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New York-Style Bagels

Dara Karać

Bagel, noun - thrillingly beautiful, remarkable, astonishing, exciting.
Or was the word for that breathtaking? Which is also an adjective.
Doesn’t matter - the same thing.

Time to read: 5 mins | Prep time: 1.2 hours | Resting time: 1.3 hours | Yields: 6 servings

Method

MIX & KNEAD:

  1. Pour sugar and yeast in ½ cup or 120ml of warm water. Mix and set aside for five minutes until the mixture foams.

  2. In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and make a well in the center. Pour in yeast mixture and the remaining ¾ cups or 180ml of lukewarm water, and mix until well combined.

  3. Transfer to a clean work surface and knead - fold the dough onto itself. If the dough is very sticky, add a bit of flour. Knead for at least 10 minutes. The longer you knead, the chewier and better bagels will turn out, and the more defined arm muscles you will have - win-win.

  4. Gather the dough into a ball, and transfer it to a large, lightly oiled bowl, seam-side down. Cover with a damp towel and let the dough rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.

DIVIDE & CONQUER:

  1. Punch the dough and let it rest for another 10 minutes.

  2. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and cut it into 6 equal pieces. I recommend using a scale to weigh out 5-ounce/143-gram pieces. If you prefer a smaller bagel, cut it into 8 equal pieces (3.8-ounce/107-gram). Alternatively, eyeball it such that the bagels look approximately the same.

PRESHAPE & SHAPE: 

  1. Preshape the pieces into tight balls and work each piece onto itself. As Claire Saffitz suggests, pinch them together to make a teardrop shape. Place the dough seam-side down on the work surface and, by moving your hand in a circular motion, apply pressure on the sides until a perfectly round shape unfolds before you. Repeat with all the pieces.

  2. Poke a thumb through the dough ball to make the hole, and then widen and stretch with your hands into a ring. Don't be afraid of stretching the dough because bagels will shrink as they proof, boil and bake. Once you shaped all the bagels, cover them with a damp towel and let them rest for 10 minutes.

BOILING & BAKING:

  1. Preheat oven to 425ºF (220ºC).

  2. Fill a large pot halfway with water and bring it to boil. Carefully lower the bagel into the pot and cook for one minute per side. Feel free to boil multiple bagels at once if you have a big enough pot.

  3. Transfer the bagels to the parchment paper-lined baking sheet using a slotted spoon.

  4. Add toppings while the bagel is still wet from boiling.

  5. Bake bagels for 20 to 25 minutes, depending on your oven. The sweet spot for me is 22 minutes.

  6. Allow the bagels to cool completely on a wire rack before slicing and spreading your favorite cream cheese all over these pieces of art.

NOTES:

There are recipes online that suggest using 1-2 tablespoons of barley malt syrup instead of sugar to activate the yeast. Optionally, they advise adding barley malt syrup to water while boiling bagels. It is not that easy to get your hands on barley malt syrup where I live but if you have access to it, feel free to do the same.

Bagels are best when they are fresh out of the oven, but they also freeze well. Place any leftover bagels in a resealable plastic freezer bag and freeze for up to one month.

Nutrition facts, per bagel:

Energy: 281kcal | Carbs: 55g | Protein: 9g | Fat: 1g