This recipe makes 8 bagels. I originally heard about this recipe from the Cohen’s
when we were having our Rosh Hashanah lunch.
- Difficulty: Medium
- Prep time: 2 hours, 10 minutes
- Cook time: 25 minutes
- Total time: 3 hours
- Adapted from Sally’s Baking Addiction
Ingredients for the dough
- 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 (500g) bread flour
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar or packed light or dark brown sugar (or barley malt syrup)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons of olive oil (to coat the bowl while rising)
- egg wash: 1 egg white beaten with 1 tablespoon water
Ingredients for boiling
- 2 quarts water
- 1/4 cup (60g) honey (or barley malt syrup)
Process
- Prepare the dough
- Whisk warm water and yeast together in the bowl.
Cover and let it sit for
5 minutes. It should be pretty bubbly.
- Add the flour, brown sugar, and salt. Mix by hand until it is incorporated.
The dough is very stiff and will look somewhat dry at this point.
- Put the dough onto a lightly floured surface. With lightly floured hands,
knead the dough for
4-5 minutes. It’s important that it have an even consistency.
- Lightly grease a large bowl with oil.
Place the dough in the bowl, turning it to coat all sides in the oil.
Cover the bowl with a clean kitchen towel.
Allow the dough to rise at room temperature until it doubles in size.
This should take about
90 minutes.
- Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.
- Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C).
- Shape the bagels
- When the dough is ready, punch it down to release any air bubbles.
- Divide the dough into 8 roughly equal pieces.
- Shape each piece into a ball.
- Press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole about
2 inches in diameter.
It’s ok if the holes feel a little bigger than necessary; it will close up as the bagel expands in the oven.
- Loosely cover the shaped bagels with kitchen towel and rest for a few minutes as you prepare the water bath.
- 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.
- 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.