Easy homemade bagels
- Published: 25 Jun 21
- Updated: 25 Mar 24
Bake Off champion David Atherton shows you how to get that crucial chewy texture (and the correct sized hole) when you make the New York deli favourites. Scroll on down to watch a video showing you how to make the bagels.
Bagels are poached before they’re baked, which gives them their distinct chew, and the use of malt extract in the poaching liquor ensures a beautiful brown crust to be proud of. David’s recipe benefits from a 10 hour overnight prove, which also happens to mean they’re ready in time for breakfast – win win.
This recipe is from Good To Eat by David Atherton (Hodder & Stoughton £25), out now.
Love bagels? Check out our take on the classic smoked salmon and cream cheese topping here.
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Makes 6 bagels -
Hands-on time 20 min, plus resting/proving/overnight proving, oven time 20 min
Nutrition
- Calories
- 294kcals
- Fat
- 3.1g (0.5g saturated)
- Protein
- 8g
- Carbohydrates
- 56.7g (6.6g sugars)
- Fibre
- 3.8g
- Salt
- 1.6g
delicious. tips
David’s tips: To make the hole, stick your index finger through the middle of the dough ball, then push your other index finger through the opposite way. Rotate your fingers in a circle to stretch and open up the hole evenly.
When shaping your bagels in step 3, be sure to make the middle hole twice as wide as you would like the final hole to be, as it will close up when the bagel is proving and baking. The bagel will look skinny once you’ve shaped it, but don’t worry, it will fatten up and you’ll end up with the perfect size hole.
When poaching the bagels, roughly cut the baking paper they’ve been proving on. You can then pick up the bagel using the paper and tip it while holding onto the paper so it peels off gently into the water.
Easy swaps: Swap the caraway seeds and/or sesame seeds for fennel, poppy or pumpkin seeds.
Watch how to make the bagels:
While the bagels are best eaten the day they’re cooked, they freeze well. Cool completely, slice in half and pack into freezer bags, then freeze for up to 6 months. Toast the frozen bagels or warm through in a low oven for about 10 minutes.
Leftover bagels can be toasted, or you can use them to make bagel crisps. Thinly slice, toss with a glug of oil and some salt, spread over a large baking tray and bake at 180C fan/gas 6 for 15-20 minutes until crisp and golden.
Malt extract, also sold as barley malt extract, is a sweet, dark, treacle-like substance (beer brewers also use a dried version of it). Buy it in Waitrose and health food stores such as Holland & Barrett.