Being a native New Yorker, I despaired of ever having decent bagels once I moved from the area. I did make my own bagels, 25 years ago. I found the process extremely time consuming (there's boiling involved), but the flavor and texture of the bagels was wonderful. Too wonderful. My husband and I ate the whole batch in one sitting. Never again.

There are a lot of recipes on the net. If you find one that does not involve boiling the bagels, move on. It's not authentic.

Just follow Ann T's blog on how to make bagels and yes they are boiled and good!

http://thibeaultstablerecipes.blogspot.com/2009/07/pictorial-how-to-make-bagels.html

Here is a link that might be useful: Ann T Bagels

I've made AnnT's bagels and they are wonderful. Like anything the first time is the slowest but you'll get faster the more you make them.

Nancy

One thing I would say is that a mixer is absolutely crucial. It needs to have a good, strong motor, and an attachment that's made for kneading. Think Hobart/KitchenAid or better. In order to make bagels that don't deflate in the boiling water, you have to make an INCREDIBLY stiff dough, and you need superlative gluten development. The good thing is that you can let them rise, freeze them, and then boil and bake straight out of the freezer when you want them. They will taste as good or better than fresh made. And they really are in a different universe than storebought.

I, too, make bagels regularly. I grew up in Los Angeles and had access to some really great bagels at local Jewish bakeries. Once I moved away, I sorely missed them. Grocery store bagels are way too fluffy. Ann T inspired me to give homemade a try, and I've been making them for the last 6-7 years. I use the King Arthur Flour recipe. I bought some non-diastatic malt powder a while ago. I know it's the traditional ingredient used by Jewish bakeries, but once I ran out, I started subbing Carnation malted milk powder instead. It works just fine, and I can get it at all my local grocery stores.

Jessica is correct about the stiff dough. I use my bread machine for kneading and rising (However, not all bread machines can handle working with 6 cups of dough). The recipe I linked to makes 12 perfect sized bagels. Sometimes I use half white whole wheat flour. One nice thing for me about making homemade bagels, is that I can control the salt content. My husband is on a salt-restricted diet, so when I make bagels, I cut the salt & yeast quantities in half.

Nancy is right, once you get the hang of it, the whole process goes quickly. And the payoff is worth it.

Here is a link that might be useful: KAF Basic Bagels

I'm really tempted to try this. I have a mixer with dough hooks, will that work?

If I bake a dozen, how long will they keep? Would I put them in the refrigerator? We are used to just having the store bought out on the counter.

Its ok to cut the yeast in half?

While they sound delish do you think it will save money? I will try this and track the cost the best I can.

I have been making all of our bagels for a couple years now. Ever since I started using only my own Wild Yeast starter. I do not use any commercial yeast at all in my baking. I will link to the formula that I use to make bagels. It works perfectly as written.

If you would like to know more about using only your own wild yeast culture to rise bread you can go to this link. It takes approx. 7 days and you will have a starter that will last as many years as you feed it. No commercial yeast is involved . It is a true wild yeast culture.

The result of using only your own starter is that you will have bread that will rise slowly and develop incredible flavor vs the quicker rising commercial doughs that lack intensity and keeping quality. Breads baked using the wild yeast culture have much greater keeping qualities.

Another plus is if you are interested in baking with less salt you can do so with wild yeast culture more successfully than you can with commercial yeast. If you try to limit your commercial yeast you will discover that the bread will rise too quickly, the yeast is an inhibitor, and then it will fall and the result can be a flat and tasteless loaf. Wild yeast is not nearly as dependent on salt to control the rising capabilities so you can reduce sodium without loss of volume and the extra flavor you have gained from long slow fermentation makes up for the lower sodium.

If I sound like a fanatic about wild yeast I AM !! :) I love the greatly reduced hands on time and the extended slow rise, mostly in the fridge. I love the keeping quality and the increased flavor. Feel free to ask me any questions and by all means read all the info available at Wild Yeast Blog. Susan is an expert and a wonderful teacher.

how to grow your own starter The Fresh Loaf :

http://www.thefreshloaf.com/node/10251/starting-starter-sourdough-101-tutorial?page=1

wild yeast blog formula :

http://www.wildyeastblog.com/2011/04/07/sourdough-bagels-2/

Here are some pics of my bagels and breads made with my culture. It is a slideshow.

Here is a link that might be useful: slide show sourdough bagels/bread

Debrak, I've been using the same bagel recipe for over 30 years. I've tried other recipes, but none measure up to this recipe. They freeze beautifully. I wrap the bagels individually in paper towels and freeze in zip lock freezer bags.

Dough hooks are good, but's it's going to depend on how strong the motor on the mixer is. Most can't handle kneading a full bowl of stiff dough.

If I was trying to "economize" on my grocery bill, the last place I would start is the bagel/bread section. Seriously, do you really think you are going to save a significant amount of money on a $0.45 - $0.50 bagel? I would be looking a the packaged convenience foods, frozen stuff, and other questionable items my 2 teenaged boys put on the grocery list daily. Plus, my guys go through a box of Cheerios and a gallon of milk daily - that is almost $10 right there.

If you want to make your own bagels because they will be better (they will) or healthier (they probably will) then go for it. But I'm not sure it is the best way to economize.

Alexa

I, too, make bagels. The recipe in Baking with Julia is very good.

You don't want to store them in the fridge--it's the worst place to store bread/cakes. The temp in the fridge will retard the growth of mold, but it will make your baked goods go stale much faster than they would at room temperature. You can store a day or two's worth at room temp, and toss the rest in the freezer.

I'm going to try it once and see how it goes. Hopefully my mixer can handle the dough.

Bagels may not be something to "economize" on. I just thought I would start looking at everything. Milk is only $2 a gallon at my regular store. Much higher else where. Maybe cereal will be the next thing to check into.

Thank you all for the recipes and tips. I will post the finished product. It might not be for a few weeks as I might wait until I have a working sink, lol.

I just made bagels for the first time. I'd avoided them in the past because the two step cooking put me off. However, I'd now say they are one of the easier breads to make. The dry dough is easier to work with than the high hydration dough for artisan breads.

The Zojirushi bread machine on dough cycle worked fine for making the dough. I expect the KA would have worked too. I had malt syrup from Whole Foods so I used that - the recipes said malt syrup or malt powder were fine.

I used about 5 cups of bread flour to 1.5 cups water with a tsp of malt syrup, a scant tablespoon of active dry yeast and 2 tsp salt. Another couple of tsps of malt syrup goes into the boiling water where it is suppose to help form the chewy crust.

Then they were baked in a hot oven - one recipe called for 425 degrees C and the other called for 500. I thought the crust was too crisp-hard on the 500 degree batch when I took them out but after they had cooled it was a good bagel crust. Both batches came out just like bagels should be - wonderful chewy bread.

The boiling wasn't a big deal and I expect I'll make these again. It's nice being able to make them for a more reasonable portion size than a commercial bagel.

It makes me wonder why packaged bagels like Lenders and hotel bagels don't have a good chewy bagel consistency. From this first experience, it doesn't seem hard to attain.

Yes! My batch of bagels is cooling as I type. I used the recipe from Peter Reinhart's Bread Baker's Apprentice which calls for a biga fermented overnight. I was a little wary of mixing such a large amount in the bread machine, but it survived and made a beautiful dough. The recipe made 14 large bagels which I topped with sesame seeds and Malden sea salt.

They have good crust and crumb thanks to King Arthur's Sir Lancelot high-gluten flour and the biga. I haven't been able to find decent bagels in New Mexico, so I may be doing these regularly from now.

Cheryl

They sound so good! I haven't tried them yet. Everyone in my house (including me) have been on a healthy eating binge and no one wants bagels :(

Thanks Ann-T. I made a double batch (shouldn't have, LOL). I used wheat malt in the water instead of sugar, but otherwise used the same ingredients. I mixed them in my Bosch so there was no hand kneading required, just shaping. The dough was easy to handle and they came out great. Thanks.

You are welcome Soonergrandmom. Glad you liked the bagels.

~Ann

I am going to try this today and have a couple of questions.

Ann - Does 2 packages of dry yeast translate to 2 tablespoons? I have SAF yeast. Can I halve the recipe? I want to make 5-6 bagels.

What is the function of malt in the recipe? I notice that in some recipes sugar seems to replace it.. Is this to help the color or the chewy exterior texture?

GWlolo, A package of dry yeast equals 2 1/4 teaspoons. So two packages equals 4 1/2 teaspoons (one tablespoon plus 1 1/2 teaspoons.)

The malt adds a sweetness and flavour.

~Ann

There are two ways of forming dough into bagels. One is to make a log and form it into a circle. The other is to make a ball and poke a hole in it. I have best results with the second method.

I've made some decent bagels from a ball of pizza dough from the supermarket bakery -- a real lazy man's method.

Jim