I’ve been very intimidated to try making homemade bagels. Since i absolutely love all of your recipes, I thought I’d give it a shot & now I’ll never buy bagels again! Thank you so much- I love everything you do!!❤️❤️
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I worked in a bagel store for 8 months back in 2000 in MN, and i worked the entire process of baking and serving the bagels at front line. I can tell you that Einsteins Bagels use a machine to defrost bagels, which are provided frozen in bags, Frozen Bagels are defrost in this machine at a certain humidity and temperature for 25 mins. Then they look as ready for oven, the baker puts some breading mix on the bottom side and some topping on the top side (cheese for asiago cheese, spices for the everything, salt or garlic bagel, and that’s it. There is no boiling step,
Back in my city, there has never been bagels, so I ended realizing to never taste them again in a regular basis, until I discovered your recipe this year, thank you. It seems you posted at the beginning of 2019. However, I had all the ingredients, so i made them, 3 times already, and it’s incredible how easy is to make them, that I should have researched for this a few years before. I don´t think the boilind step is needed, ’cause I made them both with and without this step and without this step they grow a little bit more. Even when the taste is the same, specially the asiago cheese, the only problem I have is the raising, they don’t expand as much as I remember. I already tried leaving the dough to rise for 5-6 hours but it grows to 1 1/2 of its original size, not double, I probably need to add more yeast, i noticed that if I use more water, they grow a little bit more, but the dough becomes sticky then, a little hard to manage. So I remember the machine to defrost, but I think there must be something in the dough process which is necessary to make bigger (inflated) bagels. Any suggestions are appreciated.
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I also would like to say that there’s already a bagel store in my city, Hermosillo, Sonora, Mexico, but they sell each bagel alone in 2 dlls, 4 dlls with regular cream cheese, very expensive even for USA. The bagel process at Einsteins is defrost the frozen bagels for 25 mins. in this defrosting machine. After defrost they put breading mix on the bottom, some egg white on top and the desired topping on the top (asiago cheese, everything, salt, or garlic), cinammon raisin, cranberry, banana, bagels don’t need any topping. Does anybody know how to imitate the cream cheese flavors, I am trying to make a chocolate and honey almond at least. Jalapeño would be nice too.
Hi Paulo– thanks for sharing! You could simply need a bit more yeast if you find the dough isn’t doubling. It should only take a couple hours. Are you using warm enough water?
Completely addicted never buying store-bought again the only change I did is I put 2 tablespoons of molasses and a teaspoon of baking soda in the water bath two minutes one side one minute other side. I could barely make the 20 minutes let them cool before we started eating them
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These turned out great, (for a first time bagel maker)! I did skip the egg wash, but that didnt seem to matter at all.
I did sprinkle cornmeal on parchment, and had no sticking problem.
Thanks, Sally, for the inspiration.
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These were the best bagels I’ve ever had!! (And I’ve spent a fair amount of time testing in NYC…) Thank you SO much for the recipe.
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I just made them. They were a hit.
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Hi! I have a quick question! I know that the dough will be too thick to knead, but I was wondering if I can mix the whole thing by hand? Or is it best to use a stand mixer for that initial mix?
Thanks!
– Nat
Hi Nat! You can do it either way, but initially mixing with the mixer certainly makes things easier– and quicker!
Omg Sally! Thank you so much, Poppy seed bagels aren’t sold much around here in Houston. So I found your recipe and made them all organic too, they came out like a dream come true!! Thank you so much, you have no idea how grateful I am!!
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I’d no idea it could be so easy to make bagels that come out like you’re in New York City! Thanks Sally! I followed the reader’s suggestion who rolled the dough pieces into a cylinder and then pinched the ends together, and I found that to be easier than poking a hole in the middle and trying to stretch it, and the bagels were smoother that way. After boiling, I took them out with a slotted spoon to drain for a few seconds on a wire rack. It was easier to brush them with egg wash and dunk them in the topping one at a time. I made the everything bagels from your other recipe and my only comment is that there was too much salt for my taste, next time I’ll only use 1/2 tablespoon. And there definitely WILL be a next time!
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Hi Sally,
I live in Germany where we despite the infinite kinds of different flours we don‘t have bread flour. I read before that you can create it by adding gluten, but now I have read it also has malt? Do you know How I can make my own? Thanks!
Hi Laura! For the bread flour substitute, you’ll just need all-purpose flour and vital wheat gluten. Use 1 teaspoon per 1 cup of flour. That mixture can take the place of bread flour in this bagel recipe.
I love this recipe, today was my third time baking these bagels and I tried a few different things. First I let the dough rise over night and then let it sit for 45min this morning before baking, I warmed my oven to 60c and then turned it off and placed the dough inside. Instead of making 8 bagels, I portioned the dough for 6 bagels, I found the end results to be larger, and more chewy. For a twist I sprinkled onion soup mix on 2 of the bagels after applying the egg wash. These had a delicious onion bagel flavor but watch out that the seasoning doesn’t get too dark.
I had a few cinnamon raisin bagels in the freezer from the last batch which I thawed overnight and then toasted. The frozen bagels still tasted fresh and delicious after toasting.
I also used bagels molds with this round, while they made the bagel shape consistent and helped to evenly apply seasoning – hand shaping is still just as good.
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Made these for my coworkers and they couldn’t get enough, great recipe!
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Hi, the bagels come out great. The only thing is they become hard at the bottom after baking. Can you help me with this, what am I doing wrong?Thanks
Hi Maria! If they’re too hard on the bottoms, try lowering the oven temperature or even flipping them over halfway through baking (if you’re making plain bagels).
Your recipe was easy to follow. Very satisfied with the results.
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Perfect, thanks for the recipe! They looked and tasted great, and were simple to make. I used soy milk instead of egg wash so my vegan friend could have some too and it worked fine. My only complaint is that they disappeared too quickly! I might make extra and freeze some next time.
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I just made these and they were so good and easy! I put too much everything seasoning on so I will correct that next batch. Yours looked fluffier than mine. Any suggestions on what I may have done? My family loved them!
I’m glad your family enjoyed them! Did they taste too dense on the inside? If not, you didn’t do anything wrong and it could just be the way the photo was taken!
Hi Chris, I just made these today for the first time! I didn’t have parchment paper so I used foil and they came right off beautifully. I was worried about the stickiness so made sure I egg washed all over and that seemed to form an easy peel barrier!
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I got myself a silicone baking mat and problem solved! I am loving this recipe. My results are fantastic now and look and taste better than the ones I used to buy at the bake shop!
I’m a bit confused about the two trays thing. Do you bake them 4 at a time or on two racks one above the other ? or do they puff up that much? I don’t have 2 trays. Can I use one big cookie sheet? Does it make any difference?
Hi Chris! I recommend 2 baking sheets since the 8 bagels need room to puff up. You can bake them all at once on different racks or bake in batches if you have a smaller oven or only have 1 baking sheet.
Ok I get it now these things are about the size of Goodyear monster truck tires! Look and taste good, nice texture. But somehow they arc-welded themselves to the parchment. And got mostly destroyed trying to remove it. Any suggestions for next time ?
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Amazingly delicious! Shaping was a little rough but after they were in my belly I forgot they weren’t shaped professionally! I made over night and shortened the cooking time a little. I also almost lost the entire batch due to a parchment paper snafu but regained control by removing it half way through. I will never store buy bagels again! Thank You!
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I’m so glad you tried them! And yes, I have embraced the “rustic” look of my bagels 🙂
I can only say: thank you! In Spain it’s impossible to buy bugels. Only once in a year in Lidl or Aldi. If I travel abroad I always carry bagels to home! It’s a crazy addiction. Today I’ve tried your recepy and…OMG!! THEY ARE AMAZING!! The texture is incredible and the taste… I’ve used maple syrup and honey to the water, and also a little sunflower oil, just a little to the dough…and as I said before: than you from Spain!!
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I made these for the second time today. I cut the dough into 12 smaller pieces. I also experimented with rolling them into a cylinder-like shape and then shaping into a circle, and those ones turned out a lot prettier that the one where I poked a hole in the middle- just took a little bit more time. All your recipes are so good!
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I struggled with this recipe a little. I followed the directions, and they came out tasting great, but they weren’t pretty. My bagels didn’t have that nice smooth look, they were kind-of lumpy. The hardest thing was picking up the raw shaped bagels to put in the water bath. Every time it would stretch them out and make them deformed. Again, the finished bagel was delicious, mine just didn’t look nice.
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I was having trouble transferring the bagels to the hot water bath as well, but after the first two , I dipped my metal spatula into the hot water, and slid an un-boiled bagel on to the spatula and it just slipped off into the water! So 6 of them look great and 2 of them are stretched but oh well.
YUM! I did try the half whole wheat version and didn’t have bread flour, so I did 2 cups whole wheat and 2 cups all purpose flour – worked out great! Texture was still firm and I did one variety dipped in cinnamon sugar and another dipped in the Trader Joe’s everything but the bagel blend. Such an easy recipe to follow and despite the bagels not looking super uniform, they tasted great!
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thanks so much for sharing! I made these yesterday for me and a couple friends, and they turned out PERFECT. Beautiful on the outside, perfectly chewy yet fluffy texture, and perfect flavour.
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Amazing recipe! My first time making them and they turned out better than anything I’ve ever bought in a bagel shop. Delicious and my family loved them! No malt powder or syrup required, but one day I will try that.
Thank you so much!
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Hi Sally, thank you for sharing this recipe. Do you have tips on how to store the bagels? Mine seem to have gotten significantly harder the next day – how should I store them so they remain soft?
Make sure to cover leftover bagels tightly and store at room temperature for a few days or in the refrigerator for up to 1 week. You can wrap them individually to make sure they are really airtight.
My 16 year old is on a bagel kick so decided to start making my own and came across this recipe. I’m on my second batch and they’re amazing!
I use cake yeast instead of dry and let them do a second rise in the fridge overnight prior to shaping and baking the next morning. The texture and flavor are amazing and I love the suggested variations.
I’ll definitely try more of your recipes Sally – thank you for sharing!
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Thank you for this easy to follow recipe. I am wondering if I can use blueberries in this recipe? They are my daughter’s favorite kind. Should I use frozen/fresh/or dried? Can’t wait to try this.
Hi Tanya! Fresh or frozen blueberries are a little difficult to incorporate into this dough. I’ve tried– many times! My suggestion is to use dried blueberries.
Thanks for this recipe, Sally! I just made them this morning and they are absolutely delicious!! This was my first time making bagels and I was surprised at how well they turned out. Nice golden crunch outside and soft on the inside. One question, though- the bottoms of some of the bagels turned out really tough, as if the bottoms were overbaked. three or four of them. Do you know why?
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Hi Miranda! I’m so happy you tried and love these homemade bagels, thank you! Next time, try lowering the oven temperature and rotating the pan halfway through bake time. Also, wait for the bagels to somewhat dry before baking. It’s the water from the boiling step that is burning on the bottoms.
Okay thank you- I will make sure the bagels dry before baking & try a slightly lower temp! One more question- do you have any other ideas on how to store the bagels? I saw your comment saying to ‘store tightly at room temperature or in the fridge’; I put them in an air tight container & kept on the counter, but this morning they are soggy-feeling. I made sure they were completely cool before putting them in the container & I don’t live in a war or humid environment. Any ideas? I would love to be able to keep a batch of these for a few days instead of only one or two.
This is the first time I baked bagels but, having moved to Spain a year and a half ago from Montreal (and it’s most amazing bagels), I became desperate. They turned out great! My kids, husband and I loved them! I see myself doubling this recipe as we already had 4 of the 8 bagels in the first hour since they came out of the oven!
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I have to say, these are AMAZING! I haven’t tried to make my own bagels before thinking they must be hard.. Thank you for proving me wrong! I choose to make my dough the night before and do the slow rise in the fridge. I just baked these up and my family is devouring these delicious bagels. They are so much better then my local bagel shop and I can’t wait to experiment with different flavors. Thank you for sharing this recipe and it will definitely be going into my favorite recipe folder!
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