Bakery-style Bagels made in the comfort of your own home. Enjoy a fresh-out-of-the-oven bagel in two hours or less!
Fall is definitely approaching. MN mornings are noticeably chillier now with beautifully warm afternoons. Change is in the air and I am finally starting to get used to the idea of cooler weather.
I am actually not dreading the fact that fall is well on its way, but the thought of winter that seems to be approaching quicker ever year, is something I’ve been avoiding. It’s motivated me to come up with a fun list of things to keep myself busy with once I won’t want to set a foot outside.
And you better believe there are quite a few kitchen projects I can’t wait to tackle. When I sat down to write said list, I took a peek at some of my other lists full of ideas I’d collected for the blog and things I wanted to challenge myself with.
When I glanced over the word bagels, it basically jumped off the page. Sunshine, snow or rain, bagels had to happen ASAP.
Or should I say happen again. This was not my first attempt at bagels. A couple years back I tried my hand at a different recipe and failed miserably. Like I’m embarrassed to admit they were so bad. After spending half a day in our kitchen, I was left with sad-looking and extremely flat bagels, think flatbread, you guys. Or the complete opposite of what bagels are supposed to look and taste like, ha.
I didn’t think I would ever dare to give it another go, but I did.
Bagels like the ones I can usually only buy at my favorite bakery were the unbelievable result. I could hardly believe what I had just created, especially since they didn’t take up the majority of my day to make.
Everything I love most about bagels is what these have to offer. A beautiful color, the iconic shape, and perfect puffiness, thickness and softness…. I was thrilled to pieces.
So much so that I had to whip out my cream cheese and take a big old bite. Right then and there. So good!
The carb lover in me couldn’t have been happier. I might have had to take a break shooting these pics before I was able to continue – bagel eating is my job. Literally. And I love it!
Oh, and you can totally customize these to your liking. Add any topping you prefer and make them your own.
Bagels are amazing on weekends, I hear ;). Have a great one, friends!
- 2 1/4 teaspoons (1 package) active dry yeast
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- 3 1/2 cups bread flour, plus extra for kneading
- 1 3/4 teaspoons salt
- 1 1/3 cups warm (110 degree) water
- Poppy seeds (optional)
- Sesame seeds (optional)
- 1. In the bowl of your stand mixer (with the dough hook attached), combine yeast, sugar, flour and salt. Slowly pour in water until fully incorporated and knead on low for about, 3-4 minutes. Increase speed to medium and continue to knead for another 10 minutes, until dough is soft and smooth. Cover bowl with a clean kitchen towel and let rest in a warm place for 1 hour.
- 2. Flour your work surface. Deflate dough and remove from the bowl. Set dough ball on the floured surface and let rest for 10 minutes.
- 3. Divide dough into 8 equal pieces (about 3 1/4 ounces each). Flatten each piece to get rid of air bubbles and roll into a ball. Press your finger through the middle of each dough ball to form a ring and desired shape. Place bagels onto a parchment or silpat-lined baking sheet and cover with the kitchen towel and let rest for another 10 minutes.
- 4. Meanwhile, fill a large pot with water and bring to boil. Reduce heat to low and continue to simmer. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
- 5. Gently place two bagels at a time into the simmering water and boil for 1 minute. Flip over and boil for another minute. Remove from the water and return to the baking sheet. Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds (or other desired topping) and repeat with remaining bagels. Place baking sheet in the oven and bake for 22 minutes or until golden. Enjoy!
- Bagels will keep up to 5 days stored in a ziptop bag. They can also be kept in the freezer for up to 6 weeks.
Kathi these are gogeous! And I can’t believe they only take 2 hours! Bagels are on my to-bake list – can’t wait to try out your recipe! Pinned!
Thanks, Cate. This is the perfect bagel recipe, especially if you’ve never made them before!
I love these bagels, Kathi! So perfect for morning breakfasts or for a sandwich at lunch. Love that these take only two hours to make, too! Pinned!
You are so right, Gayle. Than you!
I’m SO sold that these only take 2 hours to make! I’ve never made bagels. Always wondered how they get so hard on the outside. Totally need to try these. I have a feeling I will be eating quite a bit more bagels when i’m living in NYC. Which will make me want to make my own. Thanks, Kathi 🙂
They are easier to make than you might think ;). This is definitely a great recipe to have on hand, especially since your moving to the big city soon. I can only imagine how many bagels you’ll devour. Thanks, Kelly!
Yes fall is here in Minnesota! Threw on a hoodie this morning and I slightly enjoyed it. Just don’t talk to me about the next season. These bagels would be the perfect fall/winter comfort food treat!
Nope, we won’t talk about the dreaded next season. I’d much rather concentrate on bagels :). Thank you so much, Julie!
So glad you decided to make bagels again because they look gorgeous! And only 2 hours to make too? I definitely need to add this to my list – I wouldn’t be able to resist that slice with cream cheese either – looks absolutely delicious girl 🙂
The fact that they only take 2 hours to make is my favorite part… besides the eating, of course ;). Thanks, friend!
Wow this recipe looks great! My husband is a huge fan of bagel. I can’t wait to try this recipe for him 😉
I hope he loves them as much as we do ;). Thank you, Olivia!
Oh, the carb lover in me would go crazy for these. They look so perfect!
Thank you so much, Cindy!
I love bagels but have never made them from scratch before. Definitely need to try your recipe.. they look delicious… thanks for the idea!
Hope you do. Thank you, Thalia!
Two hour bagels?!! Count me in! I am used to making bagels which take good all day before I get to consume any, so these are a must now!
I hear ya! I had a hard time believing that I could make bagels in 2 hours. But it’s true. Thank you, Ami!
These look good and I’m giving it a try with 1 cup whole wheat flour and 2.5 cups bread flour. While I love all the pictures it would have been more helpful to have more pictures of what the dough looks like before you let it rise, and other process pictures. I needed more water than the recipe called for as my dough was not coming together after 5 mins of mixing it was still dry, so I added water a teaspoon at a time, but probably added another 1/4 cup. My dough is now rising but it was particularly dense and sticky, and just in the first step of letting it knead in the mixer, the dough came together but started creating a sticky dough residue around the bowl whenever the dough ball touched a side of the bowl. So I’m worried the dough is not right. Also most bread recipes I’ve tried instructed me to grease the bowl the dough will rise in as the recipe you linked to does instruct, so now I’m also worried that my dough will be stuck to the bowl. I’ll cross my fingers that I’m worrying over nothing. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
I hope you had success with this recipe. I wrote down everything precisely as I did it and had great results with. My dough wasn’t particularly sticky and I didn’t have any problems with not greasing the bowl. I’ve found that some of my bread recipes got weighed down a bit when I greased the bowl other times, which is exactly why I try to avoid that now.
Thanks for your comment, Jennifer. It might help someone else!
These bagels look AMAZING! Wow! Also I just love that you live in Minnesota. I grew up there! It is rare that I meet someone from Minnesota (or find a Minnesota-based blog!) so I get SO excited when I do! I no longer live there, and my parents have moved as well, and it’s sad to think that I can’t go “home” for Christmases and other family celebrations, and take my little family with me. But, I will admit, I don’t miss those atrocious winters. 😉 Love your blog!
You are the best, Brittany. I am so glad to hear you’re from MN as well. How fun. Even though it’s beautiful here, I would give anything to escape those hard winter days once in a while 😉
Thank you!!
Bagels are my all-time favorite breakfast item! I eat them almost everyday! I have been thinking about making them for awhile now, but never got around to it – assuming that they would be too difficult and/or take too long. However, after reading your post, neither seem too bad! Can’t wait to try these!
You should definitely give them a go, Kathleen. I was intimidated at first, especially after my first failed attempt, but it was so worth it to try it again. Hope you enjoy!!
Beautiful bagels in just two hours? This is a dangerous recipe! Definitely bookmarking this!
Thanks, Jessica. Hope you enjoy!
Bagels in TWO HOURS??? You are a miracle woman!
Haha. Thank you so much, Erin!
You make seriously perfect bagels. I have never made any from scratch but I certainly want to try now!
It’s much easier than you think and this recipe is seriously so great, especially if you’ve never made bagels before.
I can’t believe these bagels are that quick to make, Kathi! So perfect, and they look like they came straight from the bakery!
Such a sweet comment. Thank you so much, Alyssa!
Bagel in two hours?? Sounds like a dream!! And I totally had a similar horrific incident with brioche a few weeks ago. It turned out so horribly, I almost cried! All the that butter and eggs and time gone to waste! Maybe I’ll have to try my hand at them again, your second time worked like a charm! These look amazing!
Thanks, Nicole. I’d say go for it! The second time must be the charm. I hate when a recipe that requires a lot of ingredients doesn’t turn out. Wasting food is no fun! But giving it another try was well worth it for me 😉
I have been on such a bagel kick lately! I love love love an everything bagel with plain cream cheese and coffee in the morning. I can’t believe these take no time to make. Gotta try them! Gorgeous pics, too, lady!
Thanks so much, Leah. Bagels are the best, aren’t they?! I feel like I’ve been on a bagel kick my entire life, ha!
WOW – these bagels look amazing! And dangerous too…I may be making bagels EVERY weekend from now on!
Thank you so much, Martha! You might just have to 😉
Hello al the way from Holland (you, the tiny little country next to Germany)
Love your 2 hours bagel recipe and will make them today. And will put them on my blog, with a link offcours.
We’ve tried these twice so far. The first time they didn’t turn out – were still tasty just dense. I had to run an emergency errand, so I ask the fiance to finish them – he must not have added enough water or something.
But today, I did the whole thing myself. I actually let the yeast sit with the sugar in some hot water before adding the flour and salt and more water. Rose beautifully. I ended up topping half of them with poppy and sesame seeds andthe other half with Italian seasoning and hatred parmesan. They are fantastic.
I just made these. They turned out wonderful! I used 3 cups of Costco’s Ultragrain flour and a half cup of whOle wheat flour. I added in some cut up sundried tomatoes and dried basil because
my daughter made them that way and sent me a photo and got me drooling. Normally I hand knead but I used the dough hook on my mixer just as the recipe said. This is a keeper! Thanks for sharing!
Your Bagels look amazing so i decided to give it a try. They came out delicious but were really flat. I made them again and still came out flat any ideas why?
At first I was worried because they weren’t rising well. But they really puffed up in the oven. Easy recipe to follow. It took a little over two hours because I gave them extra rising time and it was my first time, so I didn’t boil the water or heat the oven together. Tastes great. Now I need a cheddar and herb recipe or a garlic recipe.
Awesome! I’m not a big baker, but I can’t find any bagel shops where I live in Texas. I guess they’re not a very popular item. Anyway, they turned out great!! My son will be thrilled as his favorite is sesame seed bagels. Our grocery store only makes poppyseed, plain or everything. Thank you so much for this great recipe. I couldn’t have done it without you.
I just tried them and they are awesome. My only problem when I flattened out the air and tried to roll in ball the flour from the work place caused them to kind of split att the sides on some. This was my 3 rd try with different recipes, First was a disaster, 2nd nice but too small yours are delicious puffy much larger .I must find out how to press out air Rolla ball and keep them together ans smooth. I will try again . its not your recipe, its something Im not doing right. I will try again.Thanks for this awesome recipe.
I tried them again last evening and they got perfect I didnt put flour on the board when I shaped them into bagels so they stayed smooth and in great shape. I showed my friends on facebook and they wanted the recipe so I shared it with them also. I only made plain bagels ,next time I will try different toppings. Bagels are a dollar each here and with 5 lbs bag of flour I can get a lot of them for two dollars a bag .Love your recipe.Thanks so much.Oh, I follow your fcebook page also along with Pinterest. You have awesome looking recipes on fb .
Great Recipe. I made 6 bagels instead of 8 and they still weren’t full size. I would proof a little longer next time. Needs a little more yeast/ sourdough flavor. Turned out very good though.
I am making these bagels now! I kneaded them by hand for 15 minutes and did a double batch! They are rising now and I can’t wait to get them boiled and I’m the oven!
I’ve wanted to make bagels for a long time, but was always nervous! I saw the 2 hour bagel pin and knew this was it! They turned out absolutely beautifully, and they were so easy to make! They were delicious toasted up this morning. Possibly the best recipe I’ve ever made. Thank you!
Has anyone ever tried to make the dough part in a bread machine? I would like feedback on the this, please. Thank you!!
These were great. So easy