Save time by making homemade bagels using your bread machine. These Bread Machine Bagels are soft, chewy, and so much better than store bought!
I’ve been a little obsessed with homemade bagels.
Since a friend of mine shared her bagel recipe with me earlier this year, I’ve been baking and tinkering and I’m happy to say that I’ve made my best batch yet.
Using my bread machine!
I know bread machines are very 1996, when people wore pagers and watched Party of Five. But if you’ve got one of these appliances on a basement shelf somewhere, dust it off. Because it makes the bagel making process so much easier.
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The bread machine does a lot of the heavy lifting in this recipe: Dump the ingredients in, push a button, and the mixing, kneading, and rising are all magically taken care of.
Game changer.
I’ve also been working on perfecting the shape and size of these bagels, since my early batches looked, admittedly, a bit irregular. After doing some research, I picked up a couple of useful pointers:
- Use a kitchen scale: I bought this scale and use it to weigh all of the dough balls so they’re roughly the same size. This not only makes the batch look more uniform, it also means they’ll bake more evenly.
- Roll the balls the right way: It’s actually best to roll the dough on an un-floured surface, because the stickiness of the surface helps the balls form a better shape. I used this super helpful tutorial to help me get the shaping just right.
As you can see, they’re still not all perfectly round, but perfection is overrated, right?
Once you form the dough balls, all you have to do is use your finger to create a hole in the center and gently stretch it out to the size you like. Then boil them, brush with egg wash, sprinkle with toppings, and bake.
Enjoy!
Bread Machine Bagels
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups warm water
- 3½ cups all-purpose or bread flour
- 1½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast
- Favorite toppings such as poppy seeds, sesame seeds, shredded cheese, coarse salt, etc.
Instructions
- Place water, flour, sugar, and salt in the bread machine (in that order). Make a small well in the top of the flour and pour yeast inside, then cover well with the flour.
- Set bread machine on the "dough" setting, which will mix the dough and allow it to rise.
- When setting is done, punch down the dough in the pan and let it rest for 10 minutes.
- Remove dough from bread machine and divide it into eight equal pieces, then shape each into a dough ball by rolling it gently in a circular motion against the (un-floured) counter.
- Coat your finger in flour and press into the center of each dough ball to form a ring, gently stretching the ring into a bagel shape. Cover bagel shapes with a damp kitchen towel and allow to rest for 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and bring a large pot of water to a boil.
- Place bagels 2-3 at a time into the boiling water with a slotted spoon (or by gently lowering them into the water).
- Let bagels sit in boiling water for 1-2 minutes, then flip and allow to sit in water for an additional 1-2 minutes (the longer they are in the water, the chewier the texture will be).
- Remove from water and place on baking sheet lined with a silicone mat. Brush bagels with egg wash (1 beaten egg plus 1 tablespoon water). Add toppings if desired.
- Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Remove from baking sheet to a cooling rack.
Nutrition
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I made these with my 3 y/o grandson today. So easy and so good. I used Trader Joe’s Everything But The Bagel seasoning on half and it was spot on.
Thank you for the recipe!
“I know bread machines are very 1996”? Because you can’t be a sensible person who likes to cook delicious homemade bread for children these days? That’s such a cry to try for “public approval” and it’s so sad that you’re that embarrassed to shared your own recipe
Jeez Annie! That was a joke. I’ve had my bread machine since 1996 when they first came out and were popular. My trusty Sunbeam is still truckin’ and I love making homemade bread, pizza dough, and bagels in it. Did you give the recipe a one-star review because you made it and didn’t like it? If so, I’d love to know why in case your feedback helps others. If you did it just because that comment rubbed you the wrong way, that’s a bummer.
Annie – How does “bread machines are so 1996” translate to a cry for public approval? She clearly isn’t ashamed to share the recipe, as evidenced by her SHARING the recipe. Ouch…
This recipe makes me wish I had a bread machine (for this recipe and I’m quite partial my care free days in the late 90s – ha!) I’m looking forward to trying it in my Kitchen Aid mixer (with dough attachment) and I’m sure it’s going to be fantastic like other Real Mom Nutrition recipe I’ve made in the past.
I LOVE this recipe. Make at least 3x week awesome. I am going through chemo now so these bagels help settle my stomach.
So glad to hear that you like the recipes and that the bagels are providing some relief from the chemo side effects. Best to you!
What is this world coming to when people are triggered by chatter about breadmakers
I absolutely love this recipe. Best bagel I’ve ever had. I added sauteed onions and garlic halfway through the bread mixing cycle and coated with cheese with my eggwash. Really simple and so satisfying. Thanks for this!
I’m so glad to hear that! Yummy additions. 🙂
Just made these for the first time. I left out the sugar and put in an equal amount of diastatic malt powder. The malt gives them that distinctive New York deli flavor! Also put 1 teaspoon malt in the poaching liquid. These are the best of the many recipes
I’ve tried.
Kathi–so glad you liked them. And thanks for the tip on the malt powder. I LOVE NY bagels. 🙂
I’m so happy to have found this recipe. I made these today with my breadmaker and topped a few of them with cheddar before baking. They have a crisp crust and are nice and chewy inside. Thank you so much for sharing! I will definitely be making these many more times!
I’m so glad you like them!
I have never made bagels before because I thought they would be difficult. Love love loved this recipe! So much easier than I expected and they turned out perfect!! Have you tried different flavors?
So glad you liked them Rachel! I have not tried flavors behind topping them with cheese, poppy seeds, cinnamon/sugar, etc. If you try that, let me know how it goes!
Love love love this recipe and you’re right it was so easy! Today was a first time try and they turned out excellent. I added a teaspoon of poppy seeds in the dough as well and even the family member who normally won’t eat bagels are begging for more! Definitely a keeper.
I am going to make these in a few minutes. I just wondered how long you let them rise. My dough setting is only 25 minutes. That doesn’t seem long enough compared to other recipes I have read. Thank you.
Hi Kara–I don’t know how long the proofing stage of my dough setting is, and you’re right that other recipes (including the bagel recipe that I have on here that doesn’t use the bread machine) calls for proofing longer. I would say that as long as your dough is at least doubled in size, you should be okay.
Made these for the first time and found bagels in the bread maker much more successful than kneading by hand. Loved this recipe. Plan to make many more imes!!
So glad to hear that!