Montreal Style Bagels, delicious homemade bagels. A wonderful soft bread, sweetened with honey and topped with sesame seeds. Easy instructions and freezer friendly too!
This delicious recipe has been generously shared by one of our great cooks, Carina. Montreal Style Bagels differ from the well known New York Style ones in various ways.
What's the difference between New York Bagels and Montreal Bagels?
Montreal Bagels are generally smaller in size, sweeter (due to the addition of syrup and use of honey in the water), and are traditionally baked in a wood fired oven.
These bagels are often coated with black or white poppy seeds and should be darker in color than the New York Style Bagels.
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Montreal bagels, like the similarly shaped New York bagel, were brought to North America by Jewish immigrants from Poland and other Eastern European countries; the differences in texture and taste reflect the style of the particular area in Poland in which the immigrant bakers learned their trade.
These are so delicious so be sure to make plenty!
Prep Time
2 hours (includes rising time)
Cook Time
15 minutes
Yield
12 Bagels
Recipe by Carina Duclos
Ingredients
1 ½ cups warm water
5 tablespoons granulated sugar
3 tablespoons canola oil
8 grams or 1 package active dry yeast
2 large eggs, DIVIDED (one is for the dough and one is for an egg wash)
1 tablespoon maple syrup
4 - 4 ½ (630 g) cups all-purpose, unbleached flour
1 teaspoon salt
¾ cup poppy seeds or sesame seeds or any seed you want (optional)
16 cups of water
⅓ cup honey
Instructions
1. In a large bowl whisk together the warm water, sugar, canola oil, yeast, 1 egg and syrup. Combine until the yeast dissolves.
Stir in salt and one cup of the flour. Add enough flour to make a shaggy, soft dough, about 3 cups.
2. Knead your dough for about 12 minutes (if kneading by hand), adding flour as needed as you go (I added an additional ½ cup, giving a total of 4 ½ cups of flour). I used my stand mixer with the bread hook to make this and took about 5 min medium speed
3. Once your dough is firm and smooth, cover with inverted bowl and let the dough rest 1 hour.
4. Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Roll each piece into a 8-10 inch rope, then curve each one pressing together the ends to make a bagel shape. Make sure that the ends are firmly stuck together or they will come apart when you boil them.
Let the shaped dough rise for 30 minutes
5. About five minutes before your dough is finished rising, fill a large pot with water (16 cups of water) and stir in the honey. Bring that to a boil.
6. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. Boil your bagels by placing them in the pot (3-4 at a time, you don't want them to be on top of one another), and boil for 45 seconds on each side (90 seconds total). Remove and let the water drain off onto a clean towel or paper towel.
8. In a small bowl whisk your egg. Brush your bagels with the egg mix and add seeds as you wish. I used sesame seeds but you can use any seeds you want or even leave them plain if you wish.
9. Bake at 425 F for 8-10 minutes (they should be starting to get golden brown on the side touching the baking tray), then flip and bake another 6-8 minutes (until completely light, golden brown). This is really going to depend on your oven temperature.
Usually the second side (and the second batch) bakes a lot faster than the first so keep an eye on it! I have done bagels before without flipping them and they have come out very good also.
Allow to cool on a cooling rack.
Carina's Tips & Serving suggestions:
For serving ideas I would suggest toasted with cream cheese or sandwiches. I have them often with a fried egg and cheese My husband loves them with my homemade peanut butter.
Once completely cool, store in a freezer bag for a few days.
Even better, freeze the majority of the bagels immediately after they are done cooling to preserve their texture. I haven’t had a chance to freeze mine. We only have two left from the dozen I made yesterday (also I believe we ate almost half when they came out of the oven! just with butter).
Hubby had a yummy sandwich with bagels last night and today toasted bagels with butter and homemade blueberry jam…. You can see why they are almost gone!
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Recipe Card
Montreal Style Bagels
Montreal Style Bagels, delicious homemade bagels. A wonderful soft bread, sweetened with honey and topped with sesame seeds. Easy instructions and freezer friendly too!
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups warm water
- 5 tablespoons granulated sugar
- 3 tablespoons canola oil
- 8 grams or 1 package active dry yeast
- 2 large eggs, DIVIDED (one is for the dough and one is for an egg wash)
- 1 tablespoon maple syrup
- 4 - 4 ½ g cups all purpose, unbleached flour, 630
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup poppy seeds or sesame seeds or any seed you want, optional
- 16 cups of water
- ⅓ cup honey
Instructions
- In a large bowl whisk together the warm water, sugar, canola oil, yeast, 1 egg and syrup. Combine until the yeast dissolves.
- Stir in salt and one cup of the flour. Add enough flour to make a shaggy, soft dough, about 3 cups.
- Knead your dough for about 12 minutes (if kneading by hand), adding flour as needed as you go (I added an additional ½ cup, giving a total of 4 ½ cups of flour). I used my stand mixer with the bread hook to make this and took about 5 min medium speed
- Once your dough is firm and smooth, cover with inverted bowl and let the dough rest 1 hour.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal parts. Roll each piece into a 8-10 inch rope, then curve each one pressing together the ends to make a bagel shape. Make sure that the ends are firmly stuck together or they will come apart when you boil them.
- Let the shaped dough rise for 30 minutes
- About five minutes before your dough is finished rising, fill a large pot with water (16 cups of water) and stir in the honey. Bring that to a boil.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F and line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Boil your bagels by placing them in the pot (3-4 at a time, you don't want them to be on top of one another), and boil for 45 seconds on each side (90 seconds total). Remove and let the water drain off onto a clean towel or paper towel.
- In a small bowl whisk your egg. Brush your bagels with the egg mix and add seeds as you wish. I used sesame seeds but you can use any seeds you want or even leave them plain if you wish.
- Bake at 425 F for 8-10 minutes (they should be starting to get golden brown on the side touching the baking tray), then flip and bake another 6-8 minutes (until completely light, golden brown). This is really going to depend on your oven temperature. Usually the second side (and the second batch) bakes a lot faster than the first so keep an eye on it! I have done bagels before without flipping them and they have come out very good also.
- Allow to cool on a cooling rack.
For serving ideas I would suggest toasted with cream cheese or sandwiches. I have them often with a fried egg and cheese My husband loves them with my homemade peanut butter.Once completely cool, store in a freezer bag for a few days. Even better, freeze the majority of the bagels immediately after they are done cooling to preserve their texture. I haven’t had a chance to freeze mine. We only have two left from the dozen I made yesterday
- (also I believe we ate almost half when they came out of the oven! just with butter)
- Hubby had a yummy sandwich with bagels last night and today toasted bagels with butter and homemade blueberry jam…. You can see why they are almost gone!
Nutrition Information:
Yield: 12 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 160Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 1gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 8gCholesterol: 31mgSodium: 205mgCarbohydrates: 18gFiber: 2gSugar: 14gProtein: 3g