These Montreal-style bagels are soft, chewy and totally delicious. An easy bagel dough poached in honey water for a slight sweetness. Top with your favorite seasoning and enjoy a chewy homemade bagel in under 3 hours!
A Quick Look At The Recipe
This is a brief summary of the recipe. Jump to the recipe to get the full details.
Prep Time
40 minutes
Cook Time
25 minutes
Proof Time
1 hour 50 minutes
Total Time
2 hours 55 minutes
Servings
8 bagels
Difficulty
Moderate
Calories *
314 kcal per serving
Technique
Make the dough, pre-shape, shape the bagels, proof, boil, and bake.
Flavor Profile
Soft and chewy bagels poached in honey water.
* Based on nutrition panel
My very first attempt at making bagels and they were perfect! I don’t claim to be an expert nor am I from Montreal, but these have that authentic chewy texture instead of the bread-like texture in so many commercial bagels sold in supermarkets. Given the price of bagels at specialty shops in Vancouver, and how easy these are to make, I’ll DEFINITELY be making them again.⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Jill Anderson
This Montréal-style bagel recipe is inspired by traditional Montreal bagels rather than attempting to be an actual replication, since most home cooks don’t have access to a wood-fired oven! They retain that classic hint of sweetness with a delightful chew that sets them apart from New York style bagels.
I had the opportunity to try St. Viateur Bagels in Montréal, hot and fresh from the oven, on a trip with my husband and these bagels are some of the best you’ll ever make from scratch.
Table of Contents
What are Montreal-Style Bagels?
Montreal bagels, sometimes called Montreal-Style Bagels, are traditionally sweeter, thinner bagels with a bigger center hole that are baked in a wood-fired oven. They’re poached in a honey-sweetened water bath before baking and topped with sesame seeds or poppy seeds, though they can be topped with most traditional bagel toppings.
Why You Will Love this Recipe
- An easy & fast plain bagel recipe. This recipe is easy, lightly sweetened with maple syrup and can be made in under 3 hours!
- Only 5 ingredients! While bagels from St. Viateur and Fairmount bagel have egg or egg yolk in the dough, mine does not. This would make them even more dense.
- Chewy texture inspired by Montreal bagels. These bagels bake taller and fluffier than traditional Montreal bagels as a result of baking them in a standard oven rather than a wood-fired oven. Wood-fired ovens offer higher, more concentrated heat that cannot be replicated. At St. Viateur they moved the bagels through the oven on a conveyor belt.
- A versatile recipe for your favorite toppings. Traditional Montreal bagels are topped with sesame seeds or poppy seeds, but these bagels are also delightful with everything bagel seasoning (“all dressed” as they are called in Montréal!), a sprinkle of salt or even the cinnamon sugar from my copycat Panera French toast bagels!
Ingredients & Substitutions
- Pure Maple Syrup: Maple syrup is my own addition to Montréal style bagels. Just 2 teaspoons adds a little sweetness to the dough and a more complicated flavor. I recommend using Grade A pure maple syrup. You could also omit it or substitute honey.
- Active Dry Yeast: You can use either active dry yeast or instant yeast in this bagel recipe.
- Bread Flour: I do not recommend substituting the bread flour for all-purpose flour because it does not have enough gluten to create chewy bagels. They will be lighter and fluffier. You can also substitute an equal amount of the bread flour, by weight, for high-gluten flour as I do in my everything bagels and sourdough discard bagels!
- Salt: You can use sea salt or kosher salt, but salt is necessary for that chewy texture.
- Honey: The honey poaching water is what gives these bagels a slight sweetness. Swap the honey for ¼ cup barley malt syrup, if desired.
- Toppings: These bagels are delightful plain but the flavor is neutral enough to be a wonderful canvas for your favorite bagel seasonings.
See the recipe card for full information on ingredients and quantities.
Variations
- Bake in a wood-fired oven: My husband just splurged on a pizza oven for our backyard, so I can assure you that this recipe is also delightful when baked in a more traditional way. I recommend placing the bagels on a pizza screen for easy placement and rotation. Once I have perfected this, I’ll report back with more detailed instructions.
- Add a mix-in: Though not traditional, you could add dried fruits and nuts like these cranberry bagels and chewy cinnamon raisin bagels, or lean into the sweetness with chocolate chips like my chocolate chip bagels.
Professional Tips for Montréal Bagels
- Please use bread flour or high-gluten flour. For many recipes, bread flour and all-purpose flour can be interchangeable — but in this case the extra protein content yields a chewy, dense bagel.
- Don’t sweat it if you shape imperfect-looking bagels. I don’t know the science behind this, but even the ugliest bagels tend to bake up pretty in the oven, see my pumpernickel bagels as proof! If you do want to learn how to properly hand-roll a bagel like they do in Montreal, I have a step-by-step tutorial in my everything bagel recipe.
- Boiling bagels is a misnomer. Bringing the water to a boil then reducing to a simmer before adding the proofed bagels is sufficient. The warm water creates that chewy skin but isn’t so hot it kills the yeast throughout the bagel.
- Choose an oven temperature that works for you. Stephanie bakes her bagels at 475°F but I prefer to bake mine at 425°F. I enjoy them baked at 450°F but the crust is a little darker and thicker especially on the bottom. s
How to Make Montreal Style Bagels
Use these simple instructions to make chewy Montreal style bagels from scratch! Further details and measurements can be found in the recipe card below.
Step 1: In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment or in a large mixing bowl using a wooden spoon, stir together water, maple syrup, yeast, flour and salt until a firm dough forms. Continue to knead dough in a stand mixer on medium speed for 6-8 minutes, OR knead by hand on a clean surface for 8-10 minutes, until dough is soft, smooth, elastic and only slightly sticky. If necessary, you can knead in up to 1/4 cup more flour if the dough seems too sticky.
Step 2: Shape dough into a ball; transfer to a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 ½ hours.
Step 3: Meanwhile, place a large sheet of parchment paper on an upside-down baking sheet. Place sesame/poppy/everything bagel seasoning into shallow bowls.
Step 4: Next, shape the bagels: Punch down risen dough to deflate. Divide dough into 8 equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball; poke a hole in the center of each ball and gently tug to form a rough bagel shape with a 2-inch circle in the center.
You can also reference the step-by-step photos for hand-rolling bagels like a professional in my everything bagel recipe post.
Step 5: Place bagels on parchment; cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until slightly puffy, about 20 minutes.
Step 6: In the meantime, heat the oven to 475°F and prepare the honey water bath. In a large saucepan, bring honey and roughly 3 quarts of water (enough to fill the pan by about 3 inches) to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.
Step 7: When the oven and bagels are ready, poach the bagels: Using a slotted spoon, transfer 2 to 3 bagels at a time to simmering water; cook on one side for about 1 minute, then flip and cook for another minute. Use a slotted spoon to transfer each bagel to one of the bowls with seeds; dip and turn the bagels to coat in the seeds, then return, seed side-up, to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining bagels.
Step 8: Finally, bake the bagels: With bagels still placed on a parchment-lined upside-down baking sheet, carefully transfer to the oven. Bake bagels for 15 to 20 minutes, rotating the baking sheet halfway through baking, until bagels are a deep golden brown.
Step 9: Cool bagels completely on a cooling rack before slicing.
Recipe FAQs
Homemade bagels tend to keep best for up to 1 day at room temperature, stored in a paper bag. After that, I highly recommend freezing them in a freezer-safe resealable bag, and thawing, slicing and toasting them as needed. You can also slice them before freezing for easy toasting! They will retain freshness for up to 3 months frozen.
Montreal bagels are hand-rolled with slightly larger centers and baked in a wood-fired oven, which makes them more dense, chewier, and thinner than New York bagels baked in a conventional oven. The wood-fired oven also adds a smoky flavor. Traditionally they are poached in a water bath sweetened with honey.
Traditional toppings are sesame seeds or poppy seeds, but you can use any toppings you enjoy. They are even lovely plain.
Most Montrealers eat their bagels plain and warm from the oven, but they are just as tasty with a generous shmear of cream cheese or softened butter. While New York is known for their egg and cheese bagel breakfast sandwiches, in Montréal you can find many varieties but the most notable bagel sandwich has cream cheese, smoked salmon, tomatoes and onions!
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If you enjoyed this recipe, please leave a star rating and let me know how it goes in the comments below! I love hearing from you and your comments make my day!
Montreal Style Bagels
Ingredients
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 2 teaspoons pure maple syrup
- 2 teaspoons active dry yeast , OR instant yeast
- 3 ¼ cups unbleached bread flour, plus more as needed
- 1 teaspoon salt
- ¾ cup sesame seeds, poppy seeds and/or everything bagel seasoning
- ⅓ cup honey
Instructions
- First, make the dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer with the dough hook attachment or in a large bowl using a wooden spoon, stir together water, maple syrup, yeast, flour and salt until a firm dough forms. Continue to knead dough in stand mixer on medium speed 6-8 minutes, OR knead by hand on a clean surface 8-10 minutes, until dough is soft, smooth, elastic and only slightly sticky. If necessary, you can knead in up to 1/4 cup more flour if dough seems too sticky.
- Shape dough into a ball; transfer to a lightly oiled large bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 1/2 hours.
- Meanwhile, place a large sheet of parchment paper on an upside-down baking sheet. Place sesame/poppy/everything bagel seeds into shallow bowls.
- Next, shape the bagels: Punch down risen dough to deflate. Divide dough into 8 equal-sized pieces. Roll each piece into a ball; poke a hole in the center of each ball and gently tug to form a rough bagel shape with a 2-inch circle in the center (see Post above for a link to a video tutorial on how to shape bagels!). Place bagels on parchment; cover loosely with plastic wrap and let rise until slightly puffy, about 20 minutes. In the meantime, heat oven to 475°F.
- Next, boil the bagels: In a large saucepan, bring honey and roughly 3 quarts of water (enough to fill the pan by about 3 inches) to a boil. Reduce heat to a simmer.
- Using a slotted spoon, transfer 2 to 3 bagels at a time to simmering water; cook on one side for about 1 minute, then flip and cook for another minute. Use slotted spoon to transfer each bagel to one of the bowls with seeds; dip and turn the bagels to coat in the seeds, then return, seed side-up, to parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with remaining bagels.
- Finally, bake the bagels: With bagels still placed on parchment-lined upside-down baking sheet, carefully transfer to oven. Bake bagels 15 to 20 minutes, rotating baking sheet halfway through baking, until bagels are a deep golden brown. Cool bagels completely on a cooling rack before slicing.
- Store fresh-baked bagels in a paper bag for up to 1 day; after that, slice each bagel in half and freeze for up to 2 months.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Like this recipe? Rate & comment below!Before You Go
I hope you enjoyed this homemade bread recipe. Check out all our bagel recipes or explore more creative breakfast and brunch recipes!
Hi, you don’t mention a step to ferment them in a cooler for a day or so prior to baking. Not recommended?
Hi Karl! Traditional Montréal bagels rely on wood-fired ovens for flavor and chew, so here the texture is achieved through bread flour, honey poaching, and a shorter fermentation instead. A cold ferment won’t hurt, but it isn’t necessary for the intended result. You could experiment with one for flavor if you’d like — just expect a slightly different texture. ~gvd team
I love these bagels. I baked my at 450°F and the crust was PERFECT! My sister-in-law had a wood-fired pizza oven, and I can’t wait to try it with these bagels.
Oh and Lindsay , recipe is good, and I was talking to barteck
Haha, copy that! ~gvd team
Made them and they turned out great. I used a lower temperature (425F) for 25 nin snd they browned perfectly. 475F seemed quite high?.
I live in Montreal and made this recipe for Mother’s Day instead of buying. Came out almost like the real thing. Maybe would need a bit more salt. Made some mods: baked at 550F, rolled them out Montreal style. If you follow this recipe exactly you get what we call Toronto bagels. Lol.
My very first attempt at making bagels and they were perfect! I don’t claim to be an expert nor am I from Montreal, but these have that authentic chewy texture instead of the bread-like texture in so many commercial bagels sold in supermarkets. Given the price of bagels at specialty shops in Vancouver, and how easy these are to make, I’ll DEFINITELY be making them again.
Jill, Thank you so much!!