I absolutely love the smell of yeast rising and bread baking on a lazy weekend morning. It helps warm the house on these winter days and fills the air full of delicious smells. Bagels are one of my favorites things to make because they seem so complicated but are relatively simple – it just takes a little time and patience. Things can be simplified even further if you have a stand mixer. If you don’t have one – that’s OK – it’ll just take a little more elbow grease.
In a large bowl combine the warm water, yeast, and sugar. Give it a good stir and let sit for 5 minutes. It should start to bubble as the yeast activates. Combine the salt and flour in a separate bowl. Slowly add it to the water mixture. I used my KitchenAid mixer on its lowest setting with the dough hook and let it run for about 10 minutes until the dough formed a nice, smooth ball that didn’t stick to the bowl.
Cover with a towel and set aside in a warm place to rise for 1 hour. My house is pretty cold so I turned my oven on just long enough to get it warmed up and slipped the covered bowl inside. The dough will have doubled in size. Punch it back down with a fist and remove from bowl on to a cutting board.
At this point preheat your oven to 400° and bring 3 quarts of water to boil in a large pot. Once the water is boiling, stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar. My understanding is that sugar or baking soda in the water help give the bagels more color or shine. Also combine your toppings together in a small bowl and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. I don’t like scrambling towards the end so having all these small details out of the way will help a lot.
Cut the dough in half then into fourths so that you end up with eight pieces. Roll them into tight balls and use a thumb to press a hole into the middle of each, stretch the dough until the hole is about 1 ½ inches in diameter.
Drop as many as will comfortably fit into the pot of boiling water. Allow to boil on each side for 30 seconds then remove from the water bath. This might need to be done in several batches. I brushed a little melted vegan butter onto the tops of each bagel before dipped each into the bowl of toppings.
I used a mixture of black and white sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried minced onion, and caraway seeds. Make sure to give each a generous coating then place onto the parchment lined baking sheet and bake in oven for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are nicely browned. By this point the kitchen will smell amazing and you’ll be jonesing for a hot bagel fresh out of the oven. Top them with whatever you like – I prefer a little vegan cream cheese and alfalfa sprouts. Enjoy!
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- 1 ½ tablespoons sugar
- 1 ¼ cups luke warm water
- 3 ½ cups bread flour or all-purpose flour
- 3 tablespoons sugar
- 2 tablespoons vegan butter
- 1 ½ teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon each of sesame seeds, poppy seeds, dried minced onion, caraway seeds
- 1 teaspoon coarse salt
- 1. Combine water, sugar, and yeast into bowl and let sit for 5 minutes until mixture begins to bubble.
- 2. Mix together salt and flour and add to water mixture. If using a stand mixer, use the dough hook on a low setting for about 10 minutes. The dough should be smooth and not sticking to the bowl.
- 3. Cover bowl with a towel and allow to sit in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
- 4. Preheat oven to 400° and place 3 quarts of water on the stove to boil.Once the water comes to a boil, stir in 3 tablespoons sugar.
- 5. Punch down dough, remove from bowl, divide in half, then into fourths so that you end up with 8 pieces.
- 6. Roll each piece into a tight dough ball. With your finger, press a hole into the center of each ball. Use a little flour if necessary. Stretch and press until the whole is a bout 1 ½ inch in diameter.
- 7. Drop as many bagels as will fit in your pot into the boiling water and boil for 30 seconds on each side. Remove from boiling water with a slotted spoon and place on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. Continue this process until all bagels have been boiled.
- 8. Mix teaspoon of coarse salt and toppings into a small bowl. Brush each bagel with vegan butter then dip into bowl with toppings. Coat each bagel generously and then place back onto baking sheet.
- 9. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until the tops are nicely browned.
- *Store in a ziplock bag. Bagels should last about a week but can be frozen for long-term storage.
