Vegan Bagel

Super easy Vegan Bagel Recipe made with simple ingredients and the results are simply amazing. You get ultra-chewy fresh bagels every time you crave them.  

The name bagel comes from the German language böugel, which means ring or bracelet. Bagels are known as chewy, dense ring-shaped bread made from yeasted dough, that is briefly boiled before baking. This water bath helps to achieve a chewy texture and shiny crust.   

Do not let the fear of working with yeast and dough stop you from making these delicious bagels. It might sound intimidating to make your bagels at home but trust me it's so easy and even beginners can try their hands on it.

Ingredients  

This simple recipe requires only a few basic ingredients  

• Bread Flour: I highly recommend using bread flour for this recipe. A high protein content flour is necessary for bagels to get the dense and chewy texture, not soft and airy like milk bread. If you cannot find bread flour you can use all-purpose flour and it will do the job.  
• Yeast: I recommend instant yeast. You can use the active dry yeast but for that, you have to dissolve it in warm water first before adding it to flour.  
• Warm Water: As we are using active dry yeast, we knead near hot warm water that should range from 120°F – 130°F. Make sure your water is not too cold nor too hot otherwise it will kill the yeast.  
• Salt and Sugar: To add flavor and taste  
• Brown Sugar: Mostly honey or barley malt syrup are used in the water bath to sweeten the bagel dough but honey is not vegan and barley malt syrup is difficult to find so I am using brown sugar.   
• Toppings: you can use sesame seeds, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, dried minced garlic, dried onions, sea salt, or caraway seeds  

Vegan Bagel Recipe

Let's learn how to make homemade vegan bagels with only a few basic ingredients. Simply follow my step-by-step instructions and get to know how easy it is to make bagels at home.   

Make the Dough  

1. Take your bread flour in a large bowl. Add sugar and salt to the flour on one side of the bowl.   
2. Put dry active yeast on the other side of the bowl away from salt to avoid direct contact otherwise it will kill the yeast right away and your dough will not rise.  
3. Mix the flour, yeast, sugar, and salt in a large bowl with a wooden spoon.  
4. Slowly add the warm water and keep mixing with a spoon or hands.  
5. Knead the dough while mixing with your hands. If the mixture is too dry add a tbs of water at a time and mix. Knead until form a firm and stiff dough.   
6. Make sure the dough is firm and not sticky. (See the video to get an idea of the dough texture)  
7. Oil the surface of a large bowl and swirl your dough ball to coat. Cover the bowl tightly with cling wrap and a dishtowel.   
8. Let your dough rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1hour, until the dough has doubled in size.  
9. Once doubled, punch the dough down to release air bubbles. Press it down to make an even flat round shape.  
10. Carefully cut the dough into equal 8 pieces with a knife or scrapper.  

Shape the Bagels  

1. Take a piece of the dough and bring its corner towards the center and form a round shape. Press this ball gently on your palm or countertop, move it in a circular motion while using your other hand until a smooth dough ball is formed. Repeat the same with the rest of the dough.  
2. Once you get a smooth dough ball press your index finger through the center of each ball to make a hole. Stretch the hole to about 1 inch in diameter. Repeat the same step with the remaining dough balls.  
3. Cover all bagels with cling wrap and towel to get a final rise for about 20 minutes  
4. Once done repeat the process of shaping the bagels as they might have sprung back into shape. 

Boiling The Bagels   

1. Preheat the oven to 425ºF (210ºC).  
2. While bagels are rising bring a large pot of water to a boil.  
3. Add Brown sugar to the water then reduce the heat to medium-high.   
4. Drop two to four bagels at a time into the water bath, depending on the size of your pot. Make sure they have enough room to float around. Carefully place the bagels one by one into the water. Boil in batches and do not overcrowd the pot.  
5. Let the bagels boil for about 2 minutes, and then flip them over to boil for another 2 minutes.   
6. Remove bagels and place them on a lined baking sheet.  

Top and Bake  

1. Brush each bagel with melted vegan margarine or vegan cream.  
2. In a bowl mix your bagel toppings and place your bagel upside down on these toppings and swirl to get the thick coat of toppings. If you like light toppings, you can simply sprinkle them over the bagels.  
3. Bake the bagels for about 20 to 25 minutes or until golden brown.  

What Can Vegans Put on a Bagel?   

Vegan Topping and filling ideas for bagels are simply endless. You can munch on them as it is or you can fill them with  

• Vegan cream cheese and strawberries.  
• Peanut butter and banana  
• Hummus and roasted veggies  
• Beet Hummus and cucumber  
• Scrambled tofu and chili flakes  
• Buffalo chickpea and lettuce  
• Avocado and cherry tomatoes  
• Jam and Almond butter  
• Grilled eggplant and avocado with some lemon juice on top  
• Vegan cheese and olives and so on...  

Storage Instructions  

Use fresh bagels within two to three days as they harden pretty quickly. Store bagels at room temperature in bagel fresh containers, or food-grade plastic bread bags. (<<Affiliate links)  

Make sure your bagels aren't warm when you put them in bags or they will get soggy.  

You can also freeze your bagels in freezer bags for up to 2 to 3 months. when you want to enjoy a bagel treat simply take it out of the freezer and leave it at room temperature for few hours. If you don't have time to do that, simply microwave it or toast it in a toaster. For that make sure you slice your bagels in half before you freeze, so you can easily put them in a toaster while they are still frozen.  

Never refrigerate your bagels. Refrigerating bagels will make them go stale.  

Tips To Make The Perfect Bagels  

1. If you are using dry active yeast add it in warm water with sugar and salt but if you are using instant yeast mix it directly with flour.  
2. Put dry active yeast on the other side of the bowl away from salt to avoid direct contact otherwise it will kill the yeast right away and your dough will not rise.  
3. If the water content of your bagels is high it will make crispier bagels. To get the chewy bagels to keep it low and knead more to get a dense dough.  
4. To make the perfect hole in the bagel stretch it doubles the desired hole size as gluten will stretch back and shrink the size of the hole.  
5. Make sure the water is bubbling hot when you add bagels to the water. If it is not hot you may get poor rise small and dense bagels.   

More Vegan Breakfast Recipes

If you like this recipe you may also like

• VEGAN PUMPKIN SCONES
• NO KNEAD ARTISAN BREAD WITHOUT DUTCH OVEN
• VEGAN SAVORY BABKA
• VEGAN BLUEBERRY LEMON MUFFINS
• VEGAN COFFEE CAKE

If you try this recipe, leave a comment and show some love by rating it in stars. Do not forget to take a picture and tag us @getsetvegan on Instagram. We would love to see this.