The Bagel - boiled & baked NY style

Real boiled & baked bagels

There is a lot written on the history of the bagel but no-one seems to be 100% sure where it originated. It seems the most likely place was Poland in the 16th century. Popular with the Jewish communities, because they could prepare the dough on the Sabbath and bake off quickly the following day. As large Jewish communities settled in New York City and Chicago, there soon became an increasingly popular demand for bagels and by the 1960s the bagel bakery business went massive producing huge volumes with automated production for deli's and bakeries across the US. 
The New York bagel uses salt and malt and is lowered into boiling salt water until it becomes puffy and then is finally baked off in a standard oven until the crust turns a golden brown. 
The bagel is a popular breakfast snack as its relatively low in fat compared to a doughnut or sweet pastry, its filling and its easy to eat with no mess. There are now a huge variety of flavours available so we tried out a few of our own today. These are easy to make at home and are absolutely bagelicious!


Basic bagel ingredients
Strong white flour 500g
Salt 10g
Sugar 20g
Butter 25g
Fresh Yeast 5g (or you could use 50% sourdough - 250g)
Water +/-200g
Egg (lightly beaten)
Boiling mixture = 1000g water / 1tsp salt
Egg wash
Toppings: sesame / poppy /pumpkin seeds


1) Mix the dry ingredients and set aside
2) Dissolve the yeast into the water, then add the egg
3) Pour in the dry mixture and combine
4) Knead every 10 minutes for 10 seconds
5) Leave for 1hour to rest (you can prepare the boiling pan of water in this time)
6) Scale into 10 portions (76g each) and roll into a tight ball
7) To make bagel shape, press finger into centre of ball and then twirl on your finger so the middle expands. 

8) Place on tray with baking paper and drop each one into boiling water until they become puffed up (flip them over a couple of times) should take around 5-10 minutes.

9) Egg wash, add topping (seed or plain) and bake in pre-heated oven of 250 and turn down to 200. Pour a cup of water onto a tray in the bottom of the oven to create steam during baking. Bake for around 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

10) Bagels are baked when you can hear a hollow sound as you tap the bottom of them. Cool on a wire wrack & enjoy with some cream cheese, peanut butter, chocolate spread or anything else you desire.


We also made sultana versions by tweaking the above recipe and replacing some white with 100g wholemeal flour, then 2g cinnamon, 50g sultanas and topping them with cinnamon sugar.

Bagelicious !