Homemade Everything Bagels

A few years ago I stumbled upon a Facebook post.

And although it was just one of those silly posts on the internet, the answers shocked me. “You can only pick two smells” the post read. Now, there were a patchwork of different answers to choose from; roasted marshmallows, campfire, clean laundry. The choice for me was easy, it was so clearly dark roast coffee and freshly baked bread. And my assumption was that would be one of the top answers in the comments as well, but it wasn’t. Most of the answers were the campfire and clean laundry combo. While both obvious great answers, they weren’t mine. I began to wonder why “freshly baked bread” wasn’t a common answer, did others not grow up to the smells of bread baking in the oven? Smells, in a way, are time machines; They trigger memories of our past. I learned that a lot working in a perfume department. We were to sell customers a perfume to wear on their milestones so for the rest of their life whenever they smelled Marc Jacobs Daisy they would be transported back to the day they said “I do”.

It was that moment I started to notice that others didn’t live the same way that I did, and they weren’t raised the same way I was either. I began to talk to others who showed interest in cooking, I still do. Encouraging others to cook things from scratch is one of my favourite things. Cooking is an art, it's therapeutic and also you’ll notice such an improvement in your overall health when you scrap the processed crap... but that’s a rabbit hole to go down a different day. While I've found most people are open to trying most dinner recipes with ease, bread making was a different story. It’s intimidating. But I am here to tell you, it most definitely is not. Once you know the proper technique you can make most everything on your own using basically the same recipe; breads, bagels, pizza dough, cinnamon buns... and with a slight modification fresh pasta.

My goal is for you to impress yourself and change your answer in the silly Facebook post from “clean laundry” to “freshly baked bread.” My goal is for when you smell bread freshly baking in your oven to transport you in time to the last day you bought store-bought bread and began baking your own. My goal is to inspire you, and hopefully for you to inspire others.

Let’s bring back the seemingly lost art of baking bread together!

Everything Bagels Recipe 

Bagel ingredients:

1 1/2 cups warm water 

3 cups all purpose flour (depending on consistency of dough. See instructions)

1 tbsp sugar

2 tsp active dry yeast 

1 tsp salt 

Water ingredients:

2 tbsp honey (optional) 

Instructions by hand:

Add warm water, sugar, salt and yeast into a bowl and stir. Wait a few minutes, yeast should have become frothy: if yeast hasn't become frothy, discard water and try again. 

Add flour one cup at a time and stir/combine with your hands. Your dough should be soft but not sticking to your fingers. If dough sticks to your fingers add more flour in very small increments (1 tbsp at a time). 

Take dough out and knead on a floured surface. If dough becomes too sticky when kneading add a light dusting of flour. Knead for a few minutes to develop gluten, you'll notice the dough getting firmer 

Once done, set dough in an oiled bowl and cover until dough has doubled in size. 

Instructions for stand mixer:

Add warm water, sugar, salt and yeast into a bowl and stir. Wait a few minutes, yeast should have become frothy: if yeast hasn't become frothy, discard water and try again. 

Add flour 1 cup at a time, stir at lowest speed until combined. Dough should be pulling away from the sides of the bowl. If the dough is still sticky, add more flour in small amounts (1 tbsp) until the dough is soft but doesn't stick to the bowl. Increase mixer speed to speed 2 and allow the mixer to knead the dough for a few minutes. 

Once done, set the bowl aside and cover to rise until doubled in size. 

Instructions for assembling and cooking bagels: 

Preheat oven to 350 

Take dough out and form and roll 8-12 round buns (depending on yeast size you'd like your bagels to be and set buns on a flat pan and cover, allowing buns to rise a second time. 

While your buns are resting, grab a pot and fill it halfway with water (I like to use a tall soup pot but anything would work!). Add your honey to the water. 

Once water is boiling take out your bun and push your thumbs into the center to make the hole of your bagel. Carefully drop your bagel into the pot of boiling water and cook for 1 minute on each side. Repeat for each bagel. 

Place your bagels on a parchment lined baking sheet (here is when you’d sprinkle with topping of choice. I used everything bagel seasoning) and bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. 

Enjoy!