For a while my son has asked to make home-made bagels. Mostly because I told him how fun the process is – dipping in hot water and then baking in the oven.

This weekend we made home-made NY Bagels and there is nothing better than baking with the kids in the kitchen. Especially fun things like bagels……

I’m usually not a huge fan of bagels, because they are dense, but these ones were amazing! Light and tasty.

What is needed for 12 delicious bagels:

4 cups flour

1 Tbsp. oil

1 1/3 cups of warm water

2 tbsp. sugar

1 tsp. salt

1.5 tsp. dry yeast

Mix yeast and sugar in the warm water, let it rest until bubbles start. This wakes up the yeast and although the bagels don’t need to rise a lot, it makes them fluffier and less dense.

Mix flour with salt , add the oil and mix the yeast water in as well until you get a smooth dough. Leave to rise 30-45 minutes. If you have time, punch the dough and let it rise again, I usually don’t have the time for that….

Once the dough is ready, decide what additions you like. My kids wanted some plain, some with cinnamon and dried sweet cranberries, and some with pumpkin spice. So we divided the dough into 3 equal parts. Into each part we kneaded the additions and divided the dough into 3. I like to weigh all doughs I make, and divide by weight to get equal parts, this help the baking a lot.

Once the additions were incorporated into the dough, we rolled it out, and shaped into bagels with a hole in the middle, lastly, placed them on baking sheets.

I read a tip some time ago on a website that suggested to bake the bagels on broil for 2 minutes each side, before dipping in hot water. I loved this, so the baking steps are:

1. Heat the oven to very high/broil. Bake the bagels 2 minutes on each side.

2. In the mean time, broil a pot of water with a bit of sugar – it needs to be deep enough for the bagels not to touch the bottom.

3. Take the bagels out, put them in the hot water, broil 1 minute on each side. Lower the oven to 350F/180C.

4. Place back on the baking sheet, and bake for another 20-25 minutes. If you like sesame or poppy seeds on your bagels, add it before placing in the oven for the 2nd time.

Your bagels are ready. Add butter, cream cheese, jam, Nutella or our favorite…. enjoy on their own. They  were truly delicious and will become a stable in our home on the weekends, no doubt.

Enjoy! Share, and let me hear from you.