Easy Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
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4.7
108 reviews
Excellent
Easy Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
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Easy Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels are made from a dense, smooth dough enriched with cinnamon and studded with raisins. The dough is proofed, kneaded, shaped into bagels, boiled briefly, and baked to achieve a chewy interior with a golden crust. This recipe provides thorough preparation steps for a classic spiced bagel ideal for breakfast or snacks.
Description
This recipe begins by warming water to the correct temperature to proof instant or active dry yeast with sugar until foamy, signaling active yeast. Bread flour, optional salt, and cinnamon are added to form a dense, not sticky dough, which is kneaded until smooth. Raisins are incorporated to distribute sweet bursts throughout the dough.
After shaping into bagels, they are boiled briefly in water to develop the chewy crust typical of bagels before being baked. Cornmeal can be sprinkled on baking trays to prevent sticking and add texture to the bottom crust.
The resulting bagels have a soft crumb with cinnamon flavor and pockets of juicy raisins. They work well toasted and can be stored airtight at room temperature for several days or frozen for longer keeping.
A tip suggests proofing the dough in a warm oven environment for reliable rising. While freeze-thaw of shaped dough prior to baking has not been tested, the baked bagels freeze well.
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Ingredients
- 1 cup water warmed to packaging directions (about 125F for Red Star Platinum
- 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant dry yeast I use Red Star Platinum, or active dry yeast; one 1/4-ounce packet
- 2 ½ cups bread flour plus more if needed and for flouring work surface
- pinch salt optional and to taste
- 1 tablespoon cinnamon or to taste
- ¾ cup raisins
- water for submerging or boiling
- 2 tablespoons cornmeal optional but recommended, yellow; for sprinkling on baking trays
Instructions
- Warm 1 cup water to manufacturer’s packaging directions, about 45 seconds in the microwave. Take the temperature with a thermometer. If you don’t have one, water should be warm to the touch, but not hot. Err on the side of too cool rather than too hot because you don’t want to kill the yeast.
- To the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook (or large mixing bowl), add the water and sugar.
- Sprinkle the yeast over the top. Wait 5 to 10 minutes, or until yeast is foamy. This means it’s alive and will work. (This is called proofing and technically with instant dry yeast you don’t have to proof it, for active dry yeast; you should. I do it regardless.)
- Add 2 1/2 cups flour, optional salt, and knead for 5 to 7 minutes, or until dough comes together in a nice, round, smooth ball. This is a thick, dense dough. It should be smooth and not sticky. If your dough is sticky or isn’t coming together, add another tablespoon or two of flour, as needed, until it does. Bread making is very climate and weather dependent. In the summer or in humid climates you may need slightly more flour than you do in the winter or in dry climates.
- Sprinkle the cinnamon and raisins over the smooth mound of dough. It will look like a lot of both, but allow them to be kneaded in for 2 to 3 minutes, or as long as necessary to distribute. If the raisins are being stubborn and want to fall out, push them in with your fingers. Note – Cinnamon and raisins may be omitted for plain bagels.
- Place dough in a cooking sprayed or lightly greased large bowl, cover with plasticwrap, and allow to rise in a warm, draft-free environment until doubled in size, about 2 hours. *
- Punch dough down, and turn it out on a Silpat or lightly floured work surface.
- Divide dough into 6 to 8 equal-sized portions. (I made 8)
- Roll each portion into a ball.
- With your fingers, make a hole through the middle of each ball. Stretch the opening, shaping dough into a bagel shape. Dough will tend to spring back and want to recoil, just re-stretch and re-shape. Push in any raisins that try to escape.
- Place dough on two Silpat-lined or greased baking sheets, cover with plasticwrap, and allow dough to rise in a warm, draft-free environment for about 30 minutes, until bigger, but they won’t have doubled. I use the preheated oven trick again.
- In the final minutes of rising, preheat oven to 400F. If you were using the oven as your rising spot, remove dough before preheating the oven.
- Before baking, to create a chewier crust, submerge each portion of dough into a pot of boiling water and boil for 1 to 2 minutes, flipping over halfway through. The longer the dough boils, the chewier and thicker the bagel crust will be. I personally do not like overly chewy bread with a thick, crusty crust and skipped boiling. My bagels were plenty chewy just from submerging in warm water.
- Instead, I submerged each bagel in a bowl of warm tap water for about 1 minute.
- Place moistened or boiled pieces of dough on baking trays that have been sprinkled with the cornmeal; about 1 tablespoon per tray. This prevents the bagels from getting too well-done or burning on the bottoms.
- Bake for about 18 to 20 minutes, or until golden, domed, puffed, and done. If you boiled them, they may take a few minutes longer to bake; if you made 6 rather than 8 bagels, they may take slightly longer to bake. Watch your bread, not the clock, when evaluating if they’re done. I preferred my 18 minute bagels to the 20 minute bagels because they’re softer.
- Allow bagels to cool on baking trays momentarily before serving. I recommend toasting them and serving with honey butter or cream cheese.
Notes
- Proof yeast in warm water between 120–130°F to ensure it is active without killing it.
- Create a warm rising spot by briefly preheating the oven to 400°F, turning it off, then placing the dough inside to rise.
- Store baked bagels airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days or freeze for up to 6 months.
- Freezing dough after first rise and shaping but before second rise is untested and may not yield successful results.
Nutrition Information
Show Details
Serving
1
Calories
292kcal
(15%)
Carbohydrates
63g
(21%)
Protein
8g
(16%)
Fat
1g
(2%)
Polyunsaturated Fat
1g
(6%)
Sodium
30mg
(1%)
Fiber
3g
(12%)
Sugar
15g
(30%)
Nutrition Facts
Serving: 6Serving
Amount Per Serving
Calories 292 kcal
% Daily Value*
| Serving | 1 | |
| Calories | 292kcal | 15% |
| Carbohydrates | 63g | 21% |
| Protein | 8g | 16% |
| Fat | 1g | 2% |
| Polyunsaturated Fat | 1g | 6% |
| Sodium | 30mg | 1% |
| Fiber | 3g | 12% |
| Sugar | 15g | 30% |
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet.
Genuine Reviews
User Reviews
Overall Rating
4.7
108 reviews
Excellent
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