Making Bagels at Home
- Annemarie Bolduc
- Nov 19, 2022
- 2 min read
Updated: 7 days ago
Poached in honey-sweetened water, here's the story behind a Montréal-style bagel recipe adapted for my little home kitchen in Australia.
For years, I kept telling myself that I would try making bagels at home, but it wasn't until the pandemic lockdowns that I finally gave it a go. I don't know why I waited so long—they are so good! One of the things I love most about making Montréal-style bagels at home is that I can use eggs from my backyard chooks and local honey. To develop my recipe, I started by consulting a variety of traditional methods before adapting one to suit my Australian kitchen. I experimented with bread flour but could never find the malt flour used by some professional bagel bakeries in Montréal. In the end, I found that ordinary flour produced excellent results. Of course, nothing quite compares to the handcrafted bagels baked by professionals in Montréal's wood-fired ovens, but homemade versions are surprisingly satisfying. If you'd like to learn more about the differences between Montréal and New York bagels, you can read my previous article here.
Bagels in many ways • Photography © Bottle and Brush Studio 2021-22
When making bagels, there are a few important things to remember (and I still have to remind myself every time). The first is timing. Allowing the dough to rise or the bagels to boil for too long can affect both flavour and texture. A good Montréal-style bagel should be chewy, slightly sweet and never sour. The second is temperature. Bagel dough rises best in a warm, humid environment. One of my favourite tips from Ricardo is to place the bowl, covered with a damp cloth, in an unheated oven beside a jug of freshly boiled water. While traditional Montréal bagels are baked in wood-fired ovens, a conventional home oven works perfectly well. You can make a dozen standard-size bagels or divide the dough into twenty-four mini bagels for smaller servings.
Styling my mini bagels for a shoot • Photography © SVC/Matt Beaver 2021
My favourite topping combines the Montréal classics: sesame and poppy seeds. However, you can choose just one seed, leave them plain, or experiment with other toppings. Popular flavour variations include garlic, rosemary salt, cinnamon and dried fruits such as blueberries. (There is even a secret to making blueberry bagels that a bagel baker once shared with me—but I promised not to tell!) The possibilities are almost endless, and experimenting with different flavours is part of the fun. The recipe eventually found its place in my cookbook Québec Kitchen Abroad, but the story of how it came to be remains one of my favourite kitchen adventures.
RECIPE
The recipe is available in my cookbook Québec Kitchen Abroad
