Rosemary Olive Oil Bagels (Bruegger's Copycat)
These rosemary olive oil bagels are a near-perfect copycat for the ones you can get at Bruegger's Bagels. They're golden brown, chewy and tender, with nice herbal flavor from the olive oil and fresh minced rosemary. Best served toasted with cream cheese!
Ingredients
- 15 grams olive oil
- 5 grams minced fresh rosemary
- 500 grams all-purpose flour (or bread flour)
- 1½ tablespoon brown sugar (white sugar will also work)
- 1½ teaspoon diamond crystal kosher salt
- 6 grams instant yeast
- 285 grams warm water
Instructions
- Finely mince rosemary and combine with olive oil in a small bowl. Set aside.
- Whisk flour, sugar, yeast, and salt together in the bowl of a stand mixer. Make a well in the center and pour the water and minced rosemary-infused olive oil into it. Run the mixer on low speed to mix the dough, pausing occasionally to scrape down the sides of the bowl as needed. This may take several minutes.
- Once the dough has mostly come together in a shaggy mass on the dough hook, increase the mixer to medium and knead for 3 minutes until the dough is smooth and slightly tacky. Dust in additional flour if needed to keep the dough from sticking to the sides of the bowl.
- Shape the dough into a ball and drizzle a little bit of oil into the mixer bowl. Plop the dough inside and turn it around to coat it with oil. Cover and let it rise in a warm spot for about an hour, until it just about doubles in size. Use the fingerprint test to tell when the dough is ready to shape.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and gently deflate it with your fingers. Divide the dough into 8 equal portions (use a kitchen scale for precision). Shape each portion of dough into a round dough ball with the smooth side on top and the "seam side" underneath.
- Starting with the first dough round you shaped, dip your thumb in flour and poke it through the bottom of the dough and out the other side. Slide your other thumb through next to it and begin stretching and squeezing the dough as you rotate it through your hands. Be careful not to tear the dough, just gently stretch it. Repeat with the rest of the dough rounds, then cover them with a damp paper towel and let them rest for 10 minutes.
- While the bagels rest, preheat your oven to 425°F and fill a large, high-sided skillet about halfway with water — just enough that there's room for the bagels to float without resting on the bottom. Bring to a low boil.
- Working in batches, boil the bagels 1 minute per side. For a larger bagel hole, stretch the bagels again immediately before boiling. Remove the boiled bagels to a silicone mat or parchment lined sheet pan sprinkled with corn meal.
- Whisk an egg with a pinch of salt, and brush it over the boiled bagels.
- Bake the bagels for 20 minutes in a 425°F oven. Remove to a rack to cool at least 10 minutes before slicing, if you can bear to wait that long.
If you live somewhere very humid, hold back a few tablespoons of water and only add them if the dough really needs it. If you live somewhere very dry, you may need to add a few extra teaspoons of water (but only do this if absolutely necessary!).If the dough seems really dry, drizzle in water 1 teaspoon at a time, letting the mixer run after each addition until it comes together on its own. You're looking for a fairly low hydration dough, so resist adding water unless absolutely necessary.
If you want to intensify the flavors you can let the dough rise overnight (8-10 hours) in the fridge. This gives the rosemary more time to infuse in the dough.
RECIPE NOTES
- Once you shape the bagels, the dough will fill out while it rests and again when you boil it so don't be shy about making the holes slightly bigger than you think they should be. The bagel hole should be at least the same width as the sides of the bagel, if not slightly bigger.
- Bagels will stay good in an airtight bag up to 5 days.
- To freeze, slice bagels almost all the way through, then place in an airtight bag in the freezer.