Homemade Montreal Bagels – Simple and Easy Recipe

The Montreal Bagel is unique. It’s handmade, doused in sesame seeds and baked in a wood-fired oven. It does not resemble its lighter and fluffier distant cousin in New York, and we love it all the same.

This recipe post will provide you with great tips and tricks on how to make this Montreal-Style Bagel right at home. No wood-fired oven required.

What is a Montreal Bagel ?

Like the New York Bagel, Montreal Bagels were brought by Jewish Immigrants from Eastern Europe. The Montreal Bagel is a thinner bagel with a larger hole, and is usually sweeter and much more dense than the typical East Coast U.S. Bagel. It usually has malt, or malted flour and egg, but no salt.

Because its dough is particularly tough, the Montreal Bagel is boiled in a bath of water and honey before hitting the oven.

Fun fact: The Montreal Bagel reflects a style of Bagel Making that is similar to the area in Poland from which Hyman Seligman came from. Seligman is the founder of the first, famous and still awesome bagel shop in Montreal: Fairmount Bagel. The two most famous and beloved Bagel Bakeries in Montreal are Fairmount (EST. 1919) and St. Viateur Bagel Shop (EST. 1959).

How to Make The Montreal Bagel ?

As stated before, the Montreal Bagel dough is very tough. In our recipe, we will only be 235g of water to the 500g of flour. Also, we will not be using malted flour or malt powder. Although I could easily get my hands on those ingredients, I think that most people won’t readily have those ingredients at home. Therefore, we will be using honey. My aim is to make this recipe as easy and accessible as possible to you. Let’s do this!

Here is the ingredient list:

• Unbleached all-purpose flour.
• Instant yeast: We are using a very small amount of yeast, as using more will relax the dough too much and make it into a stretchy Pretzel-like bagel. 1/4 tsp (or 1g) is more than enough.
• Honey: Brings in sweetness and helps the bagels brown beautifully in the oven.
• Eggs: Another traditional ingredient; eggs help make the bagels chewy and also help with the browning.

Instructions:

• In your stand mixer bowl, add water and yeast. Mix and let your yeast bloom. Once you see little bubbles in the water you know that your yeast is alive and ready for action. Add flour and honey. Using your dough hook, mix it all together roughly, by hand, and then add your egg. Set and lock the bowl in the stand mixer and mix on low speed for 4-6 minutes, or until your dough is smooth.
• Take the dough out of the bowl, shape into a tight a ball, and place it back into the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let your dough proof somewhere warm for 1 hour. You can simply put the oven light on in a cool oven and let it rise there with no other heat, or if your kitchen is a nice warm room temperature, you can simply leave it on the counter. Remember to take the bowl out of the oven before starting to preheat it.
• Preheat your oven to 500F and prepare your garnish bowl: I am using two garnishes, so I poured 200g of sesame seeds into 1 bowl and the same amount of Everything Bagel dressing into another bowl. Bring 2L of water to a boil in a large pot, add your honey and whisk, then lower the heat to a simmer (medium-low heat).
• After 1 hour your dough should have grown by 50%. Take it out of the bowl and divide into 8 balls. Roll your dough into a 6″-7″ rope. Bring the ends together. Slide your hand inside the bagel hole, as shown in the photo above, and roll to ensure that your bagel is properly sealed.

• Drop your bagels in, bare (without sesame seeds or other dressings) 2 at a time in the simmering water-honey mixture, and cook for about 1 ½ to 2 minutes. Remove bagels and place them into your garnish bowl. Once the bagel is completely covered in garnish, place them on parchment paper-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the bagels until you have a full baking sheet.
• Lower the oven temp to 450F and immediately bake for 15-20 minutes or until golden brown. Let the bagel cool-down for at least 5 minutes before serving. Enjoy!