Hand-Rolled New York-Style Bagels (Overnight Recipe)
These homemade hand rolled bagels are a great way to take your bagel making skills to the next level. Using traditional bagel ingredients like bread flour and barley malt syrup makes for chewy bagels that are perfectly dense yet fluffy, with a hint of sweetness and a shiny, blistered crust. Oh yes, we're going all-in on that classic New York-style bagel taste!
Ingredients
New York-Style Bagel Dough
- 500 grams bread flour
- 290 grams warm water (95°F)
- 20 grams barley malt syrup
- 8 grams diamond crystal kosher salt
- 4 grams instant yeast
Boiling Liquid
- 2 quarts water
- ⅛ cup barley malt syrup
Egg Wash
- 1 large egg
- 1 teaspoon water
Instructions
- Mise en place. In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together bread flour and instant yeast. Mix warm water, barley malt syrup, and salt together until the syrup and salt have dissolved.
- Mix. With the mixer running on the lowest speed and the dough hook attached, gradually pour the liquid into the bowl. Increase the speed to medium low (KitchenAid speed 2-3) until the dough comes together in a shaggy, messy, rough looking mass on the dough hook. Pause as needed to push more flour into the center of the bowl, especially early in the mixing process. Be patient. This can take 5-7 minutes. Cover and rest for 10 minutes.
- Knead. Knead the dough on medium low speed (KitchenAid speed 2-3) until it is smooth, soft, and slightly tacky to the touch, about 7-8 minutes. Dust in additional flour as needed, especially if the dough is sticking to the bowl. Cover and rest for 10 minutes.
- Shape logs. Divide the dough into 6 equal pieces (approximately 135 grams each). Cover the pieces you aren't working with with a damp paper towel. Flatten each piece into a long rectangle/oval-y shape, then roll into a log, pressing firmly with your fingertips to seal the dough together each time you roll it forward. Use both hands to apply gentle pressure, rolling the log into an even rope of dough (don't taper the ends) about 9-10 inches long.
- Shape bagels. Hold one end of the dough rope across the palm of your hand, holding it in place on your palm under your thumb. Wrap the rope around the back of your hand, so the two ends overlap across your palm by about 2-3 inches. Gently squeeze to join them together, then turn your hand over and gently but firmly roll the joined ends under your palm so they hold together. You may need to hold the top of the bagel on the back of your hand in place as you roll. If needed, pinch the seams of the joined rope ends together, then roll again on the counter briefly to smooth them out.
- Cold proof. Arrange the shaped bagels on a semolina dusted sheet pan (I can usually fit 6 bagels snugly on a quarter sheet pan) and cover with plastic wrap. Spritz the underside of the plastic wrap with non-stick spray or brush the bagels with olive oil to prevent the plastic from sticking to them. Place the covered sheet pan in the refrigerator for 8-12 hours to rise.
- Float test. To check if the bagels are ready to boil, fill a small bowl with water. Place a bagel in the water. If it floats, it's ready!
- Preheat the oven to 450°F with a rack in the center position.
- Boil. Remove the bagels from the refrigerator about 30 minutes prior to boiling. Prepare a sheet pan with a sheet of parchment paper sprinkled with semolina flour. Whisk together water and barley malt syrup and bring to a low boil, then reduce to an active simmer. Boil bagels in batches of two or three for 45 seconds per side, then place on the prepared sheet pan.
- Bake. Brush bagels with egg wash and add any toppings you like. Bake for 17-19 minutes, until the crust is golden brown and lightly blistered.
- Cool. Let bagels cool on the sheet pan 5 minutes, then transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling completely. Bagels are best eaten within 4-24 hours after baking!
If it's very dry in your kitchen, you may need to add an additional 1-2 teaspoons of water during the mixing stage. If the dough won't come together after about 7 minutes of mixing, drizzle water 1 teaspoon at a time directly onto any dry bits in the bowl until the dough comes together in a messy ball.
If the dough seems very sticky during the kneading stage, dust in more flour and keep kneading until it feels tacky instead.
Always shape bagels on an unfloured surface. Flour will prevent the dough from sticking to itself when you join the two ends of the rope together. The friction of the dough against the counter is also important for rolling out the long rope of dough!
If you'd like to add toppings but don't want to use an egg wash, press the freshly boiled bagels into your desired toppings or sprinkle them over top and then press them onto the surface of the bagels — the moisture will help them stick. Be careful, the bagels will be hot!
RECIPE NOTES
- Barley malt syrup is one of the stickiest, densest ingredients I've ever worked with. It is a heavy syrup and if you're not careful, it's very easy to accidentally pour too much. Weigh the barley malt syrup into the measuring cup before the water in case you pour too much. That way you can scoop some out if you need to.
- Store bagels in a paper bag inside a plastic bag or in a large resealable bag along with a paper towel to absorb moisture. To extend the shelf life of your bagels, freeze them within 24-48 hours of baking. I like to slice my bagels almost all the way through before freezing to make them easier to defrost later. Do not refrigerate bagels.
- Reheat frozen bagels in a toaster or toaster oven, they'll be good as new. Whole frozen bagels can be reheated from frozen in a 350°F oven for about 8-12 minutes.
- Bagels stale quickly and are best eaten same day, ideally within 4-24 hours. Though I've definitely eaten day old bagels and not been mad about it.
- Day-old bagels are great for making homemade bagel chips!