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On weekend mornings our family eats what we call a “Big Breakfast”. We take time making food we love, we take time setting the table and take time eating. It is important for us just to slow down, relax and eat this most important meal of the day. Everyone in our family always looks forward to the Big Weekend Breakfast! 🙂 Usually we have what we call an “European Breakfast”, but on some days we have also an “American Breakfast”. This weekend we had an American Breakfast and homemade bagels were on the menu.

Homemade Bagels

Ingredients for 8 large bagels:

4 1/2 cups (520 g) all-purpose flour
1 tbsp dry yeast
1 tbsp sugar
1 3/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups (355 ml) warm water

1 egg white
1 tbsp water
sesame seeds, poppy seeds, shredded cheese, onion flakes, etc.

3 quarts (about 3 liters) water
2 tsp salt
2 tbsp molasses

Note: To have fresh homemade bagels in the morning, I always start the dough the night before. I enjoy making the dough by hand, but Kitchen Aid is a great helper too. 🙂

1. Combine all dry ingredients and mix well for about 1-2 minutes. Combine warm water and oil. Slowly pour the liquid into the dry ingredients and start forming the dough.

2. Bagel dough needs to be firm. It is ready when it becomes smooth and doesn’t stick to the walls of the mixing bowl.

3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let the dough rise until it doubles its volume or over night.

4. Transfer the dough onto a flour dusted surface and knead for a few minutes. Roll it into a rectangle and cut into 8 equal pieces. I weighed mine and they were all about 4.4 oz (125 g).

5. Knead each piece into a small ball, cover with plastic wrap and let it rise for about 30-45 minutes.

6. Poke a whole in the middle of each dough ball (swirl around your point finger a few times) to form a bagel.

7. In a bigger pot boil the water, add salt, molasses and mix well. Reduce the water to simmer. Place each bagel into the simmering water and cook 30-45 seconds on each side. If you like chewier bagels you can boil them for about 2 minutes. Take them out and place on a wire rack.

8. For egg wash mix together egg white and water, brush over bagels and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds, shredded cheese, onion flakes (or whichever topping you prefer).

9. Pre-heat the oven to 420 F (215 C). Line a large baking pan with parchment paper, sprinkle with corn meal and place the bagels on the pan.

10. Bake for about 20 minutes or until nice golden-brown color. For a crispier bagel, place a cup of water on the bottom of the oven, while baking.

All is left now is to enjoy them! 🙂

Here they were just the dough balls.