My parents moved to a town with ZERO good bagels. We are talking, lenders from the grocery store freezer is the best option kind of desolation here. So while we were visiting for Thanksgiving, I decided to try making bagels, because they are so good, and the thought of them having to wait months between visits to Florida for a bagel broke my heart.

I started by using this New York Bagel recipe to make the dough, but the dough was so dry that it popped the mixer bowl off the stand mixer. I called in my brother to help me knead the bread because it needed like real muscles. He determined the dough was too dry to work with as it was, so we rested the dough on top of and covered by wet paper towels to rehydrate it bit. I forgot to take pictures after the bowl popped off, because I was distressed so, sorry about that.

Once we got the dough hydrated, plump and kneaded, Christopher and I formed the little bagel shapes and put them in the fridge to sleep overnight and get all happy. Yano, science.

After a nice nap in the fridge they were much more plump and ready to go for a dip in a kitchen hot tub (pot of boiling water).

After a quick boil, I brushed them with an egg wash and toppings, popped those babies in the oven and boom, homemade bagels.

I made three everything, three plain, one cinnamon sugar, and one parmesan (we didn’t have asiago). They aren’t particularly attractive, but they had the right texture and tasted good, so I can’t complain much.

I would say, if you want to try making homemade bagels, use a different recipe, preferably one with a weighted ingredients list. Other than that, it wasn’t hard, and if you live far away from a decent bagel place, I’d definitely give it a try.

Thanks to my brother Jacob for saving the dough. We wouldn’t have had bagels without his expertise and muscles.