TK Diaries: The Egg Bagel

A first attempt at homemade egg bagels—and everything I’d tweak next time.

Hi all!! Welcome to this new newsletter series inspired by my “day in the life working in a test kitchen” videos (and also Nicola Lamb’s Substack, Kitchen Projects, which I love). I thought it’d be fun to dive a little deeper into the recipe development process behind what I bake up at home. This will be a free newsletter that accompanies any recipe I post here.

Let’s talk bagels.

I have to admit—while I bake almost every day, I don’t think I’ve made bagels in about 15 years. The last time I vaguely remember doing it was with my dad, and the only reason I remember at all is because he reminded me a few weeks ago. While sweet, that wasn’t what sparked my recent urge to perfect an egg bagel. It was partly this video from Eater, showing the bagel-making process at Utopia Bagels in NYC, and partly a mouthwatering photo my friend sent me of an open-faced bagel topped with lox, onion, capers, and dill from Apollo Bagels over the weekend.

In more recent years, I’ve fallen deeper in love with bread baking and anything that involves a yeasted dough. (There’s just something so satisfying about it! And you can do so much with a solid base recipe.) Since bagels hadn’t yet made it onto my Substack, I figured it was time.

The thought process

My favorite type of bagel—one I hadn’t even tried until moving to NYC a few years ago—is the egg bagel. It’s basically a regular bagel enriched with eggs and yolks, giving it a chewy, soft interior and a slightly sweet, almost brioche-like flavor. Developing a totally new recipe for something you haven’t made in a while (or ever) can be tricky—especially if you’re trying to avoid ten rounds of testing. So here’s how I set myself up

:

• Rewatched the Utopia Bagels video from Eater to gather tips (proofing in the fridge, shaping, avoiding blistering, etc.)

• Read through several bagel recipes and articles

• Scrolled TikTok for shaping demos (as always)

• Wrote out a base recipe based on what I’d read and what I wanted—how much egg felt right, how sweet I wanted them, etc.

• Prepped my ingredients and got started

The baking

Egg bagels are known for their yellow color, so that was obviously a goal. I started with 2 whole eggs and 2 extra yolks, thinking four yolks total would be enough—but it barely made a difference in the color. By the time I realized that, it was too late to incorporate more without messing up the dough.

Bagels typically use malt, which adds signature flavor and aids in browning and texture. I didn’t have any on hand (and I’m guessing most home bakers don’t either), so I subbed in honey instead, which for such small batches at home, should work just fine.

The dough rose nicely, but the shaping process is where things got tricky. I was probably a little overconfident going in, and quickly realized I need a lot more practice. Some looked great… others, not so much.

Ideally, I would’ve let them do a second rise in the fridge overnight—but I’m often plagued by deep impatience (not the best trait for a recipe developer), so I went for a three-hour rise instead.

Boiling really emphasized all the weird shapes and creases, and a few even started closing up in the water. I had to reshape some of the remaining bagels to make them bigger before they hit the water so they wouldn’t close. I coated them with everything bagel seasoning (which hides imperfections very well, I must say) and flaky salt.

The results

They baked up nicely, but they weren’t yellow at all—and they tasted way more like pretzels than bagels. They had a tiny bit of chew, but overall were pretty bready. Still tasty, just… not quite an egg bagel.

Next time—hopefully this weekend—I’ll add way more yolks, knead a bit more, and up the honey (aka malt sub). I also think I boiled them for too long; I did one minute per side, which is more typical of pretzels, so I’ll cut that in half next round.

I’m also thinking of making a homemade cream cheese to go with them. Thanks to a great rec from a subscriber, I’ll try ramp-flavored (if I can find any!).

xx
Nea