Making bread machine bagels is a great way to reduce the time and effort for your favorite breakfast bread. With this recipe and tips, you can make them by hand or with your bread maker.
Place the water, salt, sugar, flour and yeast in your bread machine in the order specified by your bread machine manual. Select dough setting and wait.
By hand instructions
Place the warm water and yeast in a bowl and wait 10 minutes for the yeast to froth.
Add in the salt, sugar, and flour, kneading and adding the flour slowly until all (or almost all) is incorporated. You may need more or less flour.
Knead the dough for about 8 minutes until it is elastic feeling. You should be able to poke the dough and have it spring back to fill in the hole fairly quickly.
Place the dough in a covered bowl in a warm location and wait until it's doubled in size (about 1 hour).
Both follow along from this point:
Punch down your dough and divide it into 6-9 equal sized bagels depending on how big you want them. 6 gives you fluffier ones whereas 9 will be thinner and chewier.
Roll the dough into balls, flatten them and then use your thumb to poke a hole through each. Stretch them out and shape into a bagel. Cover and let rest.
Meanwhile, bring a large pot of water to a boil and add in 3 tablespoons of sugar.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and set aside.
When the water is boiling, drop your bagels 2 or 3 at a time into the pot for exactly 1 minute flipping over at the 30 second mark. Remove bagels from the pot and place onto the baking sheet.
Once all bagels have been boiled and placed on the sheet, brush the tops with beaten egg white. If you want to add everything seasoning, poppy seeds, or another topping of choice, now is the time to do so after the egg white has been brushed on.
Bake in an oven that was preheated to 375F degrees for 20-25 minutes until golden brown. They'll feel rock hard out of the oven, but will soften as they cool.
Notes
Let the shaped dough rise for up to an hour or 10 minutes for chewy bagels.Use the recommended shaping method in the recipe card for a better appearance.Avoid using slotted utensils when removing dough from boiling water to prevent lines on bagels.Dough is sufficiently proofed when it doubles in size.Over-proofing can cause the bread to collapse during baking.