Bagels

Name: Bagels
Prep time: 1 h
Cook time: 13 h 30 min
Total time: 14 h 30 min
Cuisine: Poland; popularized in New York
Ingredients: 500 g (4 cups) bread flour, high-protein if you can find it; 4 g (1¼ tsp) instant yeast; 10 g (1¾ tsp) fine sea salt; 15 g (2 tsp) barley malt syrup or honey; 290 g (1¼ cups) lukewarm water; 3 l (3 qt) water; 30 g (1½ tbsp) barley malt syrup or honey; 10 g (2 tsp) baking soda; 1 egg white (about 30 g), beaten with 1 tbsp water, for glazing; 40 g (⅓ cup) sesame seeds, poppy seeds or a mix

Dense, chewy and shiny: boiled, then baked

Makes: 8 bagels
Hands-on: 1 h
Total: 14 h 30 min
Level: Some skill

A proper bagel is chewy all the way through with a thin, glossy, slightly crackly skin. What makes it is a stiff, low-hydration dough, an overnight rest in the fridge, and a short boil before baking that sets the crust.

Ingredients

Dough

500 gbread flour (4 cups)high-protein if you can find it
4 ginstant yeast (1¼ tsp)
10 gfine sea salt (1¾ tsp)
15 gbarley malt syrup or honey (2 tsp)
290 glukewarm water (1¼ cups)

Boiling and topping

3 lwater (3 qt)
30 gbarley malt syrup or honey (1½ tbsp)
10 gbaking soda (2 tsp)
1egg white (about 30 g)beaten with 1 tbsp water, for glazing
40 gsesame seeds, poppy seeds or a mix (⅓ cup)

Diet: Vegetarian, Dairy-free
Allergens: gluten, egg, sesame
Origin: Poland; popularized in New York

Method

In a large bowl, mix the flour, yeast and salt. Dissolve the 15 g malt syrup in the water, add it and mix into a stiff, dry-looking dough. Rest 10 minutes. 10 min
Knead for 10–12 minutes by hand until smooth and very firm (it will feel like hard work), or 8 minutes with a stand mixer on low speed. Cover and rest 1 hour; it will rise only a little. 1 h 10 min
Divide into 8 pieces (about 100 g each) and roll each into a tight ball. Rest 10 minutes. Poke your thumb through the center of a ball, then spin it around two fingers to stretch the hole to about 4 cm (1½ in) across. 10 min
Set the bagels on a baking-paper-lined tray dusted with semolina or flour, cover tightly with plastic and refrigerate 8–16 hours. 12 h
Heat the oven to 230°C (450°F). Bring the 3 L water to a boil in a wide pot with the 30 g malt syrup and the baking soda. Test one bagel: drop it in a bowl of cold water; if it floats within 10 seconds, they are ready. If not, give them 20–30 minutes at room temperature.
Boil the bagels 3 or 4 at a time for 45 seconds per side, lifting them out with a slotted spoon back onto the lined tray. 2 min
Brush with egg white glaze and dip the tops into the seeds while still wet.
Bake 18–22 minutes, until deep golden brown and glossy, turning the tray halfway. Cool on a rack at least 20 minutes. 20 min

Why it works

Low hydration and lots of kneading build a tight, strong gluten network that resists expansion, which is what makes bagels dense and chewy rather than airy. Boiling gelatinizes the starch on the surface before baking, setting a thin skin that bakes up shiny and keeps the bagel from rising much further. Baking soda in the water raises the pH, speeding browning.

Common mistakes

Adding water because the dough seems too stiff. Stiff is correct; it relaxes during the rest.
Boiling too long, which makes a thick, wrinkled skin. 45 seconds a side is enough.
Making the hole too small. It shrinks a lot as the bagel rises and bakes.

Variations

Everything bagel: Mix 2 tbsp sesame seeds, 1 tbsp poppy seeds, 1 tbsp dried garlic flakes, 1 tbsp dried onion flakes and 1 tsp flaky salt for the topping.
Cinnamon raisin: Knead 80 g raisins and 5 g (2 tsp) ground cinnamon into the dough in the last 2 minutes and skip the seed topping.

Make ahead and storage

Best the day they are baked. Slice and freeze for up to 3 months; toast from frozen.

Notes

Hydration 58% (290 g water to 500 g flour), deliberately stiff. Fan oven: 210°C (410°F). If you can't find malt syrup, honey or brown sugar works; you lose a little of the classic malty flavor. Vegan if you skip the egg-white glaze (the boil makes the seeds stick well enough on their own).