If you love bagels and have had to cut them from your low sodium diet, you are going to love this recipe. With the same chewy texture as a store-bought bagel and the flexibility to choose your own toppings, this recipe is bound to be a staple in your house like it is mine.
As I mentioned in my last post for Everything Bagel Seasoning, I am starting a short series on bagels. The seasoning was the first recipe, and this recipe is the second. It will take a little bit of work to get that chewy texture that we love about bagels, but it is totally worth it. I am going to walk you through some tips and techniques before I get to the actual recipe, but if you have questions while making these bagels, leave me a comment or shoot me a message and I will get back to you as soon as I can.
So you start by making a dough like you do for most homemade bread doughs. I have more instructions about how to do this in my Favorite White Bread recipe. A quick recap is that you will start with yeast and sugar in warm water. Then you will add the powdered milk and slowly stir in the flour. Once the dough is firm enough to handle, you will knead the dough, working in more of the flour until the dough is smooth and elastic. Then you let the dough rise until it has doubled in size (check out the recipe below for full detail).
Once you are ready to shape the bagels, you will divide the dough into eight equal size chunks (yes I weigh out my portions because I am a little obsessive like that, and no you don’t have to).
Then you will smooth the chunks into uniform balls. To do this, take a chunk of dough and loosely roll it against a flat surface (see pic below).
See how pretty they are?!
Then you take a dough ball and – with a little flour on your hands – pinch a hole in the center of the dough. Stretch the hole slowly until the hole is roughly two to three times the size that you will want it to be. The bagel will rise considerably and as a result the hole will shrink.
As you are finished shaping the bagels, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Cover and let rise for about 10 minutes while you bring a large pot of water to boil. Once the water is boiling, carefully place as many bagels in the water as you are comfortable with. The bagels will grow a lot while they are boiling, so be really careful not to overcrowd the pan. You only have to boil them for about 1-2 minutes per side. The longer you boil them, the more they will rise and the chewier they will become. Place them back on the baking sheet while you boil the rest of the bagels.
Once the bagels are boiled, you have three options – bake them immediately (plain bagels), top them with an egg wash and bake them (also plain but with a glossy top), or top them with an egg wash and then sprinkle with toppings of your choice. Our favorite is the Everything Bagel Seasoning or dried onion flakes, but get creative! then it is just a matter of baking them
Homemade Bagels
SODIUM COUNT: 13 mg sodium per bagel; 106.5 mg sodium in the entire recipe
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 8 1x
Ingredients
Bagels:
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
- 1 Tbsp sugar
- 1 ¼ cups warm water (about 110°F to 115°F)
- ¼ cup powder milk
- 3–4 cups bread flour*
Optional** Egg Wash:
- 1 large egg
- 1 Tbsp water
Optional** Toppings:
- Everything Bagel Seasoning
- Dried minced onions
- Dried minced garlic
- Poppy seeds
- Sesame seeds
- Herbs of your choice
Instructions
Mix the bagels:
- Dissolve the yeast and sugar in the warm water in a large bowl. Let rest for a few minutes until the yeast begins to foam.
- Stir in the powder milk.
- Add the flour about ¾ cup at a time until the dough is firm enough to knead (roughly 2.5-3 cups). Once you can handle the dough, begin to knead it, adding the remaining flour as needed. Knead the dough for 5-8 minutes (you can use a large stand mixer with a dough hook for this). The dough should be smooth and elastic when you are finished.
- Place the dough into a clean, oiled bowl. Put the bowl in a warm place and let rise until the dough has doubled in size (about 60-90 minutes).
- Punch the dough down and let rest for 10 minutes.
Shape the bagels:
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Divide the dough into eight chunks. Shape each chunk into a smooth ball by rolling the ball in a circular motion against your work surface (see photo in blog post).
- Pick up a dough ball and press a hole into the center. Stretch the hole until it is roughly 2-3 times as large as you would like it to be when the bagel is cooked (see photo in blog post). Place the bagel on the prepared baking sheet and repeat with each piece of dough.
- Once all the bagels are shaped, cover with a light towel and let rise for 10 minutes. While the bagels are rising, bring a large pot of water to a boil and preheat the oven to 425°F.
Cook the Bagels:
- Begin by boiling the bagels. Boil as many at a time as you are comfortable with. Do not overcrowd the pan, as the bagels will rise a lot when they boil.
- Place the bagels in the boiling water and boil for 1-2 minutes per side. The longer you boil, the more they will rise and the chewier they become. Remove the bagels from the water and place back on the prepared baking sheet while you boil the rest of the bagels.
- To make the egg wash, whisk the egg and water together in a small bowl. If using, brush on bagels and add optional toppings.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until golden brown.
Notes
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION – Yield: 8 servings (1 bagel per serving)
Sodium: 13.3 mg, Calories: 215.4, Total Fat: 0.6 g, Saturated Fat: 0.1 g, Cholesterol: 0.0 mg, Carbohydrates: 44.7 g, Fiber: 1.7 g, Sugar: 2.8 g, Protein: 6.8 g.
* You can use all purpose flour if that is what you have on hand. I also tested with a combination of all-purpose flour + 1/3 cup gluten, and that worked well too. I prefer using bread flour or the all-purpose flour + gluten because the bagels tend to be a bit chewier, but they were still delicious with all-purpose flour.
** Optional egg wash and toppings are not included in the nutritional information.
These bagels are best when eaten fresh, but they do hold up okay when frozen. The texture will change a bit if you freeze them, but it has worked okay for us.
Adapted from Sophisticated Gourmet‘s recipe for New York Style Bagels.
Hi,
Thank you so much. I am diabetic and I am blood pressure bordeline. I dont know what to eat anymore but I think thise are going to work for me i hope. Iwill keep you updatewd.
I will keep you updated
Mickey from Florida
A change in diet is so hard. Good luck with the recipes!
Amazing! I have never made a bagel before and these turned out great. Thank you for a recipe I know I will make again!
★★★★★
So glad to hear that they worked for you!
Hi Kathy! I just found your site and am so happy. For your bagel recipe – could the dough be made in a bread machine and if so, would I needed to alter it ?
Hi Cindy – I am glad that you found the blog too! I think you’d be able to use a bread machine for the bagels, but I am not sure. I don’t have a bread machine, so I am not sure how you would have to adjust the recipe. Sorry about that!
Makes great-tasting, chewy, deliciously low sodium bagels – enough said!
Just want to note that it works to sub in up to 75% of the bread flour for whole wheat (haven’t tried all whole wheat yet). Definitely going to make these again!
PS The flour to water ratio here is roughly the same as in your 45-minute rolls recipe, but here it’s 2 teaspoons of yeast instead of 2 tablespoons. Is that because here you’re giving the yeast more time to rise? Just curious 🙂
★★★★★
Thanks for sharing! I’ve done it with some wheat, but not at high as 75%. I’m glad to hear it works!
Yes I use more yeast in the quick rolls because we give them so little time. ☺️
Made these for the first time today. They turned out great! Were worth the effort. I did the egg wash on half and sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar . Delicious! Will definitely be making these regularly. Excited to be able to have bagels again! Thanks for all your recipes.
★★★★★
I have not had a bagel in months and I’ve really missed them. I’ve never made bagels before because they sound so complicated and I didn’t think I could get the right texture from a homemade bagel. This recipe is spot-on! It produces a large, lovely, bakery style bagel with the perfect amount of chew. I will definitely make this recipe regularly and I may try dividing the dough into 10-12 pieces to see if I can make a smaller, grocery store sized bagel.
★★★★★
These bagels have made my husband enjoy breakfast again. I’ve made them several times. I have a problem when I divide the dough into balls. They are smooth all around. They get “wrinkles’ that don’t go away. I’ve tried less flour but that doesn’t help. Ideas?
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I am not sure. Perhaps you can try boiling them for a bit less time, or letting them proof for less time. I’ve read that over proofing or boiling for too long might cause wrinkly bagels. I’m admittedly not a bagel expert myself, so I’m not certain that’ll work. Good luck!
Kathy, Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! This recipe was fantastic!
For those who wanted to know, I used my bread machine and they came out fine. Recommendation is to just follow your regular bread machine directions for the dough cycle.
I only made one tweak, because I have to cut back on dairy, and used 1/2 rice milk for the liquid and no powdered milk.
Again, THANK YOU! My husband also loves these 😃
★★★★★
Hi Kathy. Really looking forward to your recipe to try but was wondering if I can substitute some of the liquid with egg to make egg bagels which is my favorite. Any thoughts?
Derrick
★★★★★
Good question! I don’t know whether that would work or not, but if you try it let me know how it goes.
Loved this recipe! Do you think you could add blueberries? My son’s favorite are blueberry bagels!
I’ve never made blueberry bagels, so I’m not exactly sure. I think it is worth a shot, but I can’t guarantee results. When you add the blueberries, you may need a little extra flour since they are likely to add some extra liquid.
Try dried blueberries. They will have a concentrated flavor.
Great Idea!!! I am going to do that and will let everyone know!
I’ve made this several times and it’s quite good considering it’s so low sodium. Thank you! I’ve replaced some of the liquid with eggs and egg yolks since I love egg bagels. Any suggestions on how to better incorporate the eggs?
★★★★★
Sorry, I’ve never made egg bagels so I don’t have any tips. ☺️
I just made these with AP flour and the wheat gluten–so tasty and satisfying chewiness! And they look so pretty. I wish I could post a picture here. For toppings, I tried the onion, some cinnamon sprinkled, and plain (all with egg wash). All delicious. I love that you could use these for bagel pizzas, sandwiches, or just so. Thanks for another great recipe, Kathy!
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Just made these followed by the recipe exactly as written and they were so good!!! Thank you!
★★★★★
So glad they worked for you!
I’ve made these many times. Sometimes I add decaf expresso powder, raisins or crazins. Reliable and tasty recipe. They freeze well if you freeze before bagging.
★★★★★
Hello,
thank you for this lovely recipe. I have a question and I am not sure how making these into cinnamon raisin bagels would work or if you have ever tried it? Thank you
Thanks! I am glad you like the recipe. I have not made cinnamon raisin bagels, so I’m not sure how to adapt these.