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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Cinnamon Raisin English Muffin Bread with Cinnamon Sugar Butter – A goofproof, foolproof, no-knead recipe that’s perfect for the first-time bread maker.
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My boy has a cinnamon raisin bagel every morning! He’ll LOVE these!
Bagels sound incredibly hard to make. Yours look totally perfect! Great job!!
I love bagels, these look divine! And I love that you added a full tablespoon of cinnamon, no skimping on that! :)
It the entire batch of dough, 3+ cups of bread flour, it honestly doesn’t even really make the bagels that cinnamon-ey! That dough can really take a lot. It’s quite the sponge!
oh my. i love bagels. i love cinnamon raisin bagels. and i need these bagels. no boil? genius. also, i love that you called san diego dry – i’m from there but don’t live there now – come to utah. then you’ll see dry ;)
I have people write to me from all over and sometimes the way they describe their dough, I can almost just tell they live in humidity and then I ask them where they live and they say Birmingham or Tampa :) I know there are places far drier than here like where you are!
Cinnamon Raisin Bagels are one of my favorites (the other being Blueberry) and I cannot get over that I can possibly make these! I am so happy but also very worried of the danger this can lead to.. bagels all the time!
Please LMK if you try them!
They are now in the oven…they smell soooo good!! I will let u know how they turn out! :)
Just tried them…A-M-A-Z-I-N-G! I made them plain with some seeds on top and ate them with cream cheese and smoked salmon…sooo good!! :) Thank you for your wonderful recipes… I check your blog everyday to see what’s new and I’ve basicly been trying one of ur recipes everyday! Thanks to you now I have more confidence and know that I can make delicious food!!! :)
What an amazing comment and thing you’re doing – trying one of my recipes everyday! Thank you! I’d love to hear the other things you’ve been trying. Feel free to drop a comment in on the post with what you tried. I love hearing people’s experiences and so glad that you have more confidence in the kitchen.
And I can’t believe you already made these bagels (less than 12 hours after I posted them) and with success! Plain and with seeds. My husband would love them with lox and cream cheese. That would be his dream :) He would have loved your bagels!
I sent you an email with some pictures of what i’ve tried so far. Yeah my husbands love bagels as well, we have breakfast sorted for the next week :)
Sorry I meant “my husband loves”, I havent got several husbands lol :)
Ha! You’re right, it takes every ounce of self-control I have to chill my cookie dough for 2 hours. A 2-day recipe? No thank you! But THIS I could do. I’ll probably wait till fall–my bread-making tends to be seasonal. Cooler weather brings out my nesting instincts. Thank you for a do-able recipe!
Cooler weather definitely brings out my nesting instincts, too, and makes me want to bake. Ironically when I made these in San Diego it was about 62F and ‘chilly’ as the summertime goes! :)
Bagel for breakfast, my favorite way to start the day off! Never actually thought to bake my own bagels, this post gives me just enough confidence to give it a try! Beautiful pics.
Thanks, Daniela. I appreciate the compliments!
My favorite bagel has always been cinnamon raisin loaded with raisins. Yours look perfect! I made bagels once years ago, and I’m so ready to make them again. Your breads always inspire me to get in the kitchen and get it done!
Love to hear that! Keep me posted if you try these!
These look so plump and chewy and wonderful! I am doing the July challenge as well. Mine are proofing as we speak (cinnamon raisin too, of course. Is there any other flavor???). But I can already tell they are not going to be as perfect as yours!
Oh please – they will be lovely! I was actually going to wait and do these in a week or so but noticed it had a 7/21 cutoff which is Sunday and it was either now or never type of thing – I don’t post yeast recipes midweek usually b/c they take forever to write so put them up on the weekends when I have more time. Can’t wait to see your bagels!
They are gorgeous and I cannot believe you did not boil them! I mean, they look like you boiled them and anything cinnamon is always a winner around here. Thanks for reminding me about Lindsey challenge. I need to start making some bagels!
You have so many ‘harder’ bread recipes like firmer dinner rolls, seeded rolls, buns, etc. I seriously cannot keep track of them all – and I know you have bagel recipes! But these were my first. And the boiling thing – not necessary for me. They were PLENTY chewy with the classic bagel texture after a 1 minute sit in the warm tap water. I actually am so glad I didn’t boil them because for me, they would have been just too much. I hate jaw-ripping bread where you have to gnaw on it to eat it. lol
This is so cool that you mage bagels! It’s definitely on my culinary bucket list too, but I am slightly terrified. So glad yours turned out so beautifully! Cinnamon raisin is really the best flavour for bagels :)
I was terrified too and thought they’d be an inordinate amount of work – and yes, they are more work than a loaf of bread, but totally worth any little bit extra time needed. And this recipe is as streamlined & easy as I could make it!
Wow! These do seem much more simple than the PR version. I’ve made another version that was somewhat simple, but does require boiling. It’s been a long time.. maybe I’ll try this next!
Enjoy & LMK if you try them. They’re as easy as a yeast dough bagel recipe gets – I cut out what I thought were any unnecessary steps and my carb-addicted husband scarfed these like nobody’s business :)
I used to eat a cinnamon raisin bagel for breakfast every day in high school too. I have been intimidated by the two-day recipes out there but yours seems easy and straightforward. Will have to try this soon!
Yes these are as easy as bagels get – none of that 2-day business!
Fresh bagels are the best. These look great!
I love this recipe Averie! Especially since it doesn’t require a specific bagel pan or anything. I used to be obsessed with blueberry bagels growing up… my brother and I would get into fights over the last one haha! Definitely on my list to try baking. :)
I really wanted to make blueberry bagels but it’s such a ‘specialty’ item & wanted to post something more universal, so to speak – but I love bb bagels!