Bread Machine Bagel Recipe
I think you’ll really like this bread machine bagel recipe. The bagels are chewy and delicious. They’re so much better than store-bought bagels.
Updated on March 7, 2025 – Published on August 30, 2021
Featured Comment
Oh my gosh! Just made these today exactly as the recipe said. The BEST homemade bagels I’ve ever made. I tried a different recipe in the past, but these are, by far, so much better! Super easy. Honestly, better than store bought. Done buying them! ~ Julie
I’ve wanted to make bagels for a long time. However, I was reluctant to try it. Why? One of the steps of making bagels is to boil them.
But, like a lot of other things, once I’d done it I thought, “Well, that wasn’t such a big deal!”
I will say that making bagels takes a lot of room. You need to shape the dough, boil the bagels, drain the bagels and then put them on a baking sheet. It’s a good idea to look at your workspace before you start and plan where you’re going to do each step.
Why Are Bagels Boiled?
Bagels and pretzels are boiled because it sets the crust before they go into the oven. The longer the boil, the thicker and chewier the crust.
It seems strange to put dough into boiling water. The water doesn’t penetrate the dough very far because the starch on the exterior of the dough gels and forms a barrier.
Before I worked up the courage to boil bagels, I used this no-boil recipe.
The texture was different than traditional bagels, but the flavor was good. The Man of the House and I split them, added cream cheese and had a lovely breakfast.
Freezing Extra Bagels
We’ve been splitting and then freezing our extra bagels. To thaw them, we heat them up in the toaster.
Bread Machine Bagel Instructions
This recipe is for a two-pound bread machine. Use the dough setting.
Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. With my Zojirushi bread machine, I add the liquids first.
Use the dough setting.
Check the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. You’ll want the dough to form a smooth, round ball. If the dough is too dry, add liquid a teaspoon at a time until the dough balls up. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks as expected.
Here’s how the dough looked in my bread machine. I didn’t need to make any adjustments.
When the cycle is done, remove the dough from the machine and let it rest on a lightly floured surface.
While the dough is resting, bring 3 quarts (12 cups) of water to a medium boil in a large pot. Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar. The sugar helps to make the bagel crust a little crisper.
This is also a great time to make the egg wash so you have that ready when needed. Beat the egg white and the water together. Then put it aside for later.
Divide the dough into 10 equal sections. I use my bench scraper to help divide the dough. Roll each piece into a ball.
Here’s a photo of the dough balls on my pastry mat.
Flatten balls. (I use the bench scraper for this too.) Poke a hole in the middle of each dough ball with your thumb. To get the final bagel shape, I kind of roll the dough away from the hole. Whatever method works for you is fine.
Cover bagels with a clean towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (Greasing the baking sheet would work fine too.) Then you’re ready to boil the bagels!
I boil 2 or 3 of them at a time. I use a slotted (flat) spatula to move the bagels to boiling water. Boil for them for 30 seconds each side for a total of a minute. Then move them to a wire rack with a paper towel underneath.
Once all the bagels have been boiled, move them to the baking sheet. Apply the egg wash with a pastry brush.
Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until browned.
Bread Machine Bagel Ingredients
Again, this recipe is for a two-pound bread machine using the dough setting.
1 ¼ cup water
3 ¾ cups bread flour
2 Tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoons salt
1 ½ teaspoons active dry yeast
Egg Wash Glaze
1 egg white
1 Tablespoon water
Bread Machine Bagel Recipe
Recommended Equipment
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ cup (295.7 ml) water
- 3 ¾ cups (468.8 g) bread flour
- 2 Tablespoons sugar
- 1 teaspoons (1 teaspoons) salt
- 1 ½ teaspoons (1.5 teaspoons) active dry yeast
Egg Wash Glaze
- 1 egg white
- 1 Tablespoon water
Instructions
- This recipe is for a two-pound bread machine. Use the dough setting.
- Follow the instructions that came with your bread machine in terms of which ingredients to put in the bread machine first. With my Zojirushi bread machine, I add the liquids first.
- Use the dough setting.
- Check the dough after five or ten minutes of kneading. You’ll want the dough to form a smooth, round ball. If the dough is too dry add liquid a teaspoon at a time until the dough balls up. If it looks too wet, add flour a tablespoon at a time until it looks as expected.
- When the cycle is done, remove the dough from the machine and let it rest on a lightly floured surface.
- While the dough is resting bring 3 quarts (12 cups) of water to a medium boil in a large pot. Stir in 3 tablespoons of sugar. The sugar helps to make the bagel crust a little crisper.
- This is also a great time to make the egg wash so you have that ready when needed. Beat the egg white and the water together. Then put it aside for later.
- Divide the dough into 10 equal sections. I use my bench scraper to help divide the dough. Roll each piece into a ball.
- Flatten balls. (I use the bench scraper for this too.) Poke a hole in the middle of each dough ball with your thumb. To get the final bagel shape, I kind of roll the dough away from the hole. Whatever method works for you is fine.
- Cover bagels with a clean towel and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. (Greasing the baking sheet would work fine too.) Then you're ready to boil the bagels!
- I boil 2 or 3 of them at a time. I use a slotted (flat) spatula to move the bagels to boiling water. Boil for them for 30 seconds each side for a total of a minute. Then move them to a wire rack with a paper towel underneath.
- Once all the bagels have been boiled, move them to the baking sheet. Apply the egg wash with a pastry brush.
- Bake in a preheated 375 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes, until browned.
Notes
Nutrition
All information presented within this site is intended for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and any nutritional information on breadmachinediva.com should only be used as a general guideline. This information is provided as a courtesy and there is no guarantee that the information will be completely accurate. I try to provide accurate information to the best of my ability; however these figures should still be considered estimates.
It is the perfect bagel recipe and always yields predictable results. Please, never take it down!
Thanks so much for the kind words.
Hi, had high hopes for these bagels. Unfortunately they turned out kinda like dinner rolls with a crunchy outside. Really good but not what I was hoping for. They were not chewy at all. I let my bread machine run the program, which was 1 1/2 hours on the “Dough” program with rests & rises. Am thinkin maybe I should have taken the dough out after the first rest. Anybody have thoughts? Thx
Thanks for the feedback! The full dough cycle is what I use, so I wouldn’t take the dough out after the first rest. One question, did you boil the bagels before baking them? The recipe calls for boiling them for 30 seconds on each side, and that step is important for getting the chewy bagel texture. Also, did you make any changes to the ingredients or method? If you did boil them and followed the recipe as written, let me know and we can troubleshoot from there. 😊
If I wanted to top my bagels with cheese, would I add the cheese when they go into the oven or would it be better to wait until perhaps the last 5-10 min. of baking so the cheese won’t burn from being in the hot oven for too long?
I haven’t tried this myself, but I’d probably add the cheese just before the bagels go into the oven. That’s how cheese-topped bagels are usually made, and the cheese should brown nicely as the bagels bake.
If you’re using a cheese that browns very quickly, you could certainly wait and add it partway through baking instead. I’d love to hear how they turn out!
These are perfection. The best bagels I have ever had. My kids beg for them! I also add a 1/2 cup of sourdough discard 👍
I’m so excited to try this. Can I add jalapeno and cheddar?
I haven’t done that, but I think it would be great!
Oh my gosh! Just made these today exactly as the recipe said. The BEST homemade bagels I’ve ever made. I tried a different recipe in the past, but these are, by far, so much better! Super easy. Honestly, better than store bought. Done buying them!
This recipe is perfect ! I had some vital wheat gluten so added about 1 tsp per pound of flour.
Thank you so much for this recipe. I made them yesterday and they turned out great.
I have never rated a recipe before but I HAD to rate this after trying it! By far the best bagels I’ve ever had, and I was so sure I’d mess it up having 0 experience, but the instructions were so easy to follow I don’t think it’s possible to mess it up! Never buying bagels again.
Thanks so much! You’ve made my day!!
I am wondering if I can use gluten free 1 to 1 four or gluten free bread flour with this recipe.
I don’t think that would work. The gluten-free flours generally don’t work well with yeast bread recipes.
First time using my bread maker and they turned out perfect! Thanks for the recipe!
An excellent recipe! I swapped out milk for half of the water and potato flakes for 1/3 of the flour to enhance the texture and potato flavor.
I’m kinda upset about the wording for how long to boil. I boiled for a minute and 30 seconds each side because the wording of the recipe mislead me to do that. Maybe put “boil for 30 seconds each side for a total of a minute” or something more clear. They’re baking now so hopefully they turn out…
Thanks for the suggested wording. I’ve made that change.
My machine had a raw dough and a leaven dough setting. Would I use the leaven dough since it has yeast?
Can’t wait to try homemade bagels!
Yes, you’d use the leaven dough setting. I hope you enjoy the bagels!
Could I use bread machine yeast instead of active dry yeast?
You bet! However the amount of the yeast would change. I have an article that includes instructions between making changes between active dry yeast and bread machine yeast.
I just love the way this recipe is written, I mean my 14 yr old granddaughter could follow this. Very nice and due to the way she has broken everything down, I am no confident that I will be enjoying some nice fresh bagels with cream cheese one morning soon. Thank you.
Love your bagel recipe – can raisins and cinnamon be added during bread machine process – if so – have any suggest On amounts – love cinnamon raisin bagels
Great question, but so far I’ve just made plain bagels. I’ve got to experiment with some flavored ones.
I’ve used this recipe twice now and I love it! I personally separate the dough into 8 pieces, rather than 10 for larger bagels
This is the 2nd time I tried to make bagels (this is a different recipe). WOW! I inside of the bagel is perfect – not too dry, not too doughy…just right. I added honey to the boiling water – I made sesame seed, onion & grated parmesan and garlic & shredded parm.
First attempt and we loved them. Great recipe
These were gone in days making a 2nd batch now! Question what if I want to have cinnamon raisin bagels or more tha. A plain bagel do you have separate recipes for those
So far, I only have this recipe for plain bagels. More to come though!
Every time that I have to make bagels, they were not great! I made these today and topped them off with Asiago and cheddar cheese before baking and they are AMAZING! I baked mine for 30 minutes because I made 8 good size bagels!
I’m going to have to try those toppings. That sounds great!!
These are amazing! I used 1 3/4 cup wheat flour and an extra tablespoon of water
I’m so glad you like the recipe. They’re addictive aren’t they? LOL
I want to make bagels fresh for a breakfast meeting and don’t really want to start baking at 5am😅 is it okay to leave the bagels overnight after boiling them and then put them in the oven in the morning or is there a different stage in the preparation process that is better to leave them overnight?
I haven’t tried this myself, but from what I’ve read, I’d stop before the boiling step. Shape the bagels the night before, cover them and refrigerate them overnight. In the morning, boil them straight from the refrigerator and then bake as usual.
That way you still get freshly baked bagels for breakfast without having to start from scratch at 5 a.m. 😄
Just made these. Dough came out perfect…no adjustment needed. Read the recipe slightly wrong, boiled 1 min on First side before I realized should only be 30 sec per side but they still came out perfect. Put egg wash on and sprinkled with Bagel Everything spice. I love onion bagels but didn’t have dried chopped onion so added teaspoon of onion powder with the dry ingredients. So yummy. Would not change anything
I made these for breakfast this morning. They are delicious! I put everything bagel seasoning on them. They are soft, chewy, and crisp. I bought my bread maker about a month ago and I have used it for quite a few recipes. I’m saving so much money by making things myself.
I have the 1 lb bread maker. Can I half the recipe without any other adjustments?
Great question! Check out my article on converting recipes for differently sized machines.
This recipe was so easy to follow. I am still amazed at how easy it was and how awesome the bagels turned out!
Love your recipes! Making the bagels for the first time. Adding McCormack Everything Bagel seasoning after egg wash. Decoding recipe — do I boil for 30 minutes each side for a total of 1 minute? or boil for 1 minute and 30 seconds on each side?
Great question! Boil each bagel for 30
minutesseconds on each side for a total of 1 minute.you mean 30 seconds not minutes!
Thanks to you and the other people who commented for catching that!
Oops! I boiled mine for 1 minute and thirty seconds on each side!! LOL Guess I really read that wrong! 😂
Oh gosh, I’ve done things like that too. That’s why there’s always a next time.
Used your recipe other than needing to add about a 1/4 cup of water for my bread maker they turned out perfectly! I added some extra seasoning to the flour for a onion flavor!
Very easy recipe to follow, mine is resting now but was wondering if I could sprinkle sesame seeds on top after wash then place in oven?
Yes, that would work fine.
Recipe is super easy and reliable! Have made these several times and my family loves them…only problem is they consistently get too dark on the bottom. How can I prevent this?
I wonder if it would help if you move them to a higher rack in the oven.