Bagel is a well-known bakery product that you can find all over the world. I’m pretty sure anyone who is reading this article now has eaten at least one bagel before. So you can understand how famous this bakery product is.
But have you ever tried making bagels at home? I will share the recipe with you in this article. Besides that, we will talk about many bagels related topics.
How Long Do Bagels Last?
Most of the time, you can keep fresh bagels in good quality for 2 to 5 days if you leave them sealed. You can extend this by one or two days by keeping them refrigerated. But in the bottom line, bagels go bad very fast.
The best way to keep them for long is by using a freezer. If you store the bagels in a freeze, you can get three months out of them.
Do Bagels Go Bad?
Bagels are a type of bread that is made from a dough of water, yeast, and flour. They can be eaten warm or toasted.
Bagels have been known to spoil quickly so it is important to know which days they go bad.
It can be kept at room temperature for a few days. If they are kept for more than a week, they go bad or lose their flavor.
Bagels aren’t like other bread products where they can be stored in the fridge and reheated later. When you make your own bagels, consider making them fresh before you eat them.
How To Tell When Bagels Are Bad?
When a bagel is bad, it will start to show some signs. You can tell if a bagel is bad by looking for these signs:
- If the dough smells sour or rancid
- If it has an off-taste
- The hole in the middle of the bagel doesn’t look like it used to
- The outside is moldy, soft, or wet
- You can smell a bad odor coming from it
- It has bubbles on its surface
How To Store Bagels
This section discusses the best way to store bagels. This includes storing them in the refrigerator, freezer, or pantry.
Some experts recommend that you should store bagels in the refrigerator for 4 hours before consuming them.
Most people agree that you can store them at room temperature for up to 2 days. Some say longer than 2 days is not necessary but it’s safe to say this will depend on how long your bread is meant to last.
Refrigerator
Bagels can be easily stored in a refrigerator. It is recommended that you place them in a plastic bag or airtight container.
Room Temperature
With proper storage, bagels can be kept at room temperature for many days.
The best option is to store them in an airtight container and place them in the pantry. Remove them when you’re ready to eat them.
Can You Freeze Bagels?
Freezing bagels is one of the fastest and most effective ways to make them last longer.
The first thing you should do before freezing any food item is to check its expiry date. If it’s expired, don’t freeze it!
Most bagels have an extended shelf life of about 2 weeks after they are originally baked. If that expires, then that means that the product has already gone stale, and making it frozen will just cause it to even deteriorate more.
How To Keep Bagels Fresh Longer
If you like to make bagels and keep them fresh, here’s what you need to know.
“The first rule of bagel-making is: If you don’t want your bagels to go stale, do not leave them in the refrigerator.”
The reason for this is that the refrigerator’s temperature can be too low and kills off some of the yeast that makes the dough rise.
If you’re using a bread machine to knead your dough, just set it on delay and let it rise for an hour before making the bagels.
To avoid mold from growing on bagels, it is crucial to store them properly. The best way is to put them in a cool and dry place with a low humidity level so that they can keep their crispier taste.
How to Make Bagels?
Home-made bagels are both healthier and tastier than store-bought ones that typically use high-fructose corn syrup in their doughs. They’re also typically made with organic ingredients to avoid unnatural additives. Making homemade bagels is easy – you just need a few simple ingredients.
Ingredients
- Bread flour
- Warm water
- Mapel syrup
- Dry yeast
- Sea Salt
First, you have to make the dough. Mix flour with water and then add the yeast, warm water, and maple syrup mixture to the dough. Continue to mix the mixture until it does not stick in your hand. Transfer the dough into a bowl and cover it with plastic wrap. Keep it like that until dough doubles in size.
Now make equal-sized small balls from the dough. Then roll each ball into a rope. You can add some water onto the working surface for some assistance. Once they have the correct diameter, make rings with the help of your fingers. Cover the ring-shaped bagels and place them in the refrigerator for about 12 hours.
Take the bagels out from the refrigerator and let them sit outside until they reach room temperature. Once they are at room temperature, cook the bagels in boiling water for one minute. As the last step, bake the boiled bagels for 14 – 18 minutes.
Related Questions
Where is the origin of the bagel?
If you refer to history, there is no record of an exact place of the bagel’s origin. But it was first seen among the Jewish community. So there are records about bagels from Israel, Germany, and Poland. But you can say the recipe has not changed much since the beginning.
What is the shape of the bagel?
Bagels have a unique shape that helps you to identify one quite easily. But if you consider the recipe to make a bagel, there is no need to continue with the same design. But we all know one shape that comes to anyone’s one mind when we talk about bagels.
It is a ring-shaped bakery product with a hole in the middle. The size might have varied from small to large in different places. The reason for this is that we use our hands to get the shape of a bagel.
Final Thoughts
Bagels are a favorite bakery among many people in the world. With different toppings, you can add almost any flavor to your bagel. It’s an easy recipe to follow at home. As same as other bakery products, you can not keep them for long so it’s best to eat them as soon as they are baked.