I have been making all of my own bread during this pandemic and we were getting a little tired of toast in the morning. So today I decided it was time to tackle bagels again and specifically Montreal Style Bagels. We have been several times to the Byward Market in Ottawa and the bagels there are the best I have ever had so to try and copy those was my mission.
I am quite happy with the results. My son had purchased Everything Seasoning when he was at Trader Joes’s over the Christmas holiday so I had that on hand, but my favourite is sesame seed.
Making bagels isn’t much more difficult than making bread, just the extra step of boiling the formed dough before baking. But that step is important as the boiling is what gives the bagels their “chew”. After doing reading on forming bagels and found this “earth shaking” trick- form a round and poke a hole in the centre. All of the times I have made bagels previously I have rolled the dough into a rope and stuck the ends together, but one or two always came undone during the boiling process. So this trick makes forming the bagels fool-proof and much quicker.
So if you have been experimenting with bread during this time at home, I hope you give bagels a try! My crew is happy I made them today.
- 1½ cups warm water
- 3 tsp instant yeast
- 1 egg, room temp
- ¼ cup canola oil
- ¼ cup liquid honey
- 4½ - 5 cups bread flour
- 3 tsp salt
- Boiling liquid:
- 10 cups water
- ¼ cup liquid honey
- Topping:
- Sesame seeds
- Everything seasoning
- In the bowl of a stand mixer combine the warm water, yeast, egg, oil, honey and 2 cups of flour. Whisk these ingredients together until smooth.
- Add 2 more cups of flour and the salt. Using the dough hook mix until the dough starts pulling away from the sides of the bowl. Keep adding flour a tablespoon at a time until the dough clears the sides and is nice and smooth and not sticky to touch.
- Add 1 tsp of oil to a large glass bowl. Transfer the dough from the mixing bowl to the oiled bowl, turning several times to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a draft-free place for 30 minutes.
- Turn out on to a lightly floured surface and cut into 16 equal pieces.
- Shape each piece into a round and poke a hole in the middle. Rotating it in your hand form into a circle with a very large hole in the centre. Transfer to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Place bagels at least 1" apart.
- After they are all formed, fill a large pot with the water and 2nd amount of honey. Bring to a boil. Preheat oven to 425℉.
- After the formed bagels have been allowed to rise for 15-25 minutes place them 3 at a time in the boiling liquid and boil for 1 minute per side, carefully flipping.
- Remove to a cooling rack, let cool for 1 minute then dredge them in your topping of choice and place back on the parchment paper.
- Continue until all of the bagels have been boiled.
- Then bake for 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool. Store in a airtight container for up to 3 days.
Hello Tammy
I see in your recipes that sometimes it calls for instant yeast and sometimes dry active. I have only ever used dry active yeast. In your expertise opinion, is the only difference between the two the fact that with dry active you must “froth” it before encorporating it into the recipe? Is there any taste difference in the end product?
I am really considering making these bagels.
Thank you………..again,
Terri
Hi Terri,
I use instant yeast and dry active interchangeably especially since Covid and the issues with trying to find yeast! I find not difference in taste at all. Please let me know if you try them.