Easy Valentine’s Day Bagels
Showing just how easy it is to make your own delicious bagels at home and with a step by step guide on how to shape each one into a cute heart, perfect for your loved ones.
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Even if you’ve never made bagels before, you’ll soon be a bagel expert because I’m gonna show you everything I know!
scroll to bottom for printable recipe
My kids especially love when there are home made bagels cooking because it almost always means we’ll be backroading or off-roading in our old pick-up truck to have a picnic in the hills.
Our favorite thing to do with bagel bread is use them to make sandwiches since the everything bagel seasoning gives the sandwich such delicious flavor.
And to make them even more special, every now and then, I’ll shape them into little hearts just to remind my family that I love them ;).
It took a few trial and errors before getting them to keep their cute heart shape because they like to fatten up in the boiling water but my pain is your gain!
Let’s Connect!
I’m gonna show you exactly how to get it right, and if you don’t, I show you how to fix it to make it still look like they’re perfect.
scroll down for printable version
INSTRUCTIONS – valentine’s day heart bagels
1. THE NIGHT BEFORE – prep the dough
- add sourdough starter, water, maple syrup, salt, and 2 cups flour to a stand mixer. (you can mix by hand if you don’t have a mixer).
- set your mixer to low speed and let the dough mix for 7-10 minutes until it’s all incorporated together.
- switch to a dough hook and add your remaining 2 cups of flour, only adding a 1/2 a cup of flour at a time.
- mix until most of the dry spots are gone
- roll the dough into a ball, place in a bowl, and cover it.
- let rest overnight or at least 4 hours.
2. THE NEXT DAY – shape your heart bagels
- divide dough into 10 equal pieces
- shape your bagels using either a heart shaped cookie cutter or form your hands into a heart shape while squeezing a ball of bagel dough into your heart shaped hands. (see video for visual description).
- poke a hole in the center of your bagel using your finger or a straw.
- stretch the hole until it is about a nickel to a quarter size wide.
- cover shaped bagels with a kitchen towel and let rest 1-3 hours. (if you don’t want to wait, you can move on to the next step but the longer you wait the fluffier they’ll be.)
3. BOIL
- bring a pot of water to a boil and preheat oven to 425 degrees while you finish this step.
- add 1 tablespoon brown sugar (or your sweetener of choice) to the boiling water then a little bit at a time, add 1 tablespoon baking soda
- add a few bagels to your pot BUT DON’T CROWD THE BAGELS. leave enough room for each to puff out a bit more.
- line your baking dish with parchment paper (or foil).
- after 1-3 minutes, flip them so the other side boils in the baking soda/sugar water. (the time you leave them in the water is entirely up to you because the longer they boil, the puffier they get.)
- once the bagels have reached your puffy preference, place them on your baking sheet that you’ve lined with parchment paper.
- continue steps 4-7 until all your bagels have been boiled.
- (optional) reshape your bagels if they got a bit wonky in the boiling water
- (optional) add bagel toppings.
4. BAKE
- place your boiled bagels in your 425 degree preheated oven for 20 minutes or until SLIGHTY GOLDEN.
- Now, let them rest on your counter for 10 minutes to finish cooking on the inside.
5. SLICE & EAT!
Valentine’s Day Heart Bagel Video Tutorial
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Easy Valentine's Day Bagels
Heart shaped sourdough bagel recipe. see Youtube video for visuals.
Ingredients
Bagel Dough Ingredients
- 1/2 cup sour dough starter (or 1/2 packet of active dry yeast mixed with 1/2 cup of water)
- 1 cup water
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup (or your sweetener of choice)
- 2 teaspoons salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2 more cups all purpose flour (set aside)
Boiled Water Ingredients
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar (or your sweetener of choice)
Instructions
THE NIGHT BEFORE - prep your dough
- add sourdough starter, water, maple syrup, salt, and 2 cups flour to a stand mixer. (you can mix by hand if you don't have a mixer).
- set your mixer to low speed and let the dough mix for 7-10 minutes until it's all incorporated together.
- switch to a dough hook.
- adding 1/2 a cup at a time, add your remaining 2 cups of flour. (1/2cup, mix it in. 1/2cup, mix it in. 1/2 cup, mix it in. 1/2 cup, mix it in.)
- mix until most of the dry spots are gone
- roll the dough into a ball
- place in a bowl and cover it.
- let rest overnight or at least 4 hours.
THE NEXT DAY - shape the bagels
- divide dough into 10 equal pieces
- shape your bagels using either a heart shaped cookie cutter or form your hands into a heart shape while squeezing a ball of bagel dough into your heart shaped hands. (see video for visual description).
- poke a hole in the center of your bagel using your finger or a straw.
- stretch the hole until it is about a nickel to a quarter size wide.
- cover shaped bagels with a kitchen towel and let rest 1-3 hours. (if you don't want to wait, you can move on to the next step but the longer you wait the fluffier they'll be.)
BOIL THE WATER
- bring a pot of water to a boil and preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- add 1 tablespoon brown sugar (or your sweetener of choice)
- a little bit at a time, add 1 tablespoon baking soda
- add a few bagels to your pot BUT DON'T CROWD THE BAGELS. leave enough room for each to puff out a bit more.
- line your baking dish with parchment paper (or foil).
- after 1-3 minutes, flip them so the other side boils in the baking soda/sugar water. (the time you leave them in the water is entirely up to you. The longer they boil, the puffier they get.)
- once the bagels have reached your puffy preference, place them on your baking sheet that you've lined with parchment paper.
- continue steps 4-7 until all your bagels have been boiled.
- (optional) reshape your bagels if they got a bit wonky in the boiling water
- (optional) add your bagel toppings.
BAKE
- place your boiled bagels in your 425 degree preheated oven for 20 minutes or until SLIGHTY GOLDEN. (see youtube video for visual)
- let them rest on your counter for 10 minutes to finish cooking on the inside.
SLICE & EAT!
Notes
UNDERCOOKED
if your bagels are undercooked, this is mostly likely because the hole needed to be bigger to allow for even cooking. WE CAN FIX THIS! slice your bagels and place them in your toaster before eating.
UGLY BAGELS
add bagels toppings to hide mistakes. 😉
