Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels — Making bagels at home with this easy recipe will leave you wondering why you hadn’t tried it sooner! These are the BEST cinnamon raisin bagels I’ve ever had. Soft, chewy, and subtly flavored with cinnamon and plenty of raisins!
Easy Homemade Bagel Recipe
I have a soft spot for cinnamon raisin bagels. I ate one almost every day for most of high school and college. And these are the best ones I’ve ever had.
Making them has been on my culinary bucket list for a few years, but I was avoiding it because I thought they were hard to make. They’re not. And I can happily check bagels off the bucket list.
The issue is that with any sort of yeast recipe is that there are so many recipes for the same thing; sort of like chocolate chip cookie recipes.
Some recipes really over-complicate things compared to others, when the end result should be the same. A cookie should really just be a cookie, or in this case, a bagel.
I looked at the infamous Peter Reinhart recipe from his book The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. It’s all over the internet, but begins by making a dough sponge, allowing that to rest overnight, and then you pick up the next day, which stretches bagel-making over 2 days.
I can hardly get my readers to chill their cookie dough for 2 hours. Two day yeast recipes aren’t happening.
I looked at this Food Network recipe for inspiration for the water, flour, and yeast ratios. But like almost all bagel recipes, it has you boil the dough before baking it. The reason for boiling the dough is because the water helps create a chewier, heartier, thicker crust.
After making the dough, a two-hour rise, shaping the dough into bagels, and another 30-minute rise, the last thing I wanted to worry about was bringing water to a boil and dealing with that, so I didn’t.
This is a very straightforward yeast recipe, taking under 3 hours from start to finish. Like all my yeast bread recipes, I try to spell out every last detail to give the best chance for success, but always trust your instincts and watch the dough in front of you and if you think it needs more flour, more time to rise, or a cooler oven, do it.
Bread-making is weather-dependent and dough in humid Houston in the summer is going to need more flour than in dry San Diego.
It’s a dreamy dough to work with. Soft, smooth, and not at all sticky. Unlike cinnamon rolls where the dough should be moist, loose, and shaggy so the finished rolls are light and fluffy, bagels are chewier and denser.
So this dough is thick, dense, and very well-floured, perfect for newer bread makers who aren’t used to handling sticky dough.
I have Lindsay’s July Kitchen Challenge to thank for the nudge to make these. I wished I had tried making bagels ages ago because we loved them and they’re easy enough.
A homemade fresh, warm, toasted cinnamon raisin bagel slathered with butter or cream cheese is truly heavenly.
What’s in Cinnamon Raisin Bagels?
To make these easy homemade bagels, you’ll need:
- Warm water
- Granulated sugar
- Instant or active dry yeast
- Bread flour
- Salt
- Cinnamon
- Raisins
- Yellow cornmeal (for sprinkling on the baking trays)
How to Make Homemade Bagels
Make the dough and put it in a bowl and wait about 2 hours for it to grow.
The photos were taken about 2am, when I do my best bread-making.
Everyone else is asleep and I’m working on blog stuff and the yeast are working, too. Perfect match.
Punch it down, divide it into 6 or 8 golf balls.
Stick your thumb through the middle of each.
Put them on baking sheets.
Wait another 30 minutes or so…
…And then get them wet. I simply just submerged the dough in a bowl warm tap water for a minute, and the bagels turned out with plenty of chewiness and crustiness.
I don’t like overly crusty breads, and the submersion method produced plenty of crustiness. I actually wouldn’t want any more and I’m glad I didn’t boil them. My jaw doesn’t need that much of a workout.
Place moistened or boiled pieces of dough on baking trays that have been sprinkled with the cornmeal. Bake the cinnamon raisin bagels until golden, domed, puffed, and done.
How Long Do Homemade Bagels Last?
Extra cinnamon raisin bagels will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for up to 6 months.
Can I Prep the Dough Ahead of Time?
I’ve had a few readers ask about making the dough ahead of time and leaving it to rise overnight so they can have freshly baked bagels in the morning. I haven’t tried this myself, but here are my thoughts.
After the first rise, I would just pop the bagels into the fridge, covered, and then the next day, take them out, let them come up to room temp for 30-60 minutes (just so they’re not chilled and look plumped), dunk in water, then bake from there. If you give this a try, let me know!
Tips for Making the Best Homemade Bagels
The cinnamon flavor is nice but subtle, and there’s plenty of moist raisins throughout, but if you’re not into cinnamon and raisins, you can omit and make plain bagels.
Or use dried blueberries instead of raisins, add seeds like poppyseeds, or use garlic salt instead of cinnamon for savory bagels. The vegan dough is a blank canvas for your favorite type of bagel.
These bagels freeze beautifully and can easily be reheated in the toaster or in the oven.
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Easy Homemade Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
Ingredients
- 1 cup water, warmed to packaging directions (about 125F for Red Star Platinum
- 1 ½ tablespoons granulated sugar
- 2 ¼ teaspoons instant or active dry yeast (one 1/4-ounce packet, I use Red Star Platinum
- 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 yellow cornmeal for sprinkling on baking trays, optional but recommended
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
- *Tip – Create a warm environment by preheating your oven for 1 to 2 minutes to 400F, then shutting it off. This creates a 90F-ish warm spot. Slide the bowl in quickly, close the door, and wait for the dough to rise. Just make sure your oven is off.
- Extra bagels will keep airtight at room temperature for up to 5 days, or can be frozen for up to 6 months. I have not tested freezing the dough after the first rise and after shaping, but before the second rise, and don’t know if this would be successful.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
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More Easy Bread Recipes:
Raisin Bread For Raisin Lovers — The Raisin Bread for Raisin Lovers is chewy and has a hearty outer crust with a dense, soft, and moist interior. It’s excellent toasted with butter and sprinkling of cinnamon-sugar.
Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin Bread with Cinnamon Sugar Butter – A goofproof, foolproof, no-knead recipe that’s perfect for the first-time bread maker.
Cinnamon Swirl Bread – As close to a cinnamon roll as a bread can get and still be called bread rather than dessert!
Overnight Buttermilk Soft and Fluffy Cinnamon Rolls — These overnight cinnamon rolls are ultra soft and fluffy thanks to the buttermilk in the dough. Top them with homemade cream cheese frosting and enjoy!
Easy Sourdough Bread — This easy sourdough bread recipe uses yogurt and sour cream in place of a traditional sourdough starter, which makes it possible to prep a loaf in less than a day!
Soft & Fluffy Sandwich Bread — This sandwich bread is soft, fluffy, light, and moist. It’s made with a secret ingredient that keeps it moist and fluffy — oatmeal! It’s the perfect bread for a PB&J or grilled cheese sandwich!
The BEST Glazed Orange Rolls— These homemade orange rolls are filled with a buttery orange filling and are topped with a simple orange glaze. They can be prepped the night before, if needed.
Oh yes, I see now. I did miss where it says to turn off oven after 1 to 2 min. of preheating to 400. Thank you for setting me straight on that! I can’t wait to try this recipe now. Thanks again!!
Michele
Ok good!
Not gonna lie, these are some of the best homemade bagels I’ve seen!
Thanks, Carrian! I appreciate it!
Congrats on shortening your bucket list! :D Your bread recipes always look so do-able, even for someone who’s deathly afraid of yeast. I think I’ll add these bagels to my own bucket list – they look scrumptious!!
WOW AVERIE! THESE LOOK SOOOO GOOD
yummy, this looks so good
i have a soft spot for cinnamon raisin bagels too… but sometimes i just toast bread , spread a little butter and top it with cinnamon and raisins.
:-)
Your method sounds like what I should try sometime!
Oh my! How beautiful!
I’ve never made bagels myself – I’ve always been too intimidated. But these sound totally do-able! :)
Being totally addicted to bagels, I’m loving this cinnamon raisin version!
These look wonderful Averie! Bagels have been on my 2013 bucket list since Jan 1. I don’t know if I can make them as beautiful as yours though! Cinnamon raisin is my favorite (and Kevin’s too!) and I ate them ALL of the time in high school before swim practice. With a thick slather of cream cheese. Such pure comfort food! And I love how easy this recipe is because like you, I’ve looked into other bagels recipes and it makes me go running for the hills! It’s fabulous that this recipe only yields 6-8 bagels too. Perfect amount for us before they get dense!
I made sure that the recipe was do-able and that it didn’t produce too many at once. I had been looking into bagels for a good couple years I think and always was too ambivalent about any recipes I had seen to even start adapting them. But then got inspired to finally tackle them and so glad I did. I find them easier than cinnamon rolls or sweet rolls, because there’s no filling to make and roll in and then there’s no need for a glaze/frosting post-baking. Definitely a do-able recipe! :) And I didn’t know you were a swimmer!!
You and I working on the same wavelength these days! :)
I have to admit, I like these more than my Gevrek recipe. I am a sucker for raisin bagels!! Although in high school I mostly ate Twix Bars for breakfast, right before 1st hour. :-D
I ate Twix bars and Snickers AFTER school…same wavelength as you though! :) What I wouldn’t give to be able to eat bagels and cream cheese and Twix and Snickers all day long, every day, again :)
I never knew the words “bagels” and “easy” could be in the same sentence! But these definitely look worth trying! Last time I made bagels the results were so worth it but it was so many steps and took so long! How long did these stay fresh for before they became dense? Thanks!
I would say 3 days but toasting them brought an extra day of life into them. It’s a small-ish batch recipe too for that very reason – so you don’t end up wasting any due to batch size! If you’ve made bagels before, I think you will be very happy with how much easier this recipe is than most!
These would make a wonderful treat on a lazy weekend morning. By the way, I admire that you are up baking and doing blogging stuff so late.
It’s the only time of day to get any true writing work done. The rest of the day, I’m just putting out fires or doing photography!
Homemade bagels have been on my bucket list for a long time as well! These are gorgeous Averie!!!
Thanks, Aimee!
Mmmm, I love bagels. For some reason we don’t eat them much at home, but when we go down to my parents’ house, they’re sooo good :) I usually go for a sweet/savory combination- an everything bagel toasted with strawberry jam- but a cinnamon raisin with butter sounds fantastic! Way to go for checking something else off your list!
You know I worked in a bagel shop for about 5 years and I ate at least one a day, sometimes up to 3 daily! Cinn Raisin and Choco Chip were my favorites and I preferred them simple – toasted with just a little melted butter. That first picture is making me DROOL.
The boiling vs steaming debate is HOT in the bagel world. Some purists say that if it isn’t boiled, it isn’t a real bagel. NY bagels, which East coasters claim to be the only real bagel, are always boiled. We steamed ours – make a 100 pound batch of dough, shape them all, proof for a couple hours, stick the rack in the walk in freezer, and then stick the trays you want to bake in the pre-heated oven. The first 15 seconds was a BIG BLAST of steam and then cook. So good, and they had the chewiest crust. I loved them!
GF bagels just suck.
I totally forget your bakery/bagel shop job, every time. Every time you tell me, it’s like news to me! I honestly am so happy I didn’t boil these. Between the bread flour and homemade vs. commercial kitchen bread recipes always being denser/heavier/chewier anyway, the soak method was perfect! The only GF brand of bread I’ve ever tried that was decent was Rudi’s but it’s pricey and I didn’t try the bagels, just a bread. I can imagine bagels are very, very hard to duplicate properly!
I may not be a sweet bagel lover but I share my love of chewy bread. My favourite flavour is has to be caramelised onion bagels with cream cheese. I have not made these in such a long time because the weather is too cold for the yeast to get going, damn winter!
I think I might give these ago, as I have always used sourdough to make my bagels. I am keen to try a new recipe
Bagels are on my bucket list, too. I’m happy to hear they’re not hard to make. Your bagels look beautiful.