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Garlic lovers, this one's for you! My recipe for chewy roasted garlic bagels gets its intense garlic flavor from a whole bulb of roasted garlic mixed right into the dough. I like adding some toasted fennel seeds, too but if fennel isn't your thing you can leave it out. This is one of my quick and easy bagel recipes; it can be made in just a few hours.

Six golden brown garlic fennel bagels sit on a cooling rack, sprinkled with herbs. Next to the rack are a small bowl of fennel seeds and garlic cloves on a white marble surface. — There is a whole bulb of roasted garlic in this bagel dough.

Day-old roasted garlic bagels are also so good for making homemade bagel chips!

This recipe takes just sliiiightly longer than my plain bagel recipe, only because of the extra time to roast the garlic (mandatory) and toast the fennel (optional, if you're using it). Most of that additional time isn't active, hands-on work, so it's still a great project for a slow morning or easy afternoon.

A roasted garlic bulb sits in a white ramekin perfect roasting a whole garlic bulb. A raw clove and knife rest nearby on a white surface. — Here's how to roast a whole bulb of garlic.

This particular flavor combo — roasted garlic and fennel — was inspired by an unforgettable bagel I picked up at The Kettle Black, a small bakery in Philly many years ago.

The roasted garlic is mellow and a little sweet, but still assertive and unmissable, and the fennel gives a really nice aromatic, kind of herbal anise-y vibe. I like using either whole fennel that I toast and coarsely grind myself, but whole fennel seeds are fine too.

Three garlic bagels sit on a decorated plate next to a small bowl of garlic cloves, a vintage knife, and fennel seeds, with two more bagels placed on the white surface nearby.

Bagel dough is a low-hydration dough, which means it has a low amount of water compared to the amount of flour by weight, making it really lovely to work with. It's a smooth and elastic dough with lots of stretch to it, which makes it a great dough for beginners to handle.

Garlic can inhibit yeast activity, so I like to wait until the dough starts to come together before adding it to the mix. This gives the yeast a chance to get moving before I add anything that might slow it down.

How to Shape a Bagel

Divide the dough into equal portions. If you're combining a few pieces together to make a portion, stack the smaller pieces on top of the bigger pieces. Tuck the edges up so the dough is smooth against the counter with a seam pinched together on top. Repeat until the dough ball feels fairly tight. Don't tear the dough, just stretch it.

Then, flip the dough over so the seam side is down against the counter. Cup your hand around the dough and slide it toward you. The dough will take on an oval shape. Rotate it 90 degrees and repeat to turn the oval into a round circle.

(Or, cup your hand around the dough with your pinkie-side flush against an unfloured counter and your thumb and forefinger making an O- or C-like shape above the dough. Move your hand in quick circles without picking your pinkie off the counter, and the dough will quickly shape itself into a nice smooth ball of dough.)

animated gif: pieces of dough stacked on top of each other with the smaller pieces on top of the bigger ones — step 1: stack dough

animated gif: the edges of the bagel dough being tucked up hiding the smaller pieces in the center — step 1: stack dough

Once the dough has been shaped into balls, coat your hands in flour and stick a thumb through the bottom seam of the dough. Slide your other thumb in and gently squeeze and stretch, rotating the dough through your hands until the bagel hole is at least the same width as the sides of the bagel if not bigger.

You may want to repeat the stretching process again before boiling to keep the hole from closing up in the oven.

an overhead shot of a single bagel on a white linen cloth. a small bowl of garlic cloves and a small bowl of fennel seeds are in the corners of the photo.

💭 Have More Bagel Questions?

I've rounded up answers to common bagel questions and how-to guides, including:

How to knead bagel dough by hand and what it should feel like
Why bagels are always boiled
Step-by-step guides for bagel shaping and baking techniques

See my bagel-making 101 guide for more!

📖 Recipe

Roasted Garlic Bagels

Servings bagels

Author Rebecca Eisenberg

These roasted garlic get their flavor from a whole roasted bulb of garlic and (optionally) a heap of toasted fennel seeds. Best served toasted!

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Prep Time 1 30

Cook Time 20

Resting time 1 20

Total Time 3 10

Recipe Notes

To test if your dough is ready after it rests for an hour, gently press into it with one finger. If it immediately fills in the indentation when you remove your finger, your dough needs more time to rise. If the indentation only fills in part way or fills in very slowly, your dough is ready. If it doesn’t fill in at all or the dough seems to collapse, your dough has overproofed.
Store in an airtight bag with a paper towel to absorb moisture. Stored properly, they will stay good for 2-3 days. They’ll get a bit hard after the first day or so, but soften up if you toast them. You can also run them briefly under water (!!!), then microwave them for 10 seconds, slice them, and toast them or put them on a rack in your regular oven for 10 minutes at 350°F.
You can also roast the garlic and toast the fennel up to a day in advance.

Ingredients

1 bulb garlic (small, about 8-10 cloves)
1½ tablespoons fennel seeds (optional, coarsely ground)
500 grams all-purpose or bread flour
18 grams sugar
10 grams salt
7 grams instant yeast
300 grams warm water (90°F)
1 egg
fennel seeds (optional, for topping)

Instructions

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Make roasted garlic and fennel mixture

Preheat oven to 400°F.
Roast garlic: Slice the top off a whole bulb of garlic, place it upright in a small ramekin or on a sheet of aluminum foil. Drizzle generously with olive oil, sprinkle with salt and pepper. If using aluminum foil, wrap loosely, gathering the foil together in a teardrop shape around the bulb.
Roast in the oven for 40-45 minutes until very brown and fragrant. Remove from oven and let cool.
Toast whole fennel seeds in a dry skillet over low-medium heat, stirring constantly, until fragrant. Remove from heat and grind to a coarse powder.
Slide roasted garlic cloves out of their skins and mash with ground fennel in a small bowl. Set aside.

Make bagel dough

Mix flour, salt, and sugar together in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Make a well in the middle of the dry ingredients and sprinkle in the yeast.
With the mixer running on the slowest speed, pour the water into the center of the well. Continue on low, pausing occasionally to push more flour into the center of the well with a spatula.
When the dough starts coming together but there's still a decent amount of dry flour in the bottom of the bowl, add the mashed garlic and fennel. Once the dough has incorporated and no loose flour remains, Increase mixer speed to low-medium and knead for 6-8 minutes.
If the dough looks dry, you may need up to an additional ⅛-¼ cup of water. Add it ½ tablespoon at a time, kneading well between additions to give the water time to absorb. Resist adding water unless absolutely necessary. If the dough seems too wet, add more flour 2-3 tablespoon at a time, kneading well between additions.
You’re looking for a dough that is smooth and just slightly tacky to the touch. It shouldn’t cling to your hands or the bowl.
Shape the dough into a smooth round ball, and place it in a lightly oiled bowl (turn it once in the bowl to coat it with oil) and let it rise for an hour in a warm spot (70-72°F) until doubled in size.
Gently punch the dough down, knocking the air bubbles out of it. Let it rest for 10 minutes.
Preheat your oven to 425°F and fill a wide, shallow skillet with water about 2-3" deep. Bring to a boil, then reduce to a simmer.
Divide the dough into eight equal pieces (use a kitchen scale for precision). Gently flatten each piece of dough against a clean, un-floured countertop, then fold and tuck the edges up into the middle, pinching them together to form a smooth surface on the underside of the dough against the counter.
Flip the dough over so the seam is underneath. Cup your hand around it, pinkie against the counter, and drag your hand towards your body. Rotate the dough 90 degrees and repeat as needed to form a ball.
Starting with the first dough ball you shaped, coat your thumb in flour and poke it through the seam-side of the dough, pushing any extra edges into the middle. Slide your other thumb in and gently stretch the dough out until the hole in the middle is at least the same width as the sides. The hole will close as the dough rests and will close again as it boils and bakes, so better to stretch it wider here.
NOTE: If you like a bigger hole in your bagel, stretch the dough out again before boiling.
Cover the shaped bagels with a damp paper towel or clean dish cloth and let them rest for 10 minutes.
Whisk together egg and 1 teaspoon water to make an egg wash while the bagels rest. Set aside.
Gently slide your shaped bagels into the pot of boiling water, top-side down. Boil for 1 minute per side.
You can do this in batches of 2-4 at a time, depending on how big your pot is. The bagels will expand as they boil so don’t crowd them.
Remove the shaped bagels from the water with a wire spider or slotted spoon and transfer them to a silicone baking mat lined baking sheet.
Brush each bagel with the egg wash making sure to get the sides and centers. If you want to top your bagels with additional ground fennel seeds, now is the time to do so.
Bake them for 20 minutes, until golden brown on top.
Remove the bagels from the oven and transfer immediately to cool on a wire rack. Try to wait at least 15-20 minutes before cutting them open.

Bagels Garlic

Comments

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