Cinnamon and Raisin Bagels

Bagel with peanut butter and jam on a small plate with more bagels around.

5 from 1 vote

Learn how to make the best cinnamon and raisin bagels at home. Chewy, dense, generously cinnamony and packed full of juicy raisins. Made with handful of simple ingredients they beat any shop bought ones.

Course Breakfast, Snack

Cuisine American, International

Keyword cinnamon and raisin bagels

Prep Time 30

Cook Time 20

Proving/Resting 3

Total Time 3 50

Servings bagels

Calories 238kcal

Author Jo Allison

Equipment

Ingredients

500 g strong white bread flour see notes
2 tsp 7g sachet quick/instant/easy bake yeast see notes
2 teaspoon fine salt
3 tablespoon caster sugar see notes
4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 teaspoon ground allspice optional but highly recommended
2 tablespoon light olive oil or any neutral tasting oil (not extra virgin olive oil)
300 ml lukewarm water see notes
50 g raisins or sultanas

Poaching Water

1 tablespoon baking soda or barley malt extract or both see notes

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Put flour, spices, sugar, salt and yeast in a large mixing bowl or a bowl of your stand mixer. Ensure that when you add both salt and yeast into the bowl you initially keep them on separate sides.
Give all your dry ingredients a gentle mix without any liquids first using your hand or dough hook attachment.
500 g strong white bread flour, 2 teaspoon 7g sachet quick/instant/easy bake yeast, 2 teaspoon fine salt, 3 tablespoon caster sugar, 4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, 1 teaspoon ground allspice
Next, add olive oil and as you turn on the mixer, start adding the water as you mix and then knead the dough either by hand or with the dough hook attachment in your mixer.
2 tablespoon light olive oil, 300 ml lukewarm water
Towards the end add raisins and continue kneading to incorporate them into the dough.
Knead the dough until it's smooth and elastic. It should be really nice to work with and not at all sticky. If yours is sticky, add a little bit more flour, if it feels dry a tiny bit more water, only teaspoon at a time.
50 g raisins or sultanas
To check whether dough has been kneaded enough and is ready for proving press it gently with your finger. If it springs back slightly it's ready, if it doesn't knead for a bit longer.
Once your dough is ready, put it back in lightly oiled bowl, cover and place in a warm and draught free place until doubled in size (about 1-2 hrs).
***Quick Tip*** If your leave your dough in your kitchen at a normal room temperature of about 20°C/68°F it will prove just as well, it might take a bit longer but it will.
Once double in size, knock back the dough with your fist to deflate it and turn it out onto kitchen surface.
I like to weigh my dough and divide it into 10 equal pieces to ensure all my bagels are the same size (saves some arguments at breakfast time plus ensures they all bake evenly).
To shape a dough into a ball that will become your bagel, take one piece of dough and flatten it slightly with your fingers or the palm of your hand.
Next, start bringing pieces of dough into the middle, making your way around until you have a shape of a round(ish) disc.
Put the dough on the kitchen counter (smooth side up), cap it with your hand and start rolling it in place very gently using circular motion and dragging it towards you every so often to create a bit of tension and make a nice and firm ball.
***Quick Tip*** Shaping will be much easier if you've got some traction on the counter so I wouldn't recommend flouring your surface for this.
Finally, turn your dough ball seam side up and give it a little pinch with your fingers to hold it together. Place it seam side down and repeat with remaining pieces of dough.
Place your dough balls on a surface liberally dusted with some flour, cover lightly with a clean tea towel and leave them to puff up slightly (about 30 minutes or slightly longer).
Using floured forefinger make a hole in the centre of each dough ball (one at a time) stretching it gently, as not to deflate the dough, to make the hole bigger.
Put bagels on a well floured counter or baking sheet and cover them again with a clean tea towel.
Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 200°C/400°F/Gas Mark 6.
Bring a large saucepan or stock pot of water to a boil and once boiling add either 1 tablespoon of baking soda or barley malt extract or both to the water.
Place 2-4 bagels (depending on the size of your pan/pot) in the boiling water at a time and poach for approximate 60-90sec.
Flip the bagels over gently using slotted spoon and boil for another minute or so on the other side.
Take bagels out with a slotted spoon and drain thoroughly (wire rack is great for that) before placing on prepared baking sheet ready for baking.
Repeat with the remaining bagels.
1 tablespoon baking soda or barley malt extract or both
Bake in preheated oven for approximately 20 minutes until glossy and golden brown.
***Quick Tip*** My oven is pretty temperamental so after 15 minutes I tend to flip my bagels bottom side up and bake like that for the remaining 5-7 minutes to ensure even bake.
Remove bagels from the oven and transfer onto wire rack to cool completely.

Notes

Nutritional information is approximate, per bagel and should be treated as a rough guideline only.
Plain (all-purpose) flour could be use at a push but strong fl our which is much higher in protein is preferable as it helps with the final texture of bagels.
I recommend easy yeast that doesn't require activating and can be added directly to the flour. However, feel free to use dried active yeast which you simply dissolve in the lukewarm water and leave for a few minutes before adding the liquid to the flour.
You can substitute some of the sugar for barley malt extract. For details see❗Word on barley malt extract and baking soda above.
Best eaten on the same day but can be stored in the airtight bag for 3-4 days or frozen for up to 3 months. See -🥡 Storing above.

Pro Tips:

When heating up water make sure you heat it up to lukewarm temperature of roughly 37°C/100°F (digital food thermometer comes handy here). You should be able to dip your little finger in the liquid and just feel warmth. Warm liquid will help to activate the yeast. If you get it too hot, wait until it cools down as hot water will have an opposite effect on the yeast.

I find the amount of water to be pretty spot on. However, we all use different flours therefore you might need to add either drop more water or flour when kneading depending whether the dough is too dry or too sticky.

When poaching bagels make sure the water is at constant simmer. Bring it back to boil once you're done with the first batch of bagels. Boiling water means hight temperature which is the first step to that bagel crust we're after.

The hole in the bagels will inevitably close up a bit between shaping and baking, that's ok. Don't be tempted to stretch it too much as it will deflate the dough and make your bagels thin.

Be gentle when lowering bagels into the water as not to burn yourself. I find using your hand here instead of spatula works best.

Nutrition