When you consider how classic and simple a food they are, bagels are surprisingly hard to make at home. But if you’re up for the challenge, it can be incredibly rewarding to finally conquer them. Finding a recipe is easy, but executing it correctly can be tough. So here are some tips that should help.
Wet Dough is Good
It may be harder to work with, but you want your bagel dough to be very well-hydrated (read: wet). In fact, though it’s kind of counterintuitive, the wetter your dough, the crispier your bagel exterior will turn out.
Start with a Snake
Shaping bagels isn’t like shaping donuts, but actually more like pretzels. Instead of cutting the hole out of the middle of your bagel, you’ll want to roll your dough into a snake with thinner sides and then connect it into a little ring.
Let it Shine
For the best, shiny, crispy texture on the bagel’s exterior, you’ll need to boil the bagels for 20 to 30 seconds, remove them from the water, brush them with an egg wash, and then bake. It may seem like a lot of steps but it will help you achieve the classic bagel texture that is so necessary and delectable.
