Recipe Reviews: Homemade Bagels

This recipe and picture are from Baking Bites.


I've have long wanted to make my own bagels. I LOVE bagels and would eat them everyday if I could. When we moved one of the "treats" I missed the most was Noah's bagels. Now, there are a few bagel places near town, but nothing near the quality and experience of Noah's and they all seem to be quite the drive.

Recently I've been trying out my luck with baking with yeast and after successfully making pizza dough from scratch several times, I've figured I'd give myself permission to try something new in the yeast department. Enter bagels - can you think of anything more delightful than fresh homemade bagels and a cup of coffee or tea? Not me!! :)

So, I set out to find a recipe...here's the bagel recipe I chose: Homemade Bagels by Baking Bites.

MY THOUGHTS: I was a little nervous, but this recipe was really easy to follow and actually rather effortless. My bagels didn't look quite like her picture but close enough and I was pleased that they even resembled bagels. The smell was amazing. My house smelled like a bakery. My kids loved them and even my husband who doesn't really like bagels liked them!

An added bonus is that you can actually know what's going into your bagels and what you're serving your family. No preservatives, people, so I would suggest keeping them in the fridge or freezing them until you're able to eat them. This recipe makes a dozen bagels. I keep them in the fridge and then slice and toast when we're ready to eat...yummy.

My only complaint and thing that I would change is they are a bit salty for me. I think next time I will reduce the amount of salt to 1/2 T instead of 1T as suggested in the recipe. Phil didn't think they were salty, so maybe I'm just being sensitive...who knows.

DIFFICULTY: EASY-MEDIUM (a lot of steps and some of them unusual...like the boiling part)

MAKE AGAIN: Yes. Next time I will lower amount of salt, and even try adding something in them like blueberries or sub in some whole wheat flour. I even think that these would freeze well.