Homemade Bagels

I’ve been in the middle of a massive project to get rid of half of what I own, and I had to take a break.

Okay, I’m not getting rid of half of what I own. I feel like I almost am, though. Just yesterday I had every item of clothing I owned on the dining table so that I could sort through it in depth and determine what I wanted to keep. Every item. It was actually a little alarming, which was the point of getting it all out at once.

Anyway, I needed a break from that task. I decided yesterday evening that it was time I try something new in the Kitchen department of experimentation.

Making my own bagels.

That’s right. Homemade Bagels. You can bring the deliciousness of fresh bagels straight into your kitchen, for just a few hours and almost no dollars. I've been wanting to do this ever since I made my own sandwich bread.

There’s this place I got bagels from in college that still reigns as the best bagel I’ve ever eaten, and bagels have been a sad affair for me ever since I had to leave that bagel place behind me. I had high hopes that this may replicate the experience of that bagel shop.

Recipe Preview: 

What do I need to know, and how hard would this be?

In order to make bagels, you'll need to know the following if you don't already (Non-Expert perspective, here):

• knead - I'll explain this later in my best non-expert manner
• rise - bread has to be made with enough time to rise, which is what makes it fluffy; you may only do 30 minutes of work, but the recipe will still take several hours
• yeast - the living organism that makes bread rise by sort of eating the stuff in the dough and then and then producing carbon dioxide; you can purchase jars or packets or yeast on the baking aisle at the grocery store

Difficulty level: Easy

As long as you follow the directions, you should be fine on this one. Read on without fear. You don't need to be a gourmet chef. You may get covered in flour, though. 

Cost and Savings: 

Store bought bagels, fresh from the bakery: $1.99 for 5 bagels 

Store bought bagels, Thomas': $4.69 for 6 bagels 

Store bought bagels, Cobblestone: $3.19 for 6 bagels 

Total cost, homemade bagels: $1.49 plus a few cents for 8 bagels (about $0.19 per bagel)

That breaks down as follows: 

Bread flour: King Arthur, 5 lb bag- $4.49; 1 lb - $0.90

Yeast: $0.59 for one packet (I didn't need the whole packet, and I plan to get a container for the future which will be cheaper)

Sugar, water, and salt used in amounts accounting for a total of just a few cents 

Savings: Bagels from the store bakery are $0.40 cents a piece, so you will come out better making your own. I estimate you'll save about $0.15-$0.20 per bagel if you account for the cost of other supplies you need. You'll save even more in comparison to the bread aisle bagels- Thomas' bagels are $1.28 a piece. By making your own, you get a better bagel for over a dollar less. That's a serious win.

Considering making your own bagels? Read on for...

Steps and Tips

Step One: Recipes and Materials

First, you have to find yourself a recipe. You have options for all a variety of ingredients and toppings, but at it’s simplest, this is all you will need:

Ingredients

• Yeast (you can find recipes for active dry yeast or instant yeast…the one I used asked for active  dry yeast
• Bread Flour (available with the other flours at the regular grocery store)
• Water
• Sugar
• Other recipes may ask for honey, vegetable oil, or toppings as you want
• a slotted spoon or other tool for getting bagels into and out of boiling water

Other

• 1-2 mixing bowls, one for mixing and one for rising (you could probably use just one)
• A kitchen towel or plastic wrap
• I knead on wax paper because I am skeptical of using just the countertop in my apartment
• 1 baking sheet 
• 1 large bot (a smallish one will be fine, but you'll only be able to boil 1 bagel at a time)

I used this recipe from Sophisticated Gourmet. A quick search of homemade bagel recipes will yield plenty of similar recipes with very slight differences in ingredients and procedures. I picked this one because it used active dry yeast, which I had. As a bonus, this particular recipe offered a variation for New York style bagels, which is what the place I loved so much in college served.

Step Two: Make dough

This is easy. There’s so few ingredients! I believe this part of the process took me less than 5 minutes. To complete the dough, you have to knead it. My recipe called for 10 minutes of kneading.

To knead, you will use the heel of one hand, and push down with both hands- sort of like doing CPR. After you push the dough down, fold it over, and repeat, rotating the direction in which you fold the dough. I used the same test I used on the sandwich bread to know if I was finished kneading- taking a small section and seeing if I could spread it thin enough so that it was translucent without the dough breaking apart. I’m not sure if that’s correct for a bagel, but my bagels did turn out well!

Step Three: Let Dough Rise

Now, you take a break. The dough has to rise. My recipe required one hours of rising. Go find something else to do. 

NOTE: In cooler temperatures, rising may take longer. You want the dough to double in size. If it's cooler in your house, it may take more than an hour to get there.

 When it finished rising (it will double in size) you have to punch it down. That means what it says- punch it. This gets out the extra air. Now you let the dough rest - the recipe I used called for 10 minutes. I don't know what that means, exactly, but I just let it sit in the bowl another 10 minutes. 

This is a good time to bring a pot of water to a boil. The bigger the pot you have, the more bagels you can boil at once. If you don't have a giant pot, though, just use a smaller one. I don't think it will do any harm- it will just take longer. 

This is also a good time to preheat the oven. 

Step Four: Boil and Bake the Bagels

You have to start by actually making the bagels. Get the baking sheet ready now, and divide the dough into equal parts (the recipe I used called for eight, but I think you can choose as long as you are ready for an adjustment in cooking time). 

You have two options for forming the bagels. 

Option 1: Roll dough into a ball, and poke a hole in the middle with your finger. I twirled the dough around on my finger a bit to get it a bit wider, which was rather fun - like a miniature and less dangerous version of tossing a pizza! 

Option 2: Roll dough into a log shape, turn it in a circle and press the ends together. You can use a bit of water on the end to help if necessary. (Note that I did not try this myself)

Put each one on the pan, cover them, and let them rest another 10 minutes (if following the recipe I followed). If you haven't started that water heating, yet, or preheated the oven, do it now! 

Next you're going to boil the bagels. This is my favorite part! When the water is boiling and you've let the dough rest, drop it in the boiling water, as many at a time as you want, and boil 1-2 minutes ON EACH SIDE. So 2-4 minutes total. Turn the bagel over halfway through that time. I did 1 minute and 30 seconds on each side. The longer end is going to give you the chewier, New York style bagel. At least that's what the recipe said, and I wanted that chewy bagel like the ones I ate in college at the best bagel place ever. 

If you want to add toppings of any sort, do it now. I think you can brush a bit of egg over the bagel to attach them? I wanted plain bagels, so I did not do this. 

Use your slotted spoon to do all the work, and once you've boiled all the bagels put them in the oven to finish. You'll be baking them until they're golden brown (about 25 minutes in my slow oven).

Step 5: Enjoy! 

Slice those bagels open and eat! I had Mike pick up some smoked salmon and we had fresh bagels with smoked salmon and cream cheese for dinner (and a spinach salad, because I am eating many more vegetables). 

A note on storage

If you are considering making some bread for the first time, remember that this is fresh bread with no preservatives. That's a win. However, the stuff in the store keeps so long because it does have preservatives. Store them in something as airtight as possible, and if you really won't eat them in a few days you can always refrigerate or freeze them.