Recreating New York Style Bagels in a College Dorm

By Casey Choung

Growing up in Long Island, NY, I was accustomed to having great bagels all around me. Bagel shops were in every shopping mall and on every street corner. Unfortunately, having moved out of New York, I haven’t been able to experience the same really crusty outside, super chewy inside bagel. Thus, I set out to make bagels on a Sunday afternoon in my friend's dorm… only to finish Monday morning.

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Recipe Ingredients (bagel):

• 2 cups of warm water

• 6 cups of bread flour (high gluten for the strong pull)

• 1 packet of dry-active yeast

• 2 tablespoons of honey, and as needed (substitute malt if you have)

• 1 1/2 tablespoons of salt

• 1 teaspoon baking soda

• Baking spray

Toppings:

• Everything bagel seasoning

• Thick sliced cheddar cheese

• Serrano pepper

Steps:

1. Mix the water with the yeast and the honey and let it rest. This step is called "blooming" the yeast, which tells if you if the yeast is dead.

2. After 5 minutes, mix the wet mixture with the flour and salt in a mixing bowl. Knead for at least 15 minutes to develop strong gluten. Let rest for 1 hour once it passes the "window pane" test.

3. Pound the air out of the dough, then divide into 12 equal pieces.

4. Shape the pieces into small balls, ensuring they are taut and smooth on the outside. Let rest in the fridge for 20 minutes.

5. Shape each ball into a bagel shape. See below for a demonstration.

6. Proof overnight, wrap with plastic wrap and cover with a damp towel.

7. The following day, bring a pan with water to a boil, add 1 teaspoon of baking soda and around 2 tablespoons of honey. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.

8. Boil bagels on each side for around 30 seconds before letting cool on a baking tray.

9. Coat bagels with desired dry seasonings (think seeds and dried garnishes).

10. Bake bagels for 25 minutes, for cheddar-pepper bagels add cheese and peppers after 20 minutes.

11. Remove the bagels from the oven and let cool before serving.

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Bagel History

The bagel was originally brought to New York by Jewish immigrants, and the process for making them has remained relatively the same since. It was only a matter of time before bagel making was industrialized, leading to the rapid spread of bagels into American supermarkets. However, some traditionalists have seen this spread as a dilution of bagel quality, as supermarket bagels are notably softer and squishier compared to their artisan counterparts. Again, these differences are part of the reason why I along with others want to make bagels at home, because the standard for crunchy, stretchy bagels —outside of certain cities— has dropped significantly.

Day 1

I used Claire Saffitz's bagel recipe from the NY Times but substituted honey for malt syrup, as it was more accessible and could be used in other recipes more intuitively. Ultimately though, I improvised and loosely followed the recipe.

The initial mixing stages went very smoothly, my dough was initially way too wet and so I had to continue to add more flour as I kneaded the dough. The kneading was the most tedious step of this entire recipe. Once I had kneaded for what felt like an extended period of time, I reminded myself to keep going. However, eventually the dough passed the “window pane test” where I was able to stretch the dough thin enough for light to peek through.

After resting for a bit, I pre shaped the dough, first into balls and then into bagel shape. You can see one of my first attempts to shape a bagel.

Day 2

The bagels proofed overnight, but I improperly stored them by not creating an airtight seal with plastic wrap—namely because I didn’t buy any. They were dried out and I also forgot to dust the parchment so they got stuck to the paper and I had to delicately peel them off without damaging them. However, the water bath absolves all sins: the bagels puffed up and any deformities were boiled away. You can't really tell how dry or misshaped they had once been.

For toppings, I added everything bagel seasoning and did some pepper cheddar ones, with a pepper that was way too hot. You can go crazy with whatever seasoning combinations you find online like the pepper cheddar ones I found on the Internet Shaquille YouTube channel. I also left a few bagels plain because "NetShaq" says plain bagels look the prettiest. I was satisfied with how they came out of the oven, albeit they tasted a bit like a pretzel because I used too much baking soda in the water bath. However, they had a nice color, and a squishy yet chewy texture. They were small enough to fit into the palm of your hand, which made them almost mini-bagels, pretty cute.

All photos and video included in this post were taken or recorded by Casey Choung.

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Reflection:

I thought it would be interesting to branch out beyond my previous research's focus on the tension between artisan and industrial bagels by exploring the nature of homemade bagels. I thought making a recipe blog would allow me to continue my analysis of process while also leaving space for me to include background on bagel history and my personal connections and thoughts. Additionally, I think the blog post provides the best balance between writing and visuals.

Structurally, I wanted to avoid the common pitfalls I see in recipe blogs, such as overly long anecdotes unrelated to the cooking process, or a recipe snippet at the bottom of the page. I tried to balance being descriptive and instructive with being concise by focusing on only the important points instead of describing everything in vivid detail. I also pushed the recipe up in order to make it easier for readers to just grab the recipe without having to scroll through several paragraphs of personal stories. However, I did also refer to the rest of my blog post within the recipe to possibly incentivize people to read into my insights when I made this recipe.

I tried to sound a bit more personable given that I was writing about something more informal, and not as reputable or gourmet as the original recipe I linked. Speaking of the recipe, I synthesized various techniques and insights from other creators in order to develop something that I thought would address a wide audience and more specifically an audience with a limited kitchen or access to ingredients.