Homemade Blueberry Bagels

This blueberry bagel recipe makes amazing homemade bagels. They're chewy bagels, lightly sweet, and a pretty purple. Made with frozen or fresh blueberries. They are easy to make and they taste and look impressive!

Blueberries in bagels

Juicy blueberries bring color, flavor, and moisture to the bagel dough. In this recipe, you can use frozen blueberries or fresh blueberries, as the berries get cooked down a little before being added to the rest of the dough ingredients.

Cooking the blueberries first reduces the liquid in the berries and this enhances their flavor as well as the purple color. It also helps to control the amount of moisture added to the bagel dough.

For another blueberry recipe, check out these blueberry white chocolate muffins!

The bagel dough

Bagels are usually made from lean dough. This means it's a dough where there is no fat added to it. They use quite a stiff dough, too, with low hydration. The end result is bagels that are a bit chewy and thick, and less airy than other yeast bread.

A good bagel should have a decent amount of toothsome chew to it. Use high-gluten flour for the classic chewy texture - this is a flour with a protein level between 11-13%. 

This is best done with bread flour. Some all-purpose flours have a protein level of over 11% in which case you can use that sort of all-purpose flour for these bagels too.

The ingredients

Find the ingredient amounts for these delicious blueberry bagels listed in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is a rundown of what you will need.

• Blueberries. Fresh or frozen blueberries work in this recipe.
• Warm water
• Active dry yeast or instant yeast
• Granulated sugar - just a little to enhance the sweet blueberry flavor.
• Bread flour or strong all-purpose flour
• Salt
• Vanilla extract
• Optional dried blueberries - for extra blueberry flavor.
• Honey, maple syrup, or brown sugar. For poaching. Poaching the bagels in sweetened boiling water prior to baking gives them a golden and chewy crust. The added honey or other sugar gives them a beautiful golden sheen with no need for egg wash.

Equipment

This simple recipe can easily be made by hand, though for extra ease, use a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment.

Method

Step 1 - The blueberries

In a small saucepan over low heat add the blueberries. Let the berries heat up, stirring occasionally until they release their juices. Bring the mixture to a simmer and let it simmer, stirring regularly until the liquid in the pan has reduced by half and slightly thickened.

Pour the berries and remaining liquid into a bowl and let it cool down until just warm.

Step 2- The dough

In a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine water, yeast, and sugar and stir. If using active dry yeast, let this sit for around 5-10 minutes until it becomes foamy, if using instant yeast this step can be skipped.

Add in the flour, salt, blueberry mixture, and vanilla. Use a fork or switch the stand mixer onto low speed, to combine it into a thick dough. The dough should be very thick but also slightly sticky. If it's too sticky, add a little flour. If it's too dry, add a tablespoon of water.

Keep it kneading or mixing for around 10 minutes for optimal gluten development.

Step 3 - First rise

Once the dough is kneaded and strong, form it into a ball. Place the dough ball into a large oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap or a damp towel. Let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size.

Step 4 - The bagel shape

Punch the dough down and pull it from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface.

Cut the dough into 8 equal pieces (a kitchen scale works well to ensure even bagels) and shape each piece into a ball. Let these dough balls rest for 5 minutes.

Use your thumb and index finger of both hands to push a hole into the center of each ball of dough, then roll the dough ball around your fingers in a circular motion to widen the hole. Aim for a large hole as it will shrink back in size once it sits.

Place the shaped bagels on a prepared sheet pan lined with parchment paper and let them puff out a bit, for around 30 minutes while the oven preheats and a pot of water is brought to a boil.

Step 5 - Poaching

Bring a large pot of water to a boil and preheat the oven to 428°F/220°C and line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Once the water is boiling, stir in honey or brown sugar.

Dust any excess flour off the bagels and drop them in the boiling water one at a time. Boil 2-3 bagels at a time.

Let them poach in the water for 1-minute total, flipping them after 30 seconds. Remove the bagels from the water using a slotted spoon. Drain the boiled bagels on a wire rack and continue with the rest of the bagels.

Step 6 - Baking

Place the bagels on the lined baking sheet. Bake them in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until deep golden brown. If they are baking unevenly or your oven has hot spots, turn the oven tray around after 15 minutes of baking.

Remove the baked bagels from the tray and let them cool on a cooling rack for 30 minutes before slicing and serving.

The bagels will initially feel hard as they come from the oven but will soften as they cool to room temperature.

Storing

Store leftover bagels in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.

Bagels freeze very well too which will prolong their life. Freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw frozen bagels at room temperature, in a toaster, microwave, or low-temperature oven.

Related recipes

Try these sourdough bagels! Or check out these blueberry recipes:

• Blueberry galette with puff pastry
• Classic blueberry pie with frozen blueberries
• Brioche donuts with blueberry jelly