Serves: Makes 8-12 Bagels
Approx cost: €0.60
Approx calories (per bagel): ~190
Approx preparation and cooking time: 30 minutes preparation + ~80 minutes cooking and proving
[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #0B0B61;”]Presumably, everyone here has heard of bagels – those glorious, slightly chewy, doughnut-shaped bread concoctions which just rock, in every way possible. I always used to buy them when I lived in England, but as with bought pita bread, bought bagels just don’t cut it – and they’re darned expensive too. Let’s face it – a pack of five remarkably small bagels which seem to be ever so slightly stale even when their best before date isn’t for another week (yuck!!!) for the “bargain price” of €2.50 just isn’t cool. I am talking about, of course, the type of bagels which are made at a “bakery” (if you could call a giant mass-producing factory that) a long way away from the stores and then shipped out to the supermarkets. If you know a decent local bakery which makes fresh bagels and you pay €2.50 for five then I’d say you’re probably getting a good deal.
Bagels however are not something that is a common sight in France. You can occasionally buy some sort of bread-roll, with a hole, which seems to be masquerading as a bagel. The texture is invariably terrible and I’m not even convinced it actually is a bagel, in the strictest sense. I won’t even start talking about the ready-made “bagel” sandwiches which are neatly packaged and stored in refrigerator cabinets. Anyone who’s had a refrigerated bagel will know the pain and disappointment of which I speak!
Perhaps I’d better give a brief explanation of bagels – just in case there is anyone who hasn’t heard of them. Bagels are essentially bread. The dough is first boiled briefly, and then baked, which results in a slightly chewy exterior. You can flavour them in all sorts of ways – in this post I decided to use plain old onion. You don’t have to flavour them at all of course though, and the best, I mean the best, way to eat them is toasted, with butter and Marmite. If you don’t fancy that then some cream cheese, smoked salmon and dill also works a charm.
I have to say though – I’m impatient, and when I decided on Sunday that I needed bagels – trust me… I needed bagels, and I sure as heck wasn’t going to wait 12 hours for the dough to rise, as per the “traditional method“:
Bagels are traditionally made by:
- mixing and kneading the ingredients to form the dough
- shaping the dough into the traditional bagel shape, round with a hole in the middle, from a long thin piece of dough
- proofing the bagels for at least 12 hours at low temperature (40–50 °F = 4.5–10 °C)
- boiling each bagel in water that may or may not contain additives such as lye, baking soda, barley malt syrup, or honey
- baking at between 175 °C and 315 °C (about 350–600 °F)
Give the fast version a try – one day I’ll have a shot at making the “long version”, but that’s going to require some planning ahead I think! Have a great Wednesday everyone! 🙂
Fast Onion Bagels
[learn_more caption=”Video Recipe”]
Ingredients
- 500g Plain Flour
- ~325ml Water, warm to the touch
- 2 Onions
- 1tbsp Caster Sugar
- 1 tbsp Olive Oil
- 2tsps Dried Yeast
- 1tsp Salt
Instructions
- Start off by placing the yeast and sugar into a small bowl and pour in a few tablespoons of the warm water. Mix or whisk well and set aside for about 10 minutes, in order to activate the yeast. After this time, the yeast should be puffing up and bubbling nicely on top.
- While the yeast is “activating”, place the flour and salt into a large mixing bowl. Peel and grate the onion on the largest grating size – the one where the holes are about 3-5mm wide. Take the grated onion in your hands and squeeze it to get rid of as much excess liquid as possible, before placing the onion into the bowl with the flour. Mix well, and form a well in the centre. Pour in the activated yeast mixture and the remainder of the water and mix to form a moist dough. Turn out onto a floured surface, dust the dough with flour and knead for 5 – 10 minutes, adding extra flour as needed (or should I say “kneaded” 🙂 ), until you have a manageable dough.
- Clean the large mixing bowl and place the olive oil into the bottom. Place the ball of dough into the bowl, and turn to coat with the oil. Cover with a clean cloth and leave in a warm place for ~1 hour, until doubled in size.
- Uncover the dough, punch down and turn out. Roll into a sausage shape and cut into 8 – 12 equal pieces. Form each one into as perfect a sphere as you can (as you can see, I’m not so good at this part!) before setting down to rest on a surface. Leave for 10 minutes while you place a large pan of water to boil on the stove, and also preheat the oven to 220 degrees Celsius.
- While the water is coming to the boil, carefully poke a whole through the centre of each dough ball using your finger and form into as best a bagel shape as possible. Pull out the hole slightly so it is ~1 to 2cm in diameter. Set onto a non-stick baking sheet and when the water is boiling, transfer a dough piece onto a large flat spoon and carefully lower into the boiling water. After 30 seconds, turn the bagel over in the water, and then cover the pan and boil for about 2 minutes. I cooked two bagels at a time – feel free to do them one by one, or more, though not too many, else you will lower the water temperature too much!
- Take the bagels out of the water and place once more onto the baking sheet. I found it good to wait a few minutes and then gently turn them over on the sheet, dabbing at the bottom of the bagel, and the tray itself, with some kitchen paper, to ensure there wasn’t too much water there. Place into the preheated oven and bake for ~20 minutes, or until starting to turn golden brown, before removing and allowing to cool. Enjoy your bagels! 🙂
ping says
Mmmmmmm …. baaaaggellllssss! I love these funny things. Plain and with a good slather of cream cheese and the occasional smoked salmon … I’m getting seriously hungry. Actually, I’ve never had onion bagels but I can imagine the sweetness of the onions giving the bagels a beautiful flavor. I need to make these real soon!
Charles says
Thanks Ping – I made the mistake of telling people in my office that I made these (well, they kind of saw on my site too :p ) and I’ve been roped in to bringing bagels in for my department next Tuesday – ouch 😀 I guess my kitchen is gonna be a lean, mean, bagel-baking machine on Monday night 😀
fati's recipes says
These look delicious! I made buns yesterday for my sis because she really wanted to eat cream buns… my other sis really wants to try bagels… gosh, I don’t think I’ll be able to keep up with all these cravings! 😀
Charles says
Thanks Fari – bagels are just fantastic… I’d almost forgotten how much I loved the darn things until I tried these 😀
By the way – did the horse arrive successfully yet?
Jen says
Looks perfectly delicious! Nicely done! I love mine with cream cheese, lox, and capers 🙂
Charles says
Hi Jen – I never tried them with capers before – sounds like a great idea, cheers!
A_Boleyn says
These bagels look very tasty. Are they nice and chewy or more crumbly in texture?
I haven’t made bagels in years but I remember that they were greatly appreciated by my family. I’ll have to dig out my old recipe and give them a shot one of these days. 🙂
Charles says
Hi A_Boleyn – they were definitely chewy on the outside… certainly nothing like normal bread, thanks to the boiling, although I actually boiled them for a bit less than I wrote in the recipe, and they could easily have been boiled for a bit longer, so I’ve adjusted to take that into account.
Looking forward to seeing your recipe! 🙂
A_Boleyn says
I’m going to be posting my recipe later today. I used the roll and twist method of shaping by the way, so get prepared for some ‘artistic’ shapes. 🙂
lisa@smartfoodandfit says
I love bagels but don’t eat them as much as I use to. I agree fresh bagels taste better than the one’s pre-made in a factory on the other side of town or the country. I’m going to book mark this recipe for my hubby, you have the best breakfast foods…onion bagels, waffles, cinnamon rolls! 🙂
Charles says
Hi Lisa – haha, I’m a firm believe in “breakfast being the most important meal of the day”… I’m also a firm believer in sleeping in, so it’s often a toss-up between being lazy in bed, or cooking something up. I’m sad to say that ~4 times out of 5, the laziness wins over 😀
Kelly @ Inspired Edibles says
Your bread recipes are killing me Charles – how am I to maintain my girlie figure amidst such deliciousness?!! :). Yes, this Montrealer has heard of bagels ;), and how cool that you made your own!! Nothing like a fresh bagel with a slab of good ol’ fashion butter… mmm…mmm….seriously, I could eat them all day long but alas, do not… sigh. I have a few European clients who are very committed to marmite…I have never tasted it. (What, no poppy/sesame seeds on the bagels? Oy! ;)).
Charles says
Haha, thanks Kelly 🙂 I’ll be making a jumbo batch next Monday night – I promised my department at work bagel heaven on Tuesday. Looks like I’ll be busy!
If I wasn’t convinced that you would despise Marmite I’d offer to send you a jar. Still, even if you do hate it, it makes an excellent flavour enhancer in stocks, stews, and soups, so perhaps all wouldn’t be lost. If I can find some small “single serving” packs I’ll send them over to you and then if you’re a fan then I’ll send you a bigger jar. You just HAVE to eat it on freshly toasted, hot, buttered bread – plenty of butter, thin scraping of marmite… heaven!
Charles says
Oh, I was going to put poppy seeds on, but couldn’t be bothered to do the egg wash dealio in the end – sorry 🙁
betsyb says
Fast bagels? That got my attention, not to mention the beautiful texture of these. My husband just adores bagels and I’ve never tried to make them….hmmm (lightbulb).
Charles says
Thanks so much Betsy – if you’ve made bread by hand before you’ll definitely have no problem making these. So yummy!
Sissi says
Charles, once more I’m impressed by your baking skills! And very surprised to read “fast” and “bagels” in the same sentence 🙂 I love bagels (here they are the best in the German-speaking part) and whenever I go to the capital or other “bagel-friendly” cities, I take several of them and finish in no time at all, but I have always thought they were very difficult to prepare.
Onion bagels are all new to me but I can only imagine they are an improved version of basic bagels. They look fantastic.
It might be weird, but my favourite bagels are with butter and salami… I can very well see the slices on the left with butter, two or three slices of salami, maybe a cornichon or some of my Moomin Salad…
Charles says
Thanks so much Sissi – I think there’s a lot that can be done with bagels – I might try them with some sliced olives in the dough next time too!
I don’t think butter and salami sounds at all bad for a bagel. Do you toast it first, because I can imagine that with a hot bagel, a nice slice of salami, some cheese… that would be a most excellent sandwich! 🙂
Eva kitcheninspirations.wordpress.com says
Hi Charles, what a lovely post – I’ve made bagels once or twice and they have been a labour of love.
Our favourite type of bagel is the Montréal bagel; I’m sure Kelly will attest to that. They have the perfect flavour and chewiness. New York bagels tend to be too bread-ie for my taste. Kelly, there is a shop that claims they make Montréal bagels in Ottawa’s Biward Market, but I found their bagels undercooked.
Just a couple of differences from the above recipe to the Montréal bagel is that after they cut the dough into portions, they actually roll the dough into skinny sausages and close up the loop by rolling a bit more on a board, forming the hole by a couple of fingers (not poking through). The result is a slightly less plump bagel with a slightly larger hole (I found a video on YouTube, this is a very short clip of the guy rolling the dough to form the bagel http://www.youtube.com/watch?NR=1&v=wr_4raZ5Nvc&feature=fvwp). They bake them in wood ovens. They also add honey to the boiling water, which helps make these wonderful bagels slightly sweeter and apparently chewier than others.
They are really the BEST bagels of ALL time. We usually pick up a dozen or so whenever we go to Montréal and freeze them – not quite as good as fresh, but better than the junk you can buy! I may have to try my hand at baking bagels again…so much to do…so little time!
Charles says
Hi Eva – haha, that really was a short clip. Four seconds long… It was over before I even realised what was going on, but I totally see what he did now after watching it a few times. Looks like a good technique to try next time.
The Montréal bagel sounds like a most excellent bite – I’d love to try it… I wonder if they make it in any other parts of the world, of if it really is something that exists only there (I mean of course – I wonder if any friendly Canadians have come to France and set up bagel shops here…)
I hope you have a try and making bagels – I’d love to see your recipe!
Hope you’re having a great day!
Linda says
FAST certainly caught my attention!! I love to make homemade bagels and have just accepted the fact that its a looong process. So I see you’ve shortened it up a bit!! They look lovely, the texture is light and nicely done. I will definitely try this out on my next bagel making day! I do also like onion bagels…who am I kidding…I just love bagels! Right before I go out for a very long bike ride!
Charles says
Hi Linda – I’m going to be making some more bagels on Monday night next – enough for my whole department at work – haha… that’s going to be a whole load of fun 😀 Still, good practice I suppose 😀
Stefanie says
omg, you can make fast bagels??? I had no idea!!! Thank you so much for sharing!! Bagels have always intimidated me, and I’m also just horrible with planning in advance for things like yeast bread. These seem totally manageable though, and look delicious!!!
Charles says
Thanks so much Stefanie – totally… you have to give these a try! They were so delish 🙂
Hotly Spiced says
You make making bagels look easy! I’ve always shied away thinking they must be too much work. I agree with you about the bought ones – I’ve always found them tough and stale. I think a homemade bagel would be a wonderful treat.
Charles says
Hi Charlie – nah, not hard work at all… I’m sure you’d excel at them. I’ll never be buying bagels again now… that’s for sure!
Pure Complex says
Okay.. is it just me or did you talk about those bagels as if you had a love affair with them? lol. My mother tells me she has one with her bagels lol. And you did an excellent job with this recipe
Charles says
Haha, thanks Kay, and yeah – I was marginally in love with them… they’re just so darn chewy and good! 🙂
Kiran @ KiranTarun.com says
Delicious recipe, Charles! You’ve outdone yourself, yet again 🙂
Charles says
Thanks Kiran! I’m just sad they’re all gone now though. Will be making more on the weekend 🙂
Nami | Just One Cookbook says
My goodness, you made fresh bagels at home!!!! I’ll bring cream cheese over~! Seriously, I love bagels so much and this is the hardest food to give up when I’m on diet. I just need coffee and bagel in the morning, but I have been trying to avoid bagels… my love… My first bagel was when I came to the US. I used to eat bagels 3 meals a day (gross?). I was living in a dorm and I was very addicted to them. Now I only eat good quality bagels though. So jealous you can eat homemade bagels!
Charles says
Hi Nami – haha, bagels for 3 meals a day… that would really be stretching my love for them to the limit if I did that. It’s funny how our tastes change over time. In the past I was all over bagels… any bagels… now I’d rather have no bagel at all than eat a bad bagel. Same for many foods. I guess we come to appreciate quality a lot more!
Sydney Jones says
Oh, I can not wait to try these!! I love, love, love baking bagels 🙂 and I have not made onion bagels. So exciting, thank you Charles!!
Charles says
Thanks Sydney – it’s really a wonderful flavour with onion… hope you like them 🙂
Norma Chang says
Fast bagels, makes life much easier, love the idea. Bagel cream cheese and lox, I need one right now. Also like toasted hot bagel with (you are going to laugh out loud) peanut butter.
Charles says
Hi Norma – I’m making more bagels tomorrow luckily (I’m all out right now… aaaaargh!). I can see most of them will be finding their way into my mouth immediately! 😀
Barb @ Profiteroles & Ponytails says
Charles I really think that you could open your own bakery! I’m so impressed that you consistently make your own pastries, breads, buns and flat breads. It is very inspiring!
Charles says
Haha, thanks Barb, you’re too kind. I’d like to own a little coffee-shop/light lunch place one day… just a little dream of mine. Perhaps I can serve my baked good there 🙂
shuhan says
The bagels look fab charles! And love that touch of onion inside (:
I’m always telling myself I need to get into the habit of baking more often. You get much better bread, and of course it costs a lot less. But I guess I’m just too lazy to hehe, since i can get really good bread at the market. And I grew up with rice as a staple,so bread always seem like an afterthought to me.
Charles says
Hi Shuhan – I couldn’t imagine life without bread, but I can understand that of course it’s not to everyone’s liking. Speaking of rice, you should try this Rice bread I made last year… It’s really delicious and would be a good combination of the two staples for you! 🙂
To be honest, I probably wouldn’t make so much bread if I lived in England or Sweden. The bread there is fantastic, and while people seem to think that bread in France must be “oh my God so awesome”, I have to say that sometimes, I just want a slice of “farmhouse loaf”. You can only eat so much baguette before you start to yearn for proper sandwich bread!
shuhan says
yes i would have thought good bread will be easy to find in france! come to think of it, the last time i went to paris, most bakeries did only sell baguettes and besides that, it’d be the rich quiches and pastries.
the rice bread looks fascinating charles, does it actually taste more like bread or rice?
Liz says
Oh, I adore bagels…and plan to make my first attempt at them this winter. So good to know there’s a shortcut method. I didn’t realize they had that long, slow proof! Yours look delish~
Charles says
Thanks Liz – let me know if you try them… I just love them myself – all the more so that they’re fast 🙂
Jean | Delightful Repast says
Charles, why bother with the long version when the short version is so good? These sure look like the real deal! I’d love to have a pair of them right this minute.
Charles says
Hi Jean – I’m going to make a large batch tomorrow to take to work, so it’s a good thing they’re pretty speedy. I must try the long version one day – I’m curious as to how different they’d be!
Marie says
They look fantastic! I can already imagine using them for a rich lettuce, tomato and cheese bagel sandwich. I’ve only had raisin bagels in the US and I just about loved them. I don’t think I’ve seen any in Denmark, though.
Charles says
Hi Marie – You know, I could never get on board with raisin bagels. They seemed like they were trying so desperately to be “sweet”, but still had the bagel texture which was screaming for cheese and butter. I love you idea of the sandwich – sounds awesome!
Marie says
Hehe, you’re absolutely right that they can’t go by themselves. I remember they sold them with cream cheese at the bakery. I’m a huge raisin fan though, so I’m in awe with just about anything that contains them. I even tried to get my dad interested in rice with raisin once, but he made a face and asked for NORMAL rice. 😀
Melissa Placzek says
I LOVE onion bagels! Can’t wait to try your recipe. 🙂
~Melissa
Charles says
Thanks Melissa – let me know if you do! 🙂
Chica Andaluza says
I´ve wanted and meant to make bagels for ages and you make it look so straighforward! Onion bagels are probably my favourite and I´m totally with you on the marmite 🙂
Charles says
Hi Chica – always good to find a fellow Marmite lover… that delicious stuff gets WAY too much hate 😀
Sawsan says
“some sort of bread-roll, with a hole, which seems to be masquerading as a bagel”
You made me laugh with this one because these are exactly what you get here. I have a friend who makes AMAZING bagels at home, I have the recipe bit have not tried making them yet. Thank you for the fast version, it is certainly much easier and looks really tempting
Charles says
Hi Sawsan – I’d love to see the recipe of your friend, if you or s/he felt like sharing it?!
kyleen says
I’ve been on a bread kick lately. Last week, I brought home some extra fresh compressed yeast from my bread-baking classes and made cheese rolls with it. I’m convinced that there’s nothing like fresh, homemade bread, warm from the oven (and I’m guessing my family agrees with me since they ate all of it before I could take pictures). These bagels look delicious and surprisingly easy, considering I can’t do anything besides loaves and rolls. They’re next on my bread list!
Charles says
Hi Kyleen – definitely. Fresh bread is just the best! I actually just made 3 loaves just now for the next 7 days or so. The taste is good, but the shape is alas a bit fail this time 🙁 I used a combination of whole-wheat and semolina flour, and it didn’t really rise as much as I hoped. I guess it was a bit too heavy. Still – the taste is great, and it’s not SO compact and heavy that it’s inedible 🙂
kristy says
LOL! Yep – refrigerated bagels are definitely not the same as fresh bagels. And I can completely relate to the “need” to have something right away. I’m definitely going to try this recipe soon. These look AMAZING! I do love a good bagel. My favorite is with some asiago cheese sprinkled over them. Mmmmm.
Charles says
Hi Kristy – Yum… cheese on top sounds like an awesome idea… why didn’t I think of this?! Hope you give it a try – let me know if you do!
Bam's Kitchen says
Charles, these Bagel look so chewy and delicious and I am sure you were up all Monday baking for your coworkers for Tuesday meetings. I would love to give this recipe a try as my teenage boys would love it.
Charles says
Hi Bam – it actually took less time than I thought it would! Baking the bagels themselves took a while – Had to bake them in 3 batches in the oven, not to mention the boiling, but cutting them up and filling them only took about an hour and a half. My co-workers were very grateful on the Monday – they didn’t last long at all 😀
Greg says
Yep, when I think bagels, I think NY not Paris. These look good. I haven’t made them the quick or the traditional way and this is the second great recipe I’ve seen lately.
Charles says
I’d love to see the first recipe you saw – Maybe it’s even more yummy than this one!
Robert-Gilles Martineau says
Very popular in Japan and expensive, too! LOL
You wouldn’t believe the number of varieties
Charles says
Knowing Japan, I most definitely would not believe it, no 😀
I bet there’s a wasabi variety there somewhere… 😀
Robert-Gilles Martineau says
I might have to check that as we already have wasabi icecreams!
I also discovered a fresh goat cheese matured with wasabi!
Charles says
I tried the ice-cream before… I went to… er, I forget where it was… Hakone I think (spelling?) and had some of the ice-cream there. The goat’s cheese sounds amazing!
Robert-Gilles Martineau says
Hakone is right. Shizuoka’s neighbours actually. They tend to steal our Prefecture’s specialties!
The goat cheese was a true marvel with the taste of the wasabi minus the piquancy!
Charles says
Oops, thought I had replied. I remember my trip to Hakone well – I loved it… so beautiful. I even bought a fresh wasabi root to take home with me. I couldn’t find it anywhere on my return and eventually forgot about it and then found a shrivelled black thing in the refrigerator months later – lol!
Robert-Gilles Martineau says
That is what also happened to a big batch that got refused by the US Customs!
Sharyn Dimmick says
Your bagels look good — I’ve never tried making them. In flusher times I could get a baker’s dozen for a few dollars on Tuesdays. I would cut them in half and freeze them and pull out what I needed.
Charles says
Thanks Sharyn. Alas, bagels aren’t common around these parts… it’s even hard to find the factory made versions. Can’t imagine why… they’re so good!