Homemade Montreal Bagels - Simple and Easy Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How are Montreal bagels made? ›

Montreal bagels are typically hand-rolled, resulting in uneven and misshapen bagels with large holes! They are dipped in boiling water spiked with honey before baking in a wood-fired oven.

Compared to a “New York style bagel”, what makes the Montréal bagel the far superior is that, not only is each single bagel is made by hand, but they are poached in honey water before being baked in a wood-fire burning oven. This cooking process gives the bagel its distinctive chewiness, golden color and crust.

In order for the bagels to develop that well-browned exterior and slightly dense chewy texture, they must be boiled briefly before baking. This works because the boiling water sets the exterior crust before it hits the oven, preventing the bagels from rising very much, while further developing that browned exterior.

Montreal bagels tend to be smaller, thinner, sweeter and less salty than their New York City counterparts. Both are boiled, but Montreal employs wood-burning ovens for baking, while New York utilizes burlap planks. Many NYC loyalists tout the local tap water as the secret ingredient.

The Montreal bagel is different from the New York bagel in several ways. Montreal bagels are smaller and more dense. They have a larger hole, and the dough is made with egg and honey. Another big difference between New York bagels and true Montreal-style bagels is that Montreal bagels contain no salt!

Bread flour – Because of its high protein content, bread flour makes these homemade bagels delightfully chewy. This recipe also works with all-purpose flour, they're just a bit less chewy than bagels made with bread flour. Maple syrup – It activates the yeast and gives the bagels a hint of sweetness.

When too much flour is kneaded in, bagels become dense, hard and tough, instead of crisp and chewy. It can easily take 10 minutes of mixing and kneading before the right texture and gluten strength is achieved. This is what the inside of a well-made bagel should look like.

The Montreal bagel has a calorie range of 120-220. This means it is definitely healthier than other versions of a bagel. Some people, when eating the New York style bagel scoop out the interiors and just eat the crust. But a dietician saw that she still took in 400 calories this way.

However, Montreal bagels are boiled in honey water, giving them a slightly sweeter taste than bagels that are made in New York. One more big difference between New York style bagels and Montreal bagels is that the New York style is much more popular than that of Montreal's.

Should you toast Montreal bagels? ›

Its very small bagels are made in a wood-burning oven and sweetened with honey. They do not need to be toasted if they are eaten within four hours of being purchased (why anyone would wait that long is beyond me). After four hours, Montreal bagels join the ranks of need-to-be-toasted bagels.

Baking soda makes the water more alkaline, giving the bagels a pretzel-like quality that contributes to their chewiness. Just one teaspoon helps the bagels develop a shiny, dark-brown exterior as they bake. One thing to keep in mind: Keep the water bath at a constant simmer.

but we have figured out a really easy way to make a really comparable delicious bagel. From pizza dough. you want to divide this up into balls about two to three ounces each. you want to form these into a rough ball shape and set them on a greased baking sheet.

Add honey and baking soda to boiling water in a large pot. This will help give the bagels a nice sheen and golden brown color when out of the oven. Add a few bagels at a time to the pot, making sure they're not crowded. They should float immediately when added to the water.

What makes the Montreal Bagel different from all others. They are smaller with a larger hole, crunchier on the outside, denser and sweeter on the inside. Unlike other bagels, if not hot out of the oven, they must be toasted to bring them back to that 'hot out of the oven taste. '

BOILING. Add honey and baking soda to boiling water in a large pot. This will help give the bagels a nice sheen and golden brown color when out of the oven. Add a few bagels at a time to the pot, making sure they're not crowded.

These baked treats are pretty dense, and lumps of bagel dough could wind up with an stubbornly undercooked center, if not for the hole that allows heat to seep into the middle. What's more, the hole increases the bagel's surface area, creating more of that crisp crust that's a hallmark of an amazing chewy bagel recipe.