Bagel-riffic: Making Your Own Bagels Is Easier Than You Think
As much as I rib 2ChiliBreadBowl for his interesting “food groups,” there was a time in my life when I treated bagels as a food group. I have definitely balanced out my nutritional habits – but there is still a place for bagels within that balance. After all, they are substantial, portable, and, delicious as all get out.
As a side note, one of my more favorite bagel uses is for French toast. Slice up your favorite bagel, dip it in some egg, and cook it like you would normal French toast. Sprinkle with a little powdered sugar, or drizzle with honey or pure maple syrup, and devour.
Meantime, here’s an easy bread-machine bagel you can modify to fit your tastes. I like to make these as blueberry, cherry, or cinnamon raisin, but you could go savory as well. (Between homemade Lara Bars and bagels, you now see why dried blueberries and cherries are always in my food list for Project: Food Budget).
Making bagels is really very easy, especially if you let the bread machine do all the heavy lifting. These remind me a lot of the type of bagel you’d get from a street vendor in New York City (a mandatory purchase whenever I’m there) – they are hand made, not factory made, so they’re each unique and not quite as dense as a Sara Lee or Lender’s bagel. Yesterday when I made these, 2Chili couldn’t even wait for them to cool before having one.
Note: Bagel making purists would say to roll the dough and pinch it together in a circle to make the bagel, whereas this recipe employs flattening a rolled up ball. I seem to find rolling into a ball easier than the pinching method, but do what works for you.
Bread Machine Bagels
Original Recipe: Allrecipes.com
I adjusted this recipe’s salt and sugar a big and added the dried fruit option. 1 teaspoon of salt is more than ample…
Time Required:
- 5 minutes to prepare ingredients
- 90 minutes for bread machine to mix/let rise
- 5 minutes to boil
- 20 minutes to bake
Skill Level (out of 5): 
2Chili’s Taster Rating (out of 5): 
Makes: 8-9 bagels
Ingredients:
- 1 cup warm water
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons white sugar (or sugar in the raw)
- 3 cups unbleached white flour or bread flour
- 1/3 cup dried blueberries (or cranberries, raisins, or add-in of your choice)
- 2 ¼ teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 egg white
Method:
- Add all ingredients except the egg white to your bread maker in the order recommended by the manufacturer, set to dough cycle and activate machine (start)
- Once the dough cycle is complete, turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface; Let rest for a couple minutes
- Meanwhile, put a large pot of water to boil (roughly 3-4 quarts)
- Cut the dough into 8 or 9 equal pieces and roll each piece into a small ball. Then, flatten each ball (I use the bottom of a large mug to do this), poke a hole in the middle with your finger, and twirl it around a little to make the hole bigger
- Cover the bagels with a clean dishtowel and let rest for 10 minutes
- Preheat oven to 375 F
- Sprinkle a baking sheet with cornmeal or flour (I use flour) or spray with PAM to keep the bagels from sticking. Break egg/separate white into a small bowl
- Transfer bagels to boiling water in batches of 4 or 5. I put them all on the end of a wooden spoon and drop gently into the water
- Boil the bagels for 30 seconds on each side, and briefly drain on a clean dishtowel, then dip one side of the bagel in egg wash and place the non-dipped side on the cookie sheet. (Don’t leave too long on the dishtowel or they will stick)
- Repeat until all the bagels are boiled and dipped in egg white
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until well browned
Nutrition:
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