New York Style Bagels

To make the sponge: combine all of the sponge ingredients into a large bowl and mix together. Cover and let the sponge sit out overnight.

To make the bagel dough, combine the dough ingredients in your mixer with the hook attachment and mix/knead for about 10 minutes.

Transfer the dough to a large bowl you’ve liberally sprayed with vegetable spray. Cover and let the bagels rise for a few hours or overnight.

Preheat your oven to 475 degree’s with a pizza stone in the oven for about 1 hour before baking off the bagels

To shape the bagel, roll out a long rope about 1 1/2 - 2 inches in diameter. Wrap a section of this “rope” of dough around the thickest part of your hand. I wrap them around my knuckles. Tear the top when it meets and than using the ball of your hand roll the two ends together to seal them.

Place the newly shaped bagels on a baking sheet that has been liberally sprayed with vegetable spray and dusted with flour. This will make about 12-15 bagels (depending on the size you make them) so you may need two baking sheets. Loosely cover the newly formed bagels and let the proof for about 30 minutes.

When ready to boil the bagel, in a large pot add about 12 cups of water and 1/2 cup or barley malt syrup. Drop about 3 bagels at a time into the boiling water mixture and boil for about 45 seconds on each side. Remove the bagels with a large strainer and place them on a baking sheet. Continue until all of the bagels are boiled.

Brush the bagels with an egg wash (1 egg and about 2 tbsp water) and sprinkle the bagels with the toppings of your choice. I used an “Everything Bagel” topping mixture I bought at the grocery store.

Place the bagels on your wet bagel boards, topping sides down and place the bagel boards directly on the preheated pizza stone. If you don’t have a baking stone, preheat your oven with a baking sheet and use that instead of the pizza stone. Bake the bagels for about 10 minutes and then flip them over and onto the pizza stone or hot baking sheet and continue baking them for another 15 minutes or until they are golden brown. You can adjust cooking times to match your oven.

Remove the bagels and let them cool on a baking rack. Once cooled, serve and enjoy!