Homemade Bagel Recipe

This homemade bagel recipe makes chewy, glossy, golden bagels from a six-ingredient yeast dough that gets a 30-to-60-second-a-side boil before it goes in the oven. That boil is the step ordinary bread never gets, and it is the whole difference between a real bagel and a roll with a hole in it.

If you like this one, my soft pretzel dogs use the same boil-then-bake trick, and my no-knead bread is an easy loaf to bake while these rest overnight.

This homemade bagel recipe is the one I have made for years. Mix the dough one day and bake it the next, because the long cold rest in the fridge builds the flavor.

What is a bagel, and what makes it different from bread?

Bagels came to New York with Jewish immigrants from Poland and stayed a neighborhood food for decades. Everyone recognizes the ring shape, but what really makes a bagel a bagel is the chew.

A bagel is boiled before it is baked. Hot water cooks the starch on the dough’s outside into a thin skin. Bakers call that skin a pellicle, a fancy word for the sealed outer layer. That layer traps moisture, so the crumb stays chewy – and it shines in the oven.

The other difference is malt. Malt is made from grain that is sprouted, dried, and ground. It gives a bagel that faintly sweet, toasty flavor that plain bread doesn’t have. Take the malt out and you have a boiled roll – nothing more.

Many bagel recipes soften the dough to make it easier to handle. Easier to handle, yes – and you lose the chew. Here is what I do differently:

Ingredients for homemade bagels

Six ingredients make the dough, and two more go into the boiling water. Here is what each one is doing and what you can swap. Amounts are in the recipe card at the bottom.

• Bread flour – protein builds the chew. All-purpose works, but the bagels come out softer and more bread-like. High-gluten flour is closest to what a bagel shop uses.
• Water – room temperature, not warm. A stiff dough heats up fast in the mixer, and starting cool keeps it from running ahead of your schedule.
• Instant dry yeast – stir it into the water first, even though instant does not need proofing. This dough is stiff, so dissolving is the only way to spread it evenly. Active dry works too, but it takes a longer rise. I keep Platinum Superior yeast on hand. I use Platinum yeast, because the small amount of dough conditioner in it makes a more forgiving dough that is easier to work with.
• Diastatic malt powder – the secret to real bagel flavor. Sprouted barley with live enzymes that feed the yeast, so you get better rise, deeper browning, and malty flavor. I use Anthony’s diastatic malt powder. Do not add extra. Too much turns the inside gummy.
  💡 TIP: Two malts, two jobs. The diastatic malt powder in the dough provides enzymes and flavor. The malt syrup in the water adds color and shine. If you only buy one, buy the powder.
• Kosher salt – brands are not equal. I use Morton, and a spoonful of Diamond Crystal is a lot less salt than the same spoonful of Morton.
• Granulated sugar – a small amount, for balance and for browning.
• Malt syrup for the water bath – the thick dark one, not the powder in the dough. It gives the crust its amber gloss. Honey works, and brown sugar works with a little less browning.

Check Your Yeast Before You Start

Yeast does not tell you when it has gone weak. Unless you have used that packet recently and know it rises well, test it first: stir it into warm water with a pinch of sugar and give it 10 minutes.

• A tall foamy hat – strong, go ahead.
• Only a little foam – alive but slow. Give the dough a longer rise, or open a packet that is further from its expiration date and test that one.
• Nothing after 10 minutes – dead. Start over with fresh yeast.

How to Make Bagels, Step by Step

Start the day before you want to eat them. Day one is mix, knead, shape and refrigerate. Day two is boil and bake. Amounts are in the recipe card at the bottom.

How to Make the Bagel Dough

Bagel dough is stiffer than any bread dough you have worked with. That is the point, and it means the mixing goes fast.

1. Mix the dough – stir the yeast into the water until it disperses, then add the flour, sugar, malt powder and salt, keeping the salt away from the yeast. Stir just until it comes together into a shaggy, dry-looking mess. It will not look like bread dough, not yet.
2. Knead until satiny – work it on low, then medium, in a stand mixer, or by hand on the counter. This dough is thick, so it comes together fast. Stop when the surface goes from rough to smooth and the dough pushes back firmly when you poke it. Kneading past that point makes bagels tough, not chewy.
   
   Why doesn’t the windowpane test work here?

   This dough is too stiff to stretch thin without tearing, so it rips no matter how well you kneaded it. Judge it by the surface instead: rough turns smooth and satiny, and the dough springs back when you press a finger into it.
   My mixer is getting hot. Should I stop?

   Pause for 5 to 10 minutes and let it cool down. The rest does the gluten a favour at the same time, so you lose nothing by waiting.

   

How to Shape Bagels

Two shaping methods both work. What matters more is rolling every ring a second time.

1. Divide and roll – cut the dough into twelve pieces and roll each one into a smooth, tight ball, then let them rest about 10 minutes so the dough relaxes. Weigh the pieces if you want them all the same size, or just eyeball it.
   
   Shouldn’t the dough rise before I shape it?

   Not for bagels, and this trips up experienced bakers more than anyone. There are two normal ways to make them: rise the dough in bulk and then shape, boil and bake in quick succession, or shape first and give the bagels a long cold proof. This is the second kind. The dough is stiff and low hydration on purpose, and its strength comes from the long knead and from the tension you build rolling each ring, not from a bulk rise. Dough that has already risen is gassy and slack, and it will not hold a tight ring through the boiling water. The night in the fridge is the fermentation here – that is where the flavor, the blistered crust and the more open crumb come from.

   

2. Shape the rings – use whichever method you find easier. Either one holds as long as the seam is properly sealed.
   
   Rope method or poke method?

   • Rope method: roll the ball into a log, wrap it around your hand and overlap the ends generously, then roll the overlap under your palm on the counter to seal the seam. Pinching alone will not hold, and the seam opens in the boiling water.
   • Poke method: push your thumb through the middle of the ball, then spin the dough around your fingers to open the hole out. Faster, and the seam cannot fail because there is not one.

   

3. Roll every ring twice – once all twelve are shaped, go back to the first and work your hand around the inside of each hole again. The early ones have relaxed by then, so the hole opens wider without the dough fighting you. Single-pass bagels puff closed. Twice-rolled ones bake into open, even rings.
   

   

4. Open the holes wide – stretch each one to about two inches across before it goes on the sheet. It will look like far too much. The dough contracts in the boiling water and again as it springs in the oven, and a small hole closes up completely. Set them on a floured, parchment-lined sheet with space between.
   

   

How to Proof Bagels Overnight

A short rise on the counter, then the fridge does the rest while you sleep. The cold night is where the flavor comes from.

1. Rise on the counter – leave the shaped bagels at room temperature until they have grown by about half. Thirty minutes is usual, but the clock is not the cue, the dough is. Do not let them double.
   
   What is the 30 minutes on the counter actually for?

   Not much rise, and that is the point. Rolling and sealing the ring winds the gluten up tight, so this half hour is mostly about letting it relax – and about rebuilding the small gas pockets that shaping squeezed out, because those are what the night in the fridge fills. The lift itself comes later. Yeast does not switch off in the cold, it just drops to roughly a fifth of its room temperature speed, so twelve hours in the fridge do several times the leavening that thirty warm minutes do. And cold dough holds its carbon dioxide in solution instead of puffing up with it, so a stiff dough like this will always look less risen than it is. Go by the float test, not by how big they look.
   How do I know when to put them in the fridge?

   Half again their size is the target, and up to about 70 percent is still fine. Not doubled. Press one gently on the side and it should spring back most of the way, fairly quickly. If the dent just sits there, they have gone too far, and over-risen bagels wrinkle or collapse in the boiling water and bake flat. The surest check is a pinch of dough dropped into cool water – it should float within about ten seconds. Thirty minutes is typical in a 70°F kitchen with fresh yeast, but older yeast or a cool room can stretch it to 45 minutes or an hour.

   Float-test a pinch – pinch a small piece off one bagel and drop it into a bowl of cool water. Floats within about ten seconds and they are ready. Sinks, and they want fifteen more minutes before you test another pinch. Do not float a whole bagel, it waterlogs the skin and you lose the shape.

2. Chill overnight – cover the sheet and move it to the fridge for 8 to 12 hours. Keep them covered the whole time, because a surface that dries out blisters better in the boil. Next morning take them out and let them sit, still covered, while the oven and the water come up to temperature.
   
   What is the overnight in the fridge actually doing?

   Three things. The slow cold fermentation builds flavor you cannot get from a fast rise. Enzymes break some of the starch down into simple sugars, and those sugars are what give you the blistered, deeply browned crust. And the gluten relaxes just enough that the bagel is easier to bite without losing its chew. Eight hours is the least worth doing, twelve is the sweet spot, and up to eighteen is fine if it suits your morning.
   How do I know they are ready after the fridge?

   They should look a little puffier than when they went in, not doubled, and you may see small bubbles on the surface. The dough feels cold and firm. Do not use the float test here – cold dough is dense and will often sink even when it is perfectly proofed. That is why the float test goes before the fridge, not after.

   

How to Boil and Bake Bagels

The boil is the step ordinary bread never gets, and it is what separates a bagel from a roll with a hole in it.

1. Boil in batches – bring a wide pot of water to a boil with the malt syrup or honey stirred in, then slide in two or three at a time, gently so they do not stick to the bottom. Simmer 30 to 60 seconds on the first side, flip them over and give the second side the same, then lift them out with a slotted spoon.
   
   How long should I boil them?

   A short dip gives a thinner crust and a puffier bagel. A longer one gives more chew and a slightly denser middle. I stay in that 30-to-60-seconds-a-side window, and here is why longer is not better. The heat drives further into the dough and kills the yeast deeper in, so you lose the puff the bagel would have given you in the oven. The gelatinized layer thickens at the same time, which turns a chewy crust into a tough, leathery one. And the layer just under the crust goes gummy. A few minutes a side and you have all three.
   Something go wrong?

   Mine sank

   Under-proofed. There was not enough gas in the dough to float it, and this batch will bake dense with a closed hole. Boil and bake them anyway, they are still good eating. Next time give them longer on the counter before the fridge, and go by the dough instead of the clock – drop a small pinch of dough into a cup of cool water, and when it floats, the bagels are ready to boil.

   Mine wrinkled

   Over-proofed, and it was decided before they hit the water. The skin stretched further than the gas inside could hold, so it puckers the moment it meets the heat. Nothing will fix this batch, so boil and bake them anyway. Next time give them a shorter rise on the counter before the fridge, and check that your fridge is properly cold – a warm fridge keeps them fermenting all night.

   Mine flattened

   Extremely over-proofed. Two things happen at once on a long over-ferment: the gas bubbles inside keep growing, and the gluten network holding them gets weaker. Oversized bubbles in a weakened structure have nothing to push against, so the walls tear and the ring spreads out flat. Next time give them a shorter rise on the counter before the fridge. If it keeps happening even on a short rise, the dough was likely too soft to start with, so work in a little more flour next batch and roll the rings tighter.

   

2. Top them wet – add your seasoning straight out of the water, while the surface is still damp. Once it dries, nothing sticks.
   

   

3. Bake at once – go straight from the pot into a hot oven with no waiting. Let them sit on the rack and the damp surface slackens, and they come out wrinkled. Rotate the sheet partway through so they color evenly, and bake until deeply golden and still springy to the touch, about 200°F in the center. Anything under 180°F is underbaked and tastes gummy.
   
   Why preheat hotter than the baking temperature?

   Opening the door and loading a tray of cold, wet dough drops the real oven temperature fast. The extra heat covers that loss, so the bagels still get the hard blast they need in the first few minutes.

   

4. Cool 20 minutes – move them to a rack before you cut one, so the bottoms do not steam themselves soggy. Slicing a hot bagel squashes the crumb and feels gummy even when it baked perfectly.
   

   

Good, better, best: how long to rest the dough

The overnight fridge rest is the standard method, and the recipe card is written around it. But you have options, and each one comes with trade-offs.

• Good – same day, no fridge. Shape, let them rise a little longer on the counter, then boil and bake.
  Pros: bagels in about three hours instead of overnight.
  Cons: the flavor is flat and plain, the crust browns less, and they stale by that evening. This is still a good bagel – just not a memorable one.
• Better – overnight, roughly twelve hours. The method in the card.
  Pros: proper malty, faintly tangy bagel flavor, better browning, better keeping. Splits the work across two short sessions.
  Cons: you have to decide the day before, and the sheet pan takes up a shelf.
• Best – a full twenty-four hours. Same process – longer wait.
  Pros: the deepest flavor of the three, and the dried surface blisters in the oven.
  Cons: two days of planning, and this is the edge of the window. Push much past a day and the dough over-ripens, loses its spring, and comes out of the water shriveled.

Marina’s Pro Tips for theBest Bagels

Most bagel problems come from about seven things. These are the ones worth knowing before you start.

1. Use a scale when you can. Scooping packs more or less than the recipe means. The scale will not lie.
2. Keep the dough cool while you knead. Room temperature water, and let the mixer rest if the bowl warms up.
3. The bagel float test beats the clock. Yeast speed changes with its age and your kitchen. Float a pinch instead of watching a timer.
4. Check your oven with a thermometer. Most run off by 25 degrees or more, and bagels need the heat they were promised.
5. Do not crowd the bagel boiling pot. Two or three at a time, so the water stays at a simmer.
6. Toppings go on wet. Straight out of the water, before the surface dries. Nothing sticks to a dry bagel.
7. Keep a note of what you did. Room temperature, rise time, boil time. It is how the next batch gets better.
8. Ignore the windowpane test here. This dough is too stiff to stretch thin. Go by the smooth, satiny surface instead.
9. Let the mixer rest if it heats up. Five to ten minutes off cools the motor and relaxes the gluten at the same time.
10. Seal the rope seam by rolling it. Pinching alone will open in the boiling water.
11. Pick your boil time and stick to it. Thirty seconds is a thinner crust, sixty is more chew. Longer is not better.
12. Preheat hotter than you bake. Loading a tray of cold, wet dough drops the real oven temperature fast.

Ways to serve them

Slice horizontally, toast if you like, and build. These are the combinations I make most often in my kitchen.

• Cream cheese. The default – and it earns it.
• Lox. Cream cheese, cold-smoked salmon, red onion, tomato, capers, and dill. If you want to smoke your own without a smoker, here is how I do it.
  
• Egg and cheese. With bacon, avocado, and microgreens, or all of the above.
• Pizza bagel. Marinara, pepperoni and mozzarella, run under the broiler until it bubbles.
• Deli. Pastrami and cheese, or corned beef with cheese and sauerkraut.
• Tuna or egg salad. With tomato and a lettuce leaf.

Making your own everything seasoning takes about a minute: white and black sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried minced garlic, dried minced onion, and flaky salt. Mix a jar, and it keeps for months. The recipe card notes include a ratio if you want a starting point.

How to Make Homemade Bagels Ahead

This is already a make-ahead recipe, since the dough sits in the fridge overnight between shaping and baking. See the good, better, best section above for how far you can stretch that rest.

You can also freeze the shaped, unboiled bagels. Freeze them solid on the sheet after their short rise, then bag them. Move what you want to the fridge the night before, let them come to room temperature in the morning, and boil and bake as written. This is how you get two fresh bagels on a Tuesday instead of twelve on a Sunday.

These are the questions I get asked most about homemade bagels, starting with the things that go wrong.

Homemade bagel recipe FAQ

Why are my bagels wrinkled and shriveled after boiling?

Almost always over-proofing. The dough rose too far, the gas structure gave out, and the stretched skin has nothing holding it up. Cut the counter rise short and keep the fridge rest to a day at most.

The other cause is letting them sit after the boil. A boiled bagel waiting on the rack goes slack. Get them into the oven right away.

Why are my bagels flat instead of round and puffy?

Two likely reasons. Not enough tension when you shaped them, so roll the balls tight and, if you use the rope method, weld that seam properly. Or the dough was over-proofed again, which spreads instead of springing.

If the fridge rest ran long or your kitchen was warm, suspect over-proofing first.

Why did the holes in my bagels close up?

The hole was too small to begin with. Dough contracts in the water and expands again in the oven, and both moves eat into the hole. Open it to about two inches, which will feel excessive, and it will be right by the time it comes out.

Under-proofed dough closes holes too, since it does more of its expanding in the oven.

The fix that works: roll every ring a second time – see the shaping step above.

Why are my bagels pale and not browning?

Check three things in this order. Your actual oven temperature, using a separate oven thermometer, because dials lie. Whether anything sweet went into the boiling water, since malt syrup or honey does most of the browning. And whether you kneaded the dough enough.

Using all-purpose flour instead of bread flour also makes bagels paler.

Why do some bagels have blisters on the crust?

Those little bubbles are a good sign, not a flaw. They are the mark of a long cold ferment. Overnight, the yeast keeps making gas. Small pockets collect under the skin, and the cold dries the surface enough to hold them there.

In the oven, those pockets balloon outward. The skin over each one is stretched thinner, so it browns faster than the crust around it – that is why blisters are always darker. A same-day bagel bakes up smooth because the gas never had time to pocket under the skin.

Fine blistering means you did it right. A few large bubbles mean the surface dried out too much in the fridge, so keep the tray covered during the rest.

Why is the inside of my bagel gummy?

Most often it is underbaked. Take one to about 200°F in the center and see if the problem goes away. Second most often, it was sliced too hot, which compresses the crumb and mimics gumminess exactly.

If neither fits, check that you did not add extra diastatic malt powder. Its enzymes keep breaking down starch for the whole cold rest, and too much of it really does make the crumb gummy.

Do I really have to boil bagels?

Yes, if you want a bagel. Boiling cooks the starch on the surface into a thin, sealed skin, which gives you the shine, the set crust, and the chew. It also stops the bagel from blooming open like a dinner roll in the oven.

Skip the boil and you have baked a nice bread roll with a hole in it, but it is not a bagel.

Can I use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour?

You can, and they will still be good. They will be softer, more open and more bread-like, because there is less protein to build the chewy network. If bread flour is an option, use it. If you can get high-gluten flour, better still.

What is the difference between diastatic and non-diastatic malt?

Diastatic malt powder still has live enzymes. Those enzymes turn flour starch into sugar, which feeds the yeast, deepens the crust color, and adds flavor. This recipe uses that in the dough.

Non-diastatic malt and malt syrup have had the enzymes cooked out. They add flavor and color only. Malt syrup is the traditional bagel product, and it is what goes in the boiling water here. Brown sugar can substitute for the syrup. It cannot substitute for the powder’s enzymes.

Are bagels vegan? Do bagels have eggs or dairy in them?

These bagels are vegan as written. Flour, water, yeast, salt, sugar, and malt, with malt syrup in the boiling water. No eggs, no butter, no milk.

Two things to watch if it matters. Some recipes brush an egg wash on before baking, and this one does not. And if you swap honey for malt syrup in the water bath, it is no longer vegan.

How many calories are in a homemade bagel?

About 260 calories each when the dough is divided into twelve, with the carbohydrate and protein numbers broken out in full in the recipe card.

That is close to a plain deli bagel and well under most coffee shop ones, which often run larger. Divide the dough into ten instead of twelve, and each bagel will be about a fifth larger.

How long do homemade bagels last?

Best in the first few hours. Two days at room temperature in a paper bag inside a plastic one. Months in the freezer, sliced first.

They stale faster than sandwich bread because the dough has no fat to slow it down. Toasting brings a day-old bagel most of the way back.

Can I skip the overnight rest in the fridge?

Yes. Instead, let the shaped bagels rise longer on the counter, then boil and bake the same day. You will get a good bagel with a plainer flavor and a paler crust, and it will stale faster.

Don’t try to speed up the cold rest by leaving the tray out at room temperature. That just over-proofs the dough, and it ends in flat, wrinkled bagels.

Can I let the dough rise overnight in the bowl instead of shaping first?

Yes, and it is a good option when you would rather not give a whole fridge shelf to a sheet pan. Cut the yeast right down to about an eighth of what the card calls for, or the dough races past its peak by morning.

Mix and knead as written, then leave the covered bowl at cool room temperature overnight. You want it doubled, maybe a little more, never tripled. In the morning, divide, shape, give the shaped bagels a short rise, and run the float test before you boil.

One trade to know about. Resting the shaped bagels overnight dries their surface, and that dry skin is what keeps them from wrinkling in the boiling water. A bowl rest does not do that. Leave the shaped bagels uncovered in the fridge for twenty minutes while the water heats. That gets most of it back.

I tested this with a quarter teaspoon of yeast and the dough still quadrupled by morning. Here is the crumb from that batch – soft and open like a dinner roll, not the tight chew a bagel should have. That is why the eighth of a teaspoon matters.

What is in everything bagel seasoning?

Equal parts white sesame seeds, black sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried minced garlic and dried minced onion, plus half a part flaky salt. Mix a jar and it keeps for months. Press the just-boiled bagel top-side down into a shallow plate of it while the surface is still wet, or nothing sticks.

How do you defrost a bagel?

Do not. Toast the frozen halves straight from the freezer, which is why you slice before you freeze. For a whole bagel, run it under the tap for a second and warm it in a 350°F oven for eight to ten minutes.

Can I make bagels without a stand mixer?

Yes. This dough is stiff, so a mixer is easier, but hands work. Knead on the counter until the surface goes from rough to smooth and satiny. If it fights you, rest it five minutes and come back – the gluten relaxes and the rest of the kneading goes fast.

Can I use whole wheat flour?

Up to about a third of the flour, swapped for whole wheat, works well and adds a nutty flavor. Go higher and the bran cuts the gluten, so the chew softens and the bagels bake up denser. Add a spoonful more water if the dough feels tight, since whole wheat drinks more.

More yeast baked goods to try

If bagels went well, these use the same skills and are all worth a weekend.

• Soft Pretzel Dogs – the other boil-then-bake recipe on this site, and the closest cousin to a bagel.
• Rustic Baguette – lean dough, crisp crust, no enrichment.
• No-Knead Bread – the opposite end of the effort scale, and still excellent.
• 4 Ingredient Artisan Bread Dough – one master dough that lives in the fridge for a week and turns into several different bakes.
• Sourdough Bread – if the long cold rest here was your favorite part, this is the next step.
• Basic Brioche – rich, soft, and buttery, the exact opposite of a bagel.
• Sweet Yeast Bread and Cheese Danish – for when you want the pastry side of yeast dough.
• Sugar Donuts – still the most popular yeast recipe on the site.

Browsing for something else? The full recipe index and the baked goods archive have everything in one place.

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Homemade Bagels Recipe

5 from 13 votes

Homemade bagels are simple to make yet, I am here to make that process foolproof. Follow my comprehensive step by step bagel recipe guide to perfect bagels. 

Author: Marina | Let the Baking Begin

Course: Bread

Cuisine: American, Polish

Keyword: bagel recipe, bagels, homemade bagels

Calories: 259 kcal

Prep Time: 30 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 12 hours 50 minutes

Servings: 12 bagels

Ingredients

Homemade Bagel Dough

• 2 tsp (6 g) instant dry yeast (Note 1)
• 2 1/4 cups (533 ml) water room temperature
• 1 Tbsp (12 g) granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp (15 g) Morton kosher salt (Note 2) or 1 1/2 Tbsp Diamond Crystal
• 6 1/4 cups (937 g) bread flour 1 cup = 150 g (Note 3)
• 1 Tbsp (10 g) diastatic malt powder (Note 4)

Bagel Bath

• 5 quarts (4700 ml) water
• 3 Tbsp (60 g) malt syrup (Note 5) or 1/4 cup honey

Equipment: The pans and tools I use are in my Amazon shop.

• Electric Stand Mixer
• 15" x 21" baking pan
• 8 quart pot

Instructions

How to Make the Bagel Dough

1. Mix the dough. Stir 2 tsp instant dry yeast into 2 1/4 cups water until it disperses. Add 6 1/4 cups bread flour, 1 Tbsp granulated sugar, 1 Tbsp kosher salt and 1 Tbsp diastatic malt powder, keeping the salt away from the yeast, and mix to a shaggy dough (Note 1, Note 4).
2. Knead until satiny. Knead 4 minutes on low, then 5 minutes on medium, or by hand. The dough should be stiff but smooth and elastic (Note 6). Do not knead past that point. If the mixer heats up, rest it 5 to 10 minutes and carry on.

How to Shape Bagels

1. Divide and roll. Divide into 12 equal pieces, about 125 g each. Weigh them if you want every bagel the same size, or eyeball it. Roll each into a smooth, tight ball and rest 10 minutes.
2. Rope to ring: roll each ball into a 10-inch log, overlap the ends by 2 to 3 inches, then roll the overlap under your palm on the counter to weld it. Pinching alone opens in the boil. Ball to ring: poke a hole through the ball and stretch it out. Either way you want a 4-inch bagel.
3. Open the holes wide. Stretch each hole to about 2 inches across, then go back to the first bagel and roll every ring a second time in the order you shaped them. The early ones have relaxed by then, so the holes open without the dough fighting you.

How to Proof Bagels Overnight

1. Proof 30 minutes. Set the bagels on a parchment-lined 15x21-inch (38x53 cm) sheet dusted with flour, spaced evenly, and leave at room temperature until about 1 1/2 times their size (Note 7, Note 8).
2. Float-test a pinch. Pinch a small piece off one bagel and drop it into cool water. It should float within about 10 seconds (Note 9). If it sinks, give them 15 more minutes and test another pinch. Do not float a whole bagel.
3. Chill overnight. Cover and refrigerate 8 to 12 hours (Note 10, Note 11). Next morning take the sheet out and leave it covered 15 minutes while the oven heats.

How to Boil and Bake Bagels

1. Preheat and boil the water. Heat the oven to 500°F (260°C) with the rack in the middle. Fill an 8-quart pot with 5 quarts water and 3 Tbsp malt syrup and bring to a boil. Set a cooling rack over a pan.
2. Boil in batches. Add 2 to 3 bagels and stir gently so they do not stick. Simmer 30 to 60 seconds on the first side, then flip and give the second side the same (Note 12). Lift them out with a slotted spoon.
3. Top them wet. Add seasoning while the surface is still damp, straight out of the water (Note 13). Once it dries, nothing sticks.
4. Bake 15 minutes. Return them to the parchment-lined sheet, drop the oven to 450°F (230°C) and bake until deeply golden and still springy, about 200°F (93°C) in the center. Under 180°F (82°C) is underbaked. Go straight from the pot to the oven or they come out wrinkled.
5. Cool 20 minutes. Cool on a rack before slicing. Cutting a hot bagel compresses the crumb and reads as gummy even when it baked perfectly (Note 14).

Recipe Notes

1. Instant or active yeast: instant dry yeast can be swapped for active dry. Combine it with the water and let it foam for about 10 minutes, then carry on. Active dry rises slower, so expect a longer proof.

2. Salt brands are not equal: a tablespoon of Morton weighs about 15 g; the same spoon of Diamond Crystal is about 8 g. If you use Diamond Crystal, use 1 1/2 tablespoons, or weigh it.

3. Measuring flour: 1 cup = 150 g. Fluff the flour, scoop, and level. Weigh it if you can.

4. Malt powder: do not leave it out. It is what gives bagels their signature flavor and it feeds the yeast through the cold rest. Without it you get bagel-shaped bread. Brown sugar is the fallback if you cannot find it. Do not increase it - too much over a long cold rest gives a gummy crumb.

5. Malt syrup in the bath: the thick dark syrup, not the powder that goes in the dough. 1/4 cup honey works instead, and browns a little faster.

6. Dough texture, and why there is no first rise: bagel dough is meant to be stiff, which is what gives the chew. Too soft, add a little flour. Too thick to knead, add water a tablespoon at a time. There is no bulk rise before shaping on purpose - the dough gets its strength from the long knead and from the tension you build rolling each ring, and dough that has already risen is too slack to hold a tight ring through the boil. The night in the fridge is the fermentation here.

7. How much rise: for a firmer bagel proof until about 50% bigger. For a softer one let them nearly double. They need far less rise than ordinary yeast dough.

8. Yeast age: older yeast takes longer. Judge the proof by the increase in volume, never by the clock.

9. The float test: a pinch that floats has trapped enough gas for real oven spring. One that sinks is underproofed and bakes dense and pale with the hole closed. Pinch a piece, never float a whole bagel - it waterlogs the skin.

10. Cold fermentation: the overnight cold rest is where the flavor comes from, and the sugars enzymes release during it are what give the blistered, deeply browned crust. Eight hours is the least worth doing, twelve is the sweet spot, up to eighteen is fine. Keep them covered, because a surface that dries blisters better in the boil.

11. Skipping the overnight rest: let the shaped bagels proof another 15 to 20 minutes at room temperature while the oven heats and the water comes to a boil, then boil and bake. You lose flavor and the blistered crust, not the bagel.

12. How long to boil: boiling gelatinizes the surface into a sealed skin, which is where the shine, the set crust and the chew come from. The short end of the range gives a thinner crust and a puffier bagel, the long end more chew and a slightly denser middle. Longer than that is not better - the heat kills the yeast deeper into the dough so you lose the puff in the oven, the gelatinized layer thickens into a tough leathery crust, and the layer underneath goes gummy.

13. Everything bagel seasoning: equal parts white sesame, black sesame, poppy seeds, dried minced garlic and dried minced onion, plus half a part flaky salt. Press the wet bagel face down into a shallow tray of it - sprinkling from above wastes most of it.

14. Storing and freezing: uncut in a paper bag inside a plastic bag at room temperature for about 2 days. Do not refrigerate - the fridge stales bread faster than anything. To freeze, slice each bagel first, wrap and bag; best within 3 months. Toast straight from frozen.

Nutrition Facts

Homemade Bagels Recipe

Amount Per Serving (125 g)

Calories 259 Calories from Fat 9

% Daily Value*

Fat 1g2%

Saturated Fat 1g6%

Sodium 609mg26%

Potassium 84mg2%

Carbohydrates 53g18%

Fiber 2g8%

Sugar 4g4%

Protein 9g18%

Vitamin A 1IU0%

Vitamin C 1mg1%

Calcium 27mg3%

Iron 1mg6%

* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

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I first published this bagel recipe in 2021. It is still the one I make when I want a real chewy bagel. I rebuilt it in September 2026 with step photos for every stage, the two-pass shaping trick that keeps the holes open, a float test so you stop guessing, and a troubleshooting section for wrinkled, flat, pale and gummy bagels.