Here’s a complete recipe and video tutorial for hot & fresh homemade everything bagels. Skip the store-bought because bagels are easier than you think!
This recipe is brought to you in partnership with Red Star Yeast.
I dedicated the past month to homemade bagels. There are only so many ways to successfully make bagels, so I used a mix of kitchen-tested recipes as inspiration. I tested several recipes before figuring out what I like best. Never in 1 million years did I think I could EVER make New York bakery-style bagels in my own kitchen. It’s possible!
These everything bagels are:
- Hot ‘n’ fresh
- Extra chewy
- Soft in the center
- Golden brown
- Complete with a salty, crunchy crust
Incredible plain, toasted, with cream cheese, as a turkey sandwich, topped with a fried egg, avocado, and so much more.
Homemade bagels aren’t difficult as long as you take your time. By the 2nd time you make them, you’ll breeze right through all the steps. I promise!
How to Make Homemade Everything Bagels
The first step is to prepare the bagel dough. 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. Red Star Yeast is my #1 choice. Reference this Baking with Yeast Guide whenever you work with baker’s yeast. I include practical answers to all of your common yeast questions.
- Bread Flour: A high protein flour is necessary for making 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. Read more in my recipe notes below.
- Salt: Flavor.
The bagel dough is a little dry, dense, and shaggy. This is perfectly normal and exactly what you’re looking for. It will come together as you knead it. See my How to Knead Dough video tutorial if you need extra help with this step.
After the dough rises, it’s time to shape the bagels. First, divide the ball of dough into 8 equal parts. It does not have to be perfect! Some can be a little smaller than others. Smooth them out as best you can.
How to Shape Bagels
Shaping everything bagels is easier than it looks. Poke your finger through the center of the ball of dough. Make a hole about 1.5 – 2 inches large. That’s it! As you can see, mine aren’t totally perfect looking. Perfection is overrated and the bagels taste the same no matter how awesome they look. 😉
What is the Purpose a Bagel Water Bath?
The bagel water bath is the most crucial step in bagel making. Boil the shaped bagels for 1 minute on each side.
- Boiling bagels give the crust its beautiful shine. But looks aren’t everything. This shine is actually a result of the dough’s starches becoming gelatinized. Cooks Illustrated teaches us that these starches cook to a crisp, shiny coating in the oven.
- Boiling bagels cooks the outer layer of dough, which guarantees they’ll hold their shape when baking.
Honey: Add a little honey to the boiling water. Honey provides extra caramelization on the bagel crust. Barley malt syrup works too—see recipe notes below.
Everything Bagel Seasoning
Before baking, let’s top the bagels. Brush with a little egg white, then coat in everything bagel seasoning. This is a blend of poppy seeds, sesame seeds, dried minced onion, dried garlic flakes, and coarse sea salt or flaky sea salt. Feel free to use more of one seasoning than another, or leave one out if you don’t like it. Or use all poppy seeds, all sesame seeds, all coarse/flaky sea salt, etc. You can make so many bagel varieties from this homemade bagel recipe!
Highly recommended: Top homemade soft pretzels with this seasoning!!
Last step is to bake the bagels until golden brown perfection.
After you make the homemade everything bagels, you’ll realize how simple they are! The instructions look overwhelming, but I’m extra thorough so you have the best success. Save your money and make bagels at home!
More Homemade Bread Recipes
- Everything Bagel Pull Apart Bread
- Easy Jalapeño Cheddar Bread
- Homemade Biscuits
- Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
- Soft Pretzel Bites
- Homemade Blueberry Bagels
Homemade Everything Bagels
- Prep Time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
- Cook Time: 25 minutes
- Total Time: 3 hours
- Yield: 8 bagels
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Here’s a complete recipe and tutorial for hot & fresh homemade everything bagels. Skip the store-bought and bakery because bagels are easier than you think! 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)
- 1 Tablespoon packed light or dark brown sugar (or barley malt syrup)*
- 2 teaspoons salt
- coating the bowl: nonstick spray or 1 Tablespoon olive oil
Water Bath
- 2 quarts water
- 1/4 cup (85g) honey (or barley malt syrup)*
Topping
- 2 Tablespoons poppy seeds
- 2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
- 1 Tablespoon dried minced onion
- 1 Tablespoon dried garlic flakes
- 1 Tablespoon coarse sea salt or flaky sea salt
- egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 Tablespoon water
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.
- Combine the everything bagel seasoning ingredients together. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg wash on top and around the sides of each bagel. Dip into the everything bagel seasoning. 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 | Coarse Sea Salt or Flaky Sea Salt
- 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.
- 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
Reader Comments and Reviews
I really enjoyed making these bagels! I made a lot of mistakes but they still turned out great and now I look forward to how I can improve next time and I’m excited to try out different bagel flavors.
I love how these tasted. To me they really do beat the store bought versions, even if they do require time and effort (it’s well worth it!!).
Sally-you once again come through with an amazing recipe. And even on my first try! Homemade bagels have been on my “to-bake” list for a very long time. These easy to make, delicious bagels require no cream cheese or butter to tickle your taste buds. 5 stars!
Addition to first comment! Also made these gluten free with gluten free flour mix and they came out just as good!
Great recipe. I had no idea I could make these at home and since we now live in Italy they hard if not impossible to find. Did make 10 instead of 8 since we enjoy a little smaller size and cut the poppy seed in half because of the mess!
I’m wondering what the approximate caloric value of one bagel is….
Hi John, We don’t usually include nutrition information as it can vary between different brands of the same ingredients. Plus, many recipes have ingredient substitutions or optional ingredients listed. However, there are many handy online calculators where you can plug in and customize your exact ingredients/brands. Readers have found this one especially helpful: https://www.verywellfit.com/recipe-nutrition-analyzer-4157076
The bagels were delicious and very New York bagels like with a dense interior. Perfect recipe!. Prior to water Beth they were well-risen and potentially airy. Reinhardt in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice says the density is due to the “violence of the boiling water and lighter bagels are achieved by using commercial steam ovens. Have you tried any steaming techniques in a regular home oven that might work to keep that airiness?
So perfect! Best I’ve ever had, super beginner friendly! My first time ever making bagels and they are better than my local spot, super excited to make these more!
These everything bagels are really EVERYTHING so delicious, a bit harder than store bought but the taste is even better, my kids keep asking for another one,
Best bagel recipe I’ve ever tried! Very clear instructions and easy to follow. Baked with some shredded Asiago cheese and tasted fresh out of bakery.
I made these using our bread machine and they came out great. I made them a little smaller and ended up with 15
I will for sure make these again.
Made these the first time with no inclusions and they were so good! I’ve been adding whatever the kids want and they just keep impressing!
My first time making bagels and they were PERFECT! Better than store bought. Thank you!
I followed all the instructions and the texture was just so weird, the outside was hard and the inside was doughy and uncooked. I couldn’t even cook them for longer or the outside would be burnt
Hi Jes, we would be happy to help troubleshoot. Did your dough seem to be the right texture, or was it dry? How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
These looked so good, but I struggled, even though I’ve watched your tutorials on making bread. I weighed the flour out and did everything in my mixer. I kneaded the dough for at least 11-12 minutes. It sort of passed the windowpane test, but not perfectly. I didn’t want to over-knead so let it rise. It was soooo sticky! Rose overnight in the fridge and after punching it down, it was still sticky. I had to four my hands to pull it out of the bowl and work with it. It felt like I had to rip the center of each bagel to get the holes, as just poking my finger didn’t work. Shaping them into a circle was tough, and they ended up all misshapen. In the end, they taste ok but are super chewy and will probably dry out within 24 hours.
What did I do wrong? 🙁
Hi Kendall, we’re happy to help troubleshoot. There are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. There’s nothing wrong with adding a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency if you decide to try this again. You can start by adding in one tablespoon of flour at a time, so that you don’t accidentally dry it out. Let us know if we can help further!
Yours is one of only a few that doesn’t include baking soda in the boiling water. Did you omit it intentionally? Have you tried baking soda in the boiling water?
Hi Sara! A baking soda bath is what we use to make homemade pretzels. For bagels, we want the honey or barley malt syrup bath.
Ohmygoosh thank you for the bagel recipes! Made them today and absolutely delicious! I’ve tried other recipes and did not work out so well. Thank you Sally and team for this great, easy, and delicious recipe. Can’t wait to bake the easy cinnamon rolls recipe this weekend!
I loved making these! They came out a little chewier than I expected. Do you have any insight about what may have caused this so I can improve next time?
Hi Jenn! Bagels are meant to be nice and chewy. Using all purpose flour instead of bread flour will yield a less chewy bagel, if desired.
I am having issues with my dough being too firm and not passing the windowpane test and tearing before that.
Hi Shianne, if your dough is tearing before doing the window pane test, it sounds like it may need a little more kneading. Does the dough seem dry? How are you measuring your flour? Be sure to spoon and level to avoid adding too much flour in the dough, which could make the dough dry. Hope this helps for next time!
Hi, I am making these for the first time. I let the dough rise in the fridge overnight. They have been out for 45 minutes but the dough is still cold. Do I need to wait for it to come to room temperature?
Hi K, it is ok if the dough is a little cold still.
Love this recipe! Use it as a base for other flavors as well. But wondering if you have a pumpkin bagel recipe? Because it’s wet I’m not sure how to incorporate pumpkin without it messing up the consistency.
Hi Amanda, so glad you love these bagels! We wish we could help, but we haven’t tried making pumpkin bagels. You’d likely need to *slightly* adjust the liquid and add more flour if you add some pumpkin puree. Let us know if you test anything!
This was the first time I ever made bagels and they came out AMAZING
Not sure what went wrong, but the dough is staying in more of a batter consistency even after adding more flour multiple times. Should I just toss it or is there a way to save it?
Hi LS, there are a lot of variables that go into the consistency of dough, even down to the weather and humidity in the air. Is it particularly humid where you live? There’s nothing wrong with adding just a little more flour to bring the dough into a less sticky and knead-able consistency. Let us know how it turns out!
Can I use this recipe to make mini bagels.
Hi Susan, absolutely. We’re unsure of the exact bake time, as it will vary depending on the exact size of your mini bagels. Enjoy!
I love this recipe so much! I recently went to New York and I got hooked on everything bagels, sadly you can’t buy them anywhere in my country, you can only buy plain bagels. Therefore, I decided to make them myself from scratch and I found your recipe. The recipe was very thorough and easy to follow, and my bagels came out perfect, exactly like the ones I ate in New York! I will definitely be making these again!
Hi Sally , Do you have a chocolate chip bagel recipe ? I assume its just a regular basic bagel recipe , but i was wondering about the amount of Chocolate chips i need to add to the dough.
Hi Al, for chocolate chip bagels, you can chocolate chips in when we add the raisins in our Cinnamon Raisin Bagels. Same amount. Let us know if you give them a try!
This recipe is easy and really delicious!
I’m having trouble with the bagels coming out flat. It’s not the yeast because the dough is rising fine, but when I shape them, they always get flat – especially when I grab them from the parchment paper to boil them. Do you have any recommendations to keep them puffy and not flat? Thank you!!
Hi Charlotte, is the dough being over-kneaded by chance? Over kneading the dough can cause it to collapse and prevent yeasted goods from rising properly. Our How to Knead Dough and Baking with Yeast Guide may be helpful, too. Hope this helps for your next batch!
I love this recipe. I made them with 1 exception. I wanted more protein and found adding 1 beaten egg and 1/4 cup less water works. I love all your recipes and videos. It makes baking much more fun and easy to follow. Thanks for all your great recipes.
Easy……… I will never buy store bought bagels again!!
I would love to know if whole wheat flour can be substituted
Thanks
Hi AFK, we don’t recommend whole wheat here—the bagels will be quite heavy and dense. You could try swapping half of the bread flour for whole wheat flour. Again, the texture and taste will be a bit different, but that’s where we’d start. So glad you enjoyed them!
I made them with fresh milled hard white wheat (whole wheat with bran included.). I added a couple tablespoons extra water and they turned out great. Same with Sally’s blueberry bagels.
I love this recipe! These were so easy to make and produced perfect, chewy bagels. Thank you Sally!
Hi, wondering if the kneading could be done successfully with a bread machine? Thanks!
Hi Mary, we haven’t tested it, but we can’t see why not!