Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
Date Completed: 6/7-8/2025
Book: Baking Illustrated
Chapter: Yeast Breads & Rolls
Overall Score: 10/12
Recommended? I put “make bagels” on my 2025 bingo card (i.e., the poster board I have sitting in my office with 25 goals to complete in 2025). If you have similar aspirations, I think you should absolutely do it! I had so much fun making these bagels. My favorite part: they are prepped the night before, so all you have to do in the morning is boil and bake them. Minimal wait-time for breakfast = sign me up!
I grew up primarily eating Einstein Bagels. My dad would take my sister and me to Einstein many Saturday mornings, and it was also a frequent spot for lunch play dates that my mom would take us to. My go-to order started as plain and eventually became honey whole wheat. That’s what it still is today!
A few months ago, my friend Hannah made bagels for a brunch-themed get-together, and I was in awe! They were SO delicious! At the time, I didn’t have the cookbook her recipe came from, so I found this one in Baking Illustrated.
Admittedly, as of this writing, I now own the other cookbook, too. Maybe someday I’ll do those bagels and compare!
Process Report:
Process Score: 2 - Quite Involved
It’s a two-day process, so it automatically gets the Quite Involved score! However, it really was not too difficult to put these together. I did all of the mixing and kneading in my stand mixer, first combining high gluten flour, barley malt syrup, vanilla extract, cinnamon, raisins, and salt. Then, I added instant yeast and warm (not hot) water. That was kneaded for about 10 minutes.
I divided it up into 4 oz portions and shaped them into balls. I used some of the techniques I’ve learned from the Sugar Glider Kitchen YouTube series to get the shape and surface tension I wanted!
Then I rolled each portion into a rope and connected the edges to make the bagel shape. It wasn’t hard, just a little time-consuming to repeat eight times.
The recipe had a long headnote describing the testing and development process. They recommended making the dough the night before, not for convenience but rather to allow time for flavor development. Apparently, a 13-18 hour rest was considered ideal. I accidentally started too late in the evening, so mine only chilled for about 11 hours (gasp).
In the morning, I grabbed the bagels from the fridge and immediately noticed that they had not risen at all. The recipe mentioned that it purposefully avoided a lot of yeast activity, so I think this was expected.
I brought a pot of water to boil, and boiled the bagels in groups of three for about 30 seconds. This was easy, especially because the chilled bagel dough was firm and held its shape during boiling.
Then, I baked them for about 14 minutes at 450 degrees. My only regret was not being prepared for the amount of steam that would hit my face when I opened the oven door to retrieve the finished bagels! That definitely woke me up!
Taste Report:
Taste Score: 2 - So Good
My first note has to be about the texture: so classically bagel-y and chewy! I really felt like I could have purchased them from a bagel shop!
The only downside, and this is a problem for bagel shop bagels, too, is that the raisins-per-bagel ratio was not high enough. Some bagels had only one whole raisin with maybe a few raisin morsels throughout. I would probably double or triple the raisins and add more cinnamon to amp up that flavor for next time!
Despite the raisin shortage, these still put a huge smile on my face! And I got to put a big check on the “make bagels” bingo square! Win-win!
Mess Report:
Mess Score: 3 - Minimal
Another great thing about this recipe: minimal dishes!
Leftover Report:
Leftover Score: 3 - Feast
I gave these the top score of Feast because we ate them for the rest of the week! I kept them in the refrigerator and just toasted them each morning. They stayed fresh and delicious all week long!
Garrett’s favorite topping was butter with cinnamon sugar. I think that combination finally brought out the cinnamon flavor!
Next up on the bingo card: choux pastry and macarons!