These New York Style Bagels are so tasty you won’t mind the long process – much! A bit of a challenge for the home baker but you will reap great rewards!
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Once upon a time, many moons ago, I did an internship at an ad agency in New York. The agency was tiny but had an office on 5th Avenue within spitting distance of the Flatiron Building.
Being in New York was completely surreal – like being on a film set. Iconic buildings surrounded my office, parks and museums beckoned.
If it weren’t for the fact that we usually worked 9am – 10pm and that is was bitterly cold I would have just wandered the grid-like streets around the clock trying to take it all in.
There were compensations for working insane hours and taking on terrifying tasks though. We usually got food delivered on the agency’s dime every time we worked into the night.
Every Friday a huge basket of freshly baked bagels with cream cheese and lox magically appeared in the small kitchen… and disappeared soon after.
These bagels are unlike anything I have tasted before or since. Since returning to the UK I have tried and failed to find something resembling them and decided that you probably have to travel to New York to get them.
Homemade Bagels Tips
I have wanted to bake bagels since my New York days but only got around to it quite recently. Bagels require a dough that is first boiled then baked and the recipes are researched varied quite a lot – some containing eggs some not.
I liked the recipe on Café Fernando site years before I actually got around to making it, but be warned it requires 2 days to complete so this is definitely a weekend baking project.
The dough is very stiff so I decided to knead it by hand rather than risk breaking the KitchenAid. If you ever want to work out your arms forget the gym, just make bagels – it was HARD work kneading that dough for a lightweight like myself.
The verdict? The bagels tasted great – although they still weren’t nearly as good as the NY ones. They had that chewiness and more authentic taste than anything you buy in London however and I was so proud of them I nearly gave them all names and framed them for all to see!
And if you have any stale bagels you can make my Eggs in a (Bagel) Hole!
Homemade Bagels – New York Style Bagels
Ingredients
Sponge
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 500 g (4 cup)s bread flour
- 620 ml (2 ½ cups) water at room temperature
Dough
- 1/2 teaspoon instant yeast
- 480 g ( 3 ¾ cups) Canadian flour (high gluten flour)
- 2 ¾ teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon dark brown sugar
Water Bath
- 1 tablespoon bicarbonate of soda
- semolina for dusting
Toppings
- sesame seeds, poppy seeds, salt, dried garlic, everything bagel seasoning
Instructions
Day 1: Make the sponge
- Mix the flour and yeast in a large bowl, add the water and mix with a wooden spoon until you have a loose, sticky dough. Cover and let it rise for 2 hours or until doubled in size.
- Add the additional yeast into the same mixing bowl and mix it in. Add 3/4 of the flour, the brown sugar and salt and use your hands to mix everything together in the bowl.
- Dust your worktop with flour and tip your dough onto it. Slowly work in the rest of the flour until you have a firm dough.
- Start kneading the dough, stretching it away from you and folding back over itself for at least 20 minutes – as I mentioned the dough will be quite stiff and hard to knead so you need to persevere! (The dough is too stiff for a stand mixer)
- At this point try the windowpane test. If the dough tears, continue kneading until it forms a thin membrane when stretched between your fingers.
Shape the Bagels
- Divide the dough into 12 sections (or 24 if you are making small bagels) form into balls, cover with a damp cloth and leave them to rise for 20 minutes.
- To shape the bagels, poke a hole in the centre of each ball and rotate it around your finger to widen it. The hole needs to be fairly big as it will fill up when the bagels rise.
- Place the bagels onto 2 trays lined with baking paper, cover with greased cling film and let them rise for 20 minutes.
- Fill a large bowl with cool water and drop one of the bagels in – if it rises to the surface within 10 seconds it is ready to rest in the fridge. If it doesn’t float, cover, let them rise a further 10 minutes and then test them again. Mine passed this test first time round.
- Put the trays, covered with cling film, in the fridge overnight.
Day 2: Water Bath & Baking
- The following day preheat your oven as hot as it will go and set two racks in the middle.
- Line two large trays with baking paper and sprinkle generously with semolina.
- Bring a large pot of water to the boil, add the soda bicarb then drop the bagels in, 2-3 at a time and boil for about a minute on each side.
- Remove with a spoon and place on the prepared tray. Sprinkle with your toppings while the bagel is still wet. Repeat with remaining bagels.
- Bake for 5 minutes at highest temperature then reduce the oven to 220C / 450F and bake for another 5-10 minutes until the bagels are browned to your liking. Cool before serving.
Steph @MisplacedBrit says
These look absolutely fantastic! I've been wanting to make my own bagels for ages… These look much better than I imagined a homemade batch to turn out!! 😉
My hopes are high!
Lucy Parissi says
Thanks Steph! They are rather a lot of work but you feel justified in eating them after that arm workout!
Fit Cakery says
Homemade bagels sound fantastic! Thanks for sharing this recipe and those drool-worthy photos!
Jenny says
ooooh these look very moreish! i do love cream cheese on a bagel x
Julia@Vikalinka says
I can't even tell you how much LOVE this post, Lucy! First of all, I didn't know about your New York internship and secondly, bagels is one of my food loves. I can't get them good enough here, I've tried! Don't know why. The first thing I usually get once I am on North American soil is get a bagel. For real. December can't come soon enough. I really need to try and make them at home! pinning the recipe.
Lucy Parissi says
Hi Julia – New York was so long ago that cameras took film that you had to develop and then print. It feels like it was in a different lifetime!
Millie | Add A LIttle says
These look delicious – I find it so rewarding making my own bread!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
Never made my own bagels before! This is definitely something I need to try.. great recipe and thanks for the inspiration.
belleau kitchen says
these do look truly amazing. I adore proper bagels, slightly chewy and wonderfully light… the bagel shop on Brick lane is not bad but there's an amazing bagel bakery in Golders Green that does them amazingly well…. I must have a go at this recipe soon.