If you're gonna make homemade bagels, you've gotta make New York style bagels!! Any other type of bagel will not satisfy your bagel needs. You need a bagel that is chewy on the outside, soft on the inside, and never ever dense. A bagel that tastes amazing with just plain cream cheese and is sturdy enough for an epic breakfast sandwich. You NEED these New York style bagels.
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Ingredients
- Flour: To achieve the soft & chewy balance I landed on a combination of all-purpose and bread flour.
- Yeast: You can use either active dry or instant yeast here!
- Salt: Kosher salt is a very important ingredient in all baking recipes, but it is especially important in these bagels. It adds flavor to the yeasted dough and helps to produce the right texture. Don't skip on the kosher salt!
- Granulated Sugar: A small amount of sugar helps to activate the yeast, as well as adds flavor.
- Malted Milk Powder: This is probably my favorite secret ingredient to add to baked goods, because it adds a subtle, malty sweetness that you just can't put your finger on but reminds you of classic bakery & diner baked goods from your childhood. It's also the key ingredient to helping baked goods stay soft for longer!
- Water: It's true what people say about something in the water that creates the most amazing bagels here in New York. So I only recommend using NYC water to make these bagels. JK 😉 But the right amount of hydration is crucial in this recipe, so be sure to weigh your water very precisely!
FAQ
The key to making the best ny style bagels from scratch lies in the carefully tested ratio of dry to wet ingredients, regular flour to bread flour, and a secret ingredient: malted milk powder. Adding malted milk powder in the dough adds flavor and helps keep the interior of the bagels soft, and adding it to the water bath helps to achieve that chewy crust!
Yes! These bagels can either be made all in one day or the dough can rise overnight. I highly recommend letting the dough rise overnight, not only so you can break up the work, but also because it is MUCH easier to work with cold dough and shape them into perfect bagels! This also leaves less room for accidentally over-proofing the dough.
Homemade bagels are best eaten the day that they are made, but these will taste almost as good the next day if they are stored in an airtight bag/container at room temperature. They will also last for up to three months in the freezer!
- The Classic: toasted with plain cream cheese
- The Ultimate Breakfast Sandwich: over-easy fried egg, bacon, and melty cheese
- The Lox: plain cream cheese, smoked salmon, red onion, and capers
- The PB&J: creamy peanut butter & strawberry jam
Yes! This recipe works very well cut in half, so if you don't want to make 12 bagels, you can make just 6! Simply divide all measurements in half and follow the recipe instructions as written.
If you do not have bread flour, you can substitute it for an equal amount of all-purpose flour. However, your bagels will not be quite as chewy! I do not recommend substituting or leaving out the malted milk powder.
- Stand Mixer: Though it is easier to use a stand mixer with a dough hook, you can absolutely just use a large bowl and a wooden spoon to mix!
- Kitchen Scale: Of course you should use a kitchen scale to weigh all of your ingredients (read why below), but you can also use it to weigh the dough so you can divide it up into equally sized bagels.
- Dutch Oven: I used a dutch oven for the water bath, but any large pot will work just fine.
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How to accurately measure ingredients for baking
All of the recipes on this blog are carefully developed to create incredibly delicious baked goods that you can easily recreate in your own kitchen with success. The only way this is possible is to standardize the way ingredients are measured - by weight. Volume measurements are extremely inaccurate and leave room for significant errors. Not all measuring cups are made equally, so your one cup of flour will be different from my one cup of flour. By providing precise measurements in grams (aside from minor ingredients, which are given in tsp/tbsp), I can ensure that you can make the recipe accurately and with less cleanup! All you need is this kitchen scale.
If you would like to convert the recipe to volume measurements, this is the best conversion chart. If you chose to do this, I cannot promise a good result as I do not test my recipes with this method.
Trust me, once you try baking in grams you'll never turn back!
Happy baking! x
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New York Style Bagels
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 bagels 1x
- Category: Breakfast
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
These New York style bagels are chewy on the outside, soft on the inside, and never ever dense. They taste amazing with just plain cream cheese, but are also sturdy enough for an epic breakfast sandwich.
Ingredients
For the bagels:
- 300g all-purpose flour
- 300g bread flour
- 2 ¼ tsp active dry or instant yeast
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 20g granulated sugar
- 30g malted milk powder
- 400g water (lukewarm)
- Egg white (for brushing)
- Toppings (everything bagel seasoning, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, etc.)
For the water bath:
- 2 quarts water
- 2 tbsp malted milk powder
- 2 tbsp sugar
Instructions
For the bagels:
- In a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the flours, yeast, salt, sugar, and malted milk powder.
- Add the lukewarm water and mix on medium speed for just a couple minutes until the dough is smooth.
- Transfer the dough to a large greased bowl, cover, and place in the fridge to rise overnight. Alternatively, you can rise the dough at room temperature for about 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Once the dough has proofed, divide it into 12 equally sized balls.
- Roll each into a smooth ball and place on a well-floured parchment lined baking sheet spaced a few inches apart.
- Dust each ball with more flour and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Place in a warm spot to rise for about 1 hour or until room temp and puffy. If the dough was proofed at room temperature for the first rise, they should only need about 20-30 minutes for the second rise.
- With about 20 minutes of proof time left, make the water bath.
- Add 2 quarts of water to a large pot (I used a dutch oven) and sprinkle the malted milk powder and sugar on top. Bring to a boil.
- Once the dough is done proofing, use your thumb to push a hole into the centers of each, pick them up and gently twirl them around to stretch out the hole.
- Once all of the bagels have been shaped, reduce the water to a simmer and preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
- Place 2 bagels at a time in the water for 30 seconds on each side.
- After all of the bagels have been in the water bath, brush each with an egg white and sprinkle with desired toppings.
- Bake the bagels for 18-20 minutes or until evenly golden on top.
- Allow bagels to cool completely before cutting.
Notes
- If you do not have bread flour, you can substitute with an equal amount of all-purpose flour. Keep in mind that they will not be quite as chewy.
- Do not substitute or leave out the malted milk powder.
- I highly recommend letting the dough rise overnight. It will be much easier to shape the bagels.
- These bagels are best eaten the day that they are made, but can be stored at room temperature for one day. They can also be frozen for up to three months.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 bagel
- Calories: 232
- Sugar: 5.6 g
- Sodium: 135.7 mg
- Fat: 2.3 g
- Carbohydrates: 43.6 g
- Protein: 8.3 g
- Cholesterol: 1 mg
Keywords: new york style bagels, overnight bagel recipe, new york bagel recipe, ny style bagels
Aleigha says
I was surprised how easy the dough came together. I loved that you could proof it overnight and finish them in the morning. They turned out perfectly soft and chewy. So so good!
Emma says
Hands down best homemade bagel recipe! Will be making this many more times.
★★★★★