The Easy Way to Make Homemade Bagels

Bagels are one of my favorite foods at any time of the day. After all, who doesn't love some good carbs? I've spent the time to make bagels completely from scratch - the dough and all - and I have to say: it's not worth it. Yes, they taste amazing afterward, but it takes up over half of a day just to get out one batch. Luckily, I've found a way to make some easy homemade bagels.

You can make bagels just as great in half the time by cutting out the time it takes to make and proof the dough. All it takes is some store-bought pizza dough!

Homemade (Pizza Dough) Bagels

• Prep Time:30 mins
• Cook Time:40 mins
• Total Time:1 hr 10 mins
• Servings:6
• Easy

Ingredients

• Store-bought pizza dough: 16 oz = about 6 bagels but any size works
• 1 egg
• 2 teaspoons salt
• Flour: for dusting

• Step 1

  Gather your ingredients and preheat your oven to 350°. The less cold your dough is the easier it will be to work with, but it's okay if it's straight out of the fridge. The only thing here is that you absolutely cannot use dough that was in the freezer and is thawed out. I've done this, and the bagels will not boil properly and end up super dense and weird.

  

• Step 2

  Turn your dough onto a floured work surface and knead for a minute to get out any air bubbles.

  

• Step 3

  Using your hands or a knife, split the dough into sections about the size of your fist. Then, form each piece of dough into a ball. (This does not need to be perfect.)

  

• Step 4

  Holding each dough ball in your hands, pierce a hole through the center using your thumbs, and gently stretch the dough to form the bagel shape.

  

• Step 5

  Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add in the salt.

  

• Step 6

  Carefully place a couple of bagels in the water. The number you can boil at a time will depend on how big your pot is, just don't stack them on top of each other in the water.

  

• Step 7

  After 2 minutes, flip the bagels onto their other sides.

  

• Step 8

  After another 2 minutes, take the bagels out and let sit to cool while you repeat with the rest of your bagels until they have all been boiled. If you are letting them cool on paper towels, don't leave them on there for more than a minute or they will start to stick to the paper.

  

• Step 9

  Beat your egg in a small bowl and place your bagels on a baking sheet with no less than an inch between them.

  

• Step 10

  Brush or spoon the egg mix on top of each bagel. If you like, you can add sesame seeds or other toppings here as well.

  

• Step 11

  Place into the 350° oven for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top.

  

• Step 12

  You have officially made easy homemade bagels! Take them out of the oven, and enjoy however you wish! A tip for storing them is to seal them in a zip lock bag while they are still pretty warm. (I've found that this keeps them fresher and softer for longer)