Easy Homemade Bagels With Freshly Milled Flour

If you’ve ever wanted to make your own bagels at home, this is a great recipe to start with! With a classic chewy crust and soft center, these easy homemade bagels with freshly milled flour are perfect for a quick breakfast, afternoon snack, or new take on your favorite sandwich. Continue reading below for the complete printable recipe and instructions on how to make!

Bagels are so fun and easy to make! They are great to have on hand for a quick breakfast or easy lunch. One of my favorite lunches is a turkey and cheese sandwich with avocado on a bagel topped with everything bagel seasoning.

I’ll often make a large batch of these bagels and divide them up to top with different seasonings. After baking and cooling, I will go ahead and slice them and store in the freezer to pull out at our convenience. Brown sugar and cinnamon, as pictured, is our favorite for breakfast toasted with cream cheese.

Ingredients For Homemade Bagels With Freshly Milled Flour

Most of these ingredients can be found at your local grocery store, if not already in your pantry. I like to source my wheat berries from Azure Standard.

For Dough

• 1 1/3 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp butter, melted
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 520 grams freshly milled flour – For this recipe, hard white wheat berries work best.

For Boiling Water Bath

• 8 cups water
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp sugar

How to Make Homemade Bagels With Freshly Milled Flour

As mentioned before, these bagels are so simple to make! Follow the instructions below, and also see bakers notes at the end, along with the printable recipe. Let’s get baking!

Make the Dough

• Start by milling 520 grams of hard white wheat berries
• In the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attachment. Combine 3 cups of your freshly milled flour and 1 cup of the warm water. Let stand for 15-20 minutes (see note).
• In a separate small bowl, combine yeast, sugar, and remaining 1/3 cup of warm water. Let stand about 5 minutes or until yeast begins to look frothy.
• When the time for the flour and water is up, add the yeast mixture, butter and salt to the mixer bowl.
• Begin mixing on a medium/low speed adding remaining flour slowly.
• Mix until dough comes together into a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Continue mixing for 3-5 more minutes. Total mixing time should be about 10 minutes.
• After mixing, form dough into a ball and let rise in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel for about an hour or until doubled in size. You can let the dough rise in the mixer bowl.
• When it has doubled, punch dough down and transfer to a counter top or cutting board.
• Divide dough into 10 equal size pieces and form into balls by pulling dough from top to bottom, creating tension.
• Poke holes in dough balls using your thumb and index finger and stretch until hole is slightly larger than a quarter.
• Cover bagels again with damp tea towel and let rise for an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour or until they have puffed up significantly.

Boil and Bake

• In a large pot, bring 8 cups of water, 1 tbsp baking soda and 1 tbsp sugar to a low boil. Boil 3-4 bagels at the time being careful not to over crowd the pot. Boil bagels for about 1 minute per side.
• While you are boiling the bagels, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
• After taking the bagels out of the boiling water, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and top them with the toppings of your choice. Some of our favorite examples include everything bagel seasoning, sesame seeds, and brown sugar and cinnamon. Or just leave them plain.
• Bake bagels at 425 for about 20 minutes or until they start to brown on top.
• Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool before slicing

Storing Bagels

These don’t usually last long enough in our house to have to worry about storing for long, but if I do make extras, here are some tips on storing them. Store on the counter in an air tight container for about 3 days, in the refrigerator for about a week, or in the freezer for up to 3 months.

Baker’s Notes

When baking with freshly milled flour, it is best to weigh in grams instead of measuring in cups. You can weigh the berries before milling or the flour after milling.

Soaking a portion of the flour in water is a process called autolyse. Doing this allows the flour to be hydrated by the water and assists in gluten development. It can have a large impact on both the texture and flavor of your bread.

If you do not have a grin mill or access to freshly milled flour, you can substitute about 3 1/2-4 cups of all purpose flour for this recipe.

This post may contain affiliate links, see our full disclosure policy here.

theheritagehomemaker

Easy Homemade Bagels With Freshly Milled Flour

5 from 1 vote

Print Recipe

Prep Time 15 minutes mins

Cook Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Servings: 10

Course: Breakfast, Snack

Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients

  

• For Dough
• 1 1/3 cup warm water
• 2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 tbsp sugar
• 2 tbsp butter melted
• 1 1/2 tsp salt
• 520 grams freshly milled flour – For this recipe hard white wheat berries work best.
• For Boiling Water Bath
• 8 cups water
• 1 tbsp baking soda
• 1 tbsp sugar

Equipment

• Stand Mixer
• Grain Mill

Method

 

Make the Dough

1. Start by milling 520 grams of hard white wheat berries
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer with dough hook attachment. Combine 3 cups of your freshly milled flour and 1 cup of the warm water. Let stand for 15-20 minutes (see note).
3. In a separate small bowl, combine yeast, sugar, and remaining 1/3 cup of warm water. Let stand about 5 minutes or until yeast begins to look frothy.
4. When the time for the flour and water is up, add the yeast mixture, butter and salt to the mixer bowl.
5. Begin mixing on a medium/low speed adding remaining flour slowly.
6. Mix until dough comes together into a ball and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Continue mixing for 3-5 more minutes. Total mixing time should be about 10 minutes.
7. After mixing, form dough into a ball and let rise in a bowl, covered with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel for about an hour or until doubled in size. You can let the dough rise in the mixer bowl.
8. When it has doubled, punch dough down and transfer to a counter top or cutting board.
9. Divide dough into 10 equal size pieces and form into balls by pulling dough from top to bottom, creating tension.
10. Poke holes in dough balls using your thumb and index finger and stretch until hole is slightly larger than a quarter.
11. Cover bagels again with damp tea towel and let rise for an additional 45 minutes to 1 hour or until they have puffed up significantly.

Boil and Bake

1. In a large pot, bring 8 cups of water, 1 tbsp baking soda and 1 tbsp sugar to a low boil. Boil 3-4 bagels at the time being careful not to over crowd the pot. Boil bagels for about 1 minute per side.
2. While you are boiling the bagels, preheat your oven to 425 degrees.
3. After taking the bagels out of the boiling water, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper and top them with the toppings of your choice. Some of our favorite examples include everything bagel seasoning, sesame seeds, and brown sugar and cinnamon. Or just leave them plain.
4. Bake bagels at 425 for about 20 minutes or until they start to brown on top.
5. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and allow to cool before slicing

Notes

 

When baking with freshly milled flour, it is best to weigh in grams instead of measuring in cups. You can weigh the berries before milling or the flour after milling.

Soaking a portion of the flour in water is a process called autolyse. Doing this allows the flour to be hydrated by the water and assists in gluten development. It can have a large impact on both the texture and flavor of your bread.

If you do not have a grin mill or access to freshly milled flour, you can substitute about 3 1/2-4 cups of all purpose flour for this recipe