Homemade Bagel Recipes and Other Boiled Bread Recipes

Creating boiled breads is a multistage process. They aren’t a snap to make (especially when it comes to rolling and shaping pretzels), but they aren’t microsurgery either. After bringing together the dough, there’s shaping, rising, broiling (to brown the surface), boiling and, finally, baking. If you have modest kitchen acumen and a little experience handling dough, you should be able to pull off something resembling a bagel or pretzel on your first try. However, don’t expect to just whip these things out while chatting with company in the kitchen. Give yourself a few quiet hours to assemble your equipment and ingredients, play with your dough, and bake the finished little masterpieces.  

Have some fun with these recipes – add toppings to your pretzels or bagels, or create uniquely flavored bagels by following the plain recipe and adding your favorite herbs, vegetables, dried fruit or spices to the dough. Freeze excess bagels and pretzels, and when you’re ready to eat them, defrost in the microwave and pop into the toaster oven for a few minutes.

Just Top It

For some variety, top your boiled breads – after boiling, before baking – with any of the following toppings:

• Poppy seeds
• Sesame seeds
• Caraway seeds
• Dried onion flakes
• Dried garlic flakes
• Red pepper flakes
• Parmesan cheese
• Cinnamon-sugar mixture
• Sunflower seeds
• Dried savory herbs
• Pumpkin seeds