Best Homemade Salt Bagel Recipe
Salt bagels are a classic New York treat and are so easy for you to make at home! These bagels are dense and chewy on the inside, and deliciously crispy on the outside with the perfect amount of flakey sea salt on the top. They are ideal for sandwiches or as a base for generous amounts of cream cheese. Delicious!
Ingredients
For the bagel dough
- 3 ½ cups bread flour (or all purpose flour)
- 1 tsp salt
- ¾ tsp instant yeast
- 1 tablespoon honey or agave syrup
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoon water
For Boiling
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- coarse sea salt
Instructions
- In the bowl of a large mixer, add the flour, 1 teaspoon of salt, yeast, honey, and water. Using a paddle attachment, mix the ingredients until they form a shaggy, stiff dough ball. Allow the dough to rest for 5 minutes.
- Swap your paddle attachment for a dough hook and mix on low speed for two minutes, until the dough is very smooth, but stiff and just slightly tacky. (If the dough is too tacky, just add a small sprinkling of flour and resume kneading. But try to keep the excess flour to a minimum for best results.)
- Place the dough into a lightly oiled bowl, seam side, cover it with a damp towel, and allow the dough to rise to double its size, about 2.5 - 3 hours. (Alternatively, you can cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and refrigerate it for at least one hour, or for however long you want until you’re ready to make your individual dough balls.
- Once your dough has risen, it’s time to shape them. (If you’re proofing the bagels overnight, note that this step should be done before you go to bed!) Line a baking sheet with a slipmat or a lightly oiled sheet of parchment paper. Remove the dough from the bowl and divide it into 8 equal pieces.
- Create individual dough balls by rolling each piece of dough along a clean work surface with your hand. Avoid using flour here as you want the dough to grip the surface, making it easier to form a tight ball.
- Once you’ve formed your dough balls, you have two options for shaping them. Option 1: begin rolling each one out into a long rope, about 8 inches long. (Rolling the dough into ropes will require a bit of muscle, but it’s worth it in the end!) Using your fingers, roll the ends of the rope slightly thinner than the middle.Place one end of the dough rope between your thumb and your forefinger, and wrap the rest of the dough rope around your hand, overlapping the two ends. Squeeze the ends together slightly, then roll the edge on the counter to create a well-sealed dough ring. Repeat with all 8 pieces.Option 2: press your thumb into the center of the dough ball and slowly rotate to form a small center circle. Personally, I find this option to be much easier.
- Place all the bagels onto the prepared baking tray, brush with a neutral oil, and cover with plastic wrap before placing the baking sheet into the refrigerator overnight.
- Remove the bagels from the refrigerator 90 minutes prior to when you want to bake them.
- 30 minutes prior to baking, heat the oven to 500 degrees.
- Fill a large pot with water (the water should be about 4 inches deep), cover it with a lid, and bring to a boil. Add a teaspoon of salt to the water and 1 teaspoon of baking soda, then reduce the heat with the lid on.
- Use the float test to make sure your bagels are ready to boil. Place one into a cold bowl of water. If it sinks, and doesn’t float, place it back on the baking sheet, wait 15 minutes, and try again. Once the bagel floats to the surface, they’re ready to be boiled.
- Gently place each bagel into the simmering water, being careful not to crowd the pot. (You can do this in batches if they don’t all fit at once.) Using a slotted spoon, flip each bagel over after 1 minute. Boil for an additional 30 seconds, then remove each bagel and return it to the lined baking sheet.
- Generously sprinkle each bagel with coarse sea salt.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and reduce the heat to 450 degrees. Bake the salt bagels for 8 minutes, then rotate the sheet in the oven. Bake until the salt bagels are golden brown, an additional 8-12 minutes.
- Remove the salt bagels from the oven and transfer them to a cooling rack. Allow to rest for 30 minutes prior to serving.
Notes
- You can make the bagel rings by rolling the dough into a strand then wrapping it around your hand and forming a seal. Alternatively, you may make the dough ball, then punch your finger through the middle to make a ring.
- Use the float test to make sure the bagels are ready for boiling. Place a bagel ring into a bowl of cold water. If it floats, they're ready to boil. If not, wait 15 minutes and try again.
- You can make these bagels after creating the bagel rings, or, if it's more convenient you can refrigerate the bagel rings overnight, then bake them in the morning.
- If baking in the morning, be sure to remove the dough rings from the refrigerator 90 minutes before baking them.
Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!