How to make the best ever fresh homemade everything bagel recipe from scratch with just 5 simple ingredients. These soft and chewy New York style bagels have a perfectly crunchy crust, and they’re so easy to make!
You just can’t beat a good bagel. Growing up in the Midwest, I don’t know that I’d ever really eaten many bagels. My family usually ate homemade biscuits, Grandma’s homemade yeast rolls or pancakes. Once in a blue moon, we might eat strawberry waffles and French toast sticks, and of course I love a good batch of homemade glazed donuts for dessert.
Then I went off to college in New York, and those classic New York style bagels quickly became my new favorite breakfast treat. So of course, now that we’ve moved back to Missouri, I had to come up with my favorite everything bagel recipe. I don’t mean to brag, but I think I’ve pretty well cracked the code for homemade bagels, and they’re easy to make too!
Ingredients & Substitutions Notes
- Active Dry Yeast – I use active dry yeast as the sole leavening agent for homemade bagels. The only downside is that you will need to “proof” it with warm water and a little bit of sugar. Instant yeast makes a great 1 for 1 substitute if you don’t feel like proofing it every time!
- All-Purpose Flour – In my opinion, good quality white all purpose flour makes a great bagel with the perfect balance of soft and chewy. If you like a chewier bagel, I recommend using bread flour instead.
- Honey – The secret to making amazing New York style bagels is to “par-cook” them in a boiling hot water bath with honey for a couple of minutes before baking. This gelatinizes the starches in the crust, which is responsible for the dark, caramelized color and that perfectly crunchy bite that is so desirable in the best bagels. Malt barley syrup also works really well!
- Everything Bagel Seasoning – You can make an everything bagel spice recipe, or you can use everything bagel seasoning from the grocery store. For the sake of ease, I opted for the store bought option.
How to Make Everything Bagel Recipe
Before getting started, whisk together the active dry yeast, warm water and sugar in a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer. Let it proof for about 5 minutes, or ’til the mixture foams up. If you’re using instant yeast, you can skip this step altogether, adding it directly to the dough instead.
Mixing the Dough
- Once the yeast has proofed, start by adding 3 & 1/2 cups of flour and the salt to the mixture, stirring ’til well combined. Add a little more flour as needed, up to 4 cups or ’til a stiff dough forms. You want it to be quite a bit stiffer than regular bread dough, so much so that it no longer sticks to the sides of the bowl.
- Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or ’til a smooth surface forms, adding more flour as needed. I really like my electric stand mixer with the dough hook attachment for this step.
- Once your smooth dough has formed, put your homemade bagel dough back into the mixing bowl, cover with a tea towel, and then leave it to rest in a warm place for about 1 hour, or ’til doubled in size.
How to Shape Homemade Everything Bagels
Before shaping your bagels, set a medium-sized pot of water with honey on medium-high heat on the stovetop to boil. Preheat your oven to 425ºF, and line 2 13×18 baking sheets with parchment paper. Then place the everything bagel seasoning in a bowl big enough to fit the dough.
- Once doubled in size, divide the dough into 8 equal pieces. A dough scraper makes this step easy.
- Roll each piece into a large ball, and then gently poke your finger through the center of each bagel ball, making it slightly larger than you think it needs to be. Stretch it out a little bit, and transfer to the parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Once the water is boiling, drop 2 to 3 of the shaped bagels at a time down into the water. Let cook for about 1 minute on each side. You can use a pair of tongs to pull them out.
- Immediately after pulling them out of the boiling water bath, drop each bagel into the everything bagel seasoning that you placed into the small bowl earlier. Flip each bagel over, completely covering it with seasoning; then transfer each one back to the baking sheet to bake.
How to Bake Homemade Everything Bagel Recipe
Once fully coated, bake your loaded everything bagels at 425ºF for about 20-25 minutes, or ’til golden brown in color. Serve and enjoy warm with salted butter and cream cheese! Swap out the English muffins for one of these homemade bagels in this sausage, egg and cheese McMuffin recipe, and serve them up with a piping hot cup of coffee!
Expert Tips and Recipe FAQ’s
This is usually because of 1 of 3 reasons. First, you may not have added enough flour at the start. For the best bagels, you want a fairly stiff dough. Second, you may not have kneaded the dough long enough– Assuming you’ve added enough flour, you want to knead it until it’s no longer sticky but smooth. Last but not least, you may have let the dough rise for too long, commonly referred to as “over-proofing,” which exhausts the gluten strands that are responsible for that smooth surface. A general rule of thumb is to let it rise only until doubled in size!
Your dough is likely too wet. Add a little bit more flour next time. The dough needs to be so stiff that it won’t stick to the bowl when mixing.
Store any leftover bagels in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3-4 days, after which they’ll start to go stale. If they’ve started to go stale, you can sometimes revive them by popping them in the microwave for about 20-30 seconds before eating!
Yes, you can freeze homemade everything bagels. Stored in an airtight container or freezer bag, they should last for up to 3 months in the freezer. Be sure to get them out the night before you plan to eat them so that they have enough time to thaw on the counter.
Creative Everything Bagel Recipe Ideas
- Swap out the English muffins for loaded everything bagels in this egg McMuffin recipe.
- Homemade bagels make the best eggs in a nest you’ll ever eat. Plus, they already have the hole cut out and ready for eggs!
- Instead of the biscuit dough, use homemade everything bagels to make the best grand supreme mini pizzas.
- Instead of making actual bagels, try rolling your dough out into little balls, roll each ball in the everything bagel seasoning, and then bake for about 10-15 minutes at 425ºF to make bite-sized everything bagel balls. Yum!
More Easy Breakfast & Bread Recipes
- Butterhorn Rolls
- Homemade Pancake Mix
- Gluten Free Drop Biscuits
- Hot Dog Bun Breadsticks
- Strawberry Oatmeal
- Maple Brown Sugar Oatmeal
- Peaches and Cream Oatmeal
- Overnight Baked French Toast Casserole
- French Toast Casserole in the Crock Pot
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Everything Bagel Recipe
Equipment
- Electric Stand Mixer optional
- Dough Scraper optional
Ingredients
- 2 1/4 teaspoons Active Dry Yeast
- 1 1/3 cup Warm Water
- 1 tablespoon Cane Sugar
- 4 cups All Purpose Flour plus more for kneading
- 2 teaspoons Sea Salt
Water Bath
- 8 cups Water
- 2 tablespoons Honey
Topping
- 1/4 cup Everything Bagel Seasoning
Instructions
Mixing the Dough
- Before getting started, whisk together the active dry yeast, warm water and sugar in a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, and let it proof for about 5 minutes, or 'til foamed up.
- Once the yeast has proofed, start by adding 3 & 1/2 cups of flour and the salt to the mixture, stirring 'til well combined. Add a little more flour as needed, up to 4 cups or 'til a stiff dough forms.*
- Knead the dough for about 10 minutes, or 'til a smooth surface forms, adding more flour as needed. The dough hook attachment for the electric stand mixer works well for this step.
- Once your smooth dough has formed, put your homemade bagel dough back into the mixing bowl, cover with a tea towel, and then leave it to rest in a warm place for about 1 hour, or 'til doubled in size.
- While the dough rests, preheat your oven to 425ºF, and line 2 13×18 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Place the everything bagel seasoning in a bowl big enough to fit the dough.
How to Shape Homemade Bagels
- Set a medium-sized pot of water with honey on medium-high heat on the stovetop to boil.
- Once doubled in size, use a dough scraper to divide the dough into 8 equal pieces.
- Roll each piece into a large ball, and then gently poke your finger through the center of each bagel ball, making it slightly larger than you think it needs to be. Stretch it out a little bit, and transfer to the parchment paper lined baking sheet.
- Once the water is boiling, drop 2 to 3 of the shaped bagels at a time down into the water. Let cook for about 1 minute on each side, and then use a pair of tongs to pull them out.
- Immediately after pulling them out of the boiling water bath, drop each bagel into the everything bagel seasoning that you placed into the small bowl earlier. Flip each bagel over, completely covering it with seasoning; then transfer each one back to the baking sheet to bake.
Baking Homemade Everything Bagels
- Once fully coated, bake your loaded everything bagels at 425ºF for about 20-25 minutes, or 'til golden brown in color.
- Serve and enjoy warm with salted butter, cream cheese and a piping hot cup of coffee!
