These Cranberry Bagels combine the perfect chewy texture of authentic New York-style bagels with the sweet-tart burst of dried cranberries in every bite. The two-day process might seem intimidating, but the results are worth the wait!
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🥯 The sweet cranberries paired with warm cinnamon create the perfect breakfast treat!
My 2 Best Tips For Making Cranberry Bagels
Float Test: This step determines when your bagels are properly proofed and ready for refrigeration. A correctly proofed bagel will float within 10 seconds due to developed gas bubbles. If it sinks, continue proofing at room temperature. Trust this test over timing to ensure perfect texture.
Shaping Technique: Start with small holes and gradually stretch to 2 inches in diameter, as they will shrink during proofing and baking. Keep thickness even around the entire bagel for uniform baking. Uneven spots create areas that bake differently.
I always lightly dust my Craisins with flour before adding them to the dough during the final minutes of kneading. This flour coating prevents the cranberries from sinking to the bottom of the bagels during shaping and proofing, so I get even distribution throughout each bagel instead of cranberry-heavy bottoms and plain tops.
Cranberry bagels are incredibly versatile and have become a weekend staple in my home. I love toasting them for breakfast with cream cheese, but they are equally delicious plain or with a smear of butter and honey.
These bagels also make fantastic sandwiches – the slight sweetness pairs beautifully with savory fillings like turkey and brie. I often slice and freeze half the batch so we can enjoy fresh-tasting bagels throughout the week by just popping them in the toaster straight from the freezer.
🩷 Melissa
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Cinnamon Cranberry Bagels
Ingredients
Sponge
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 4 cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
- 2 ½ cups water room temperature
Dough
- 1 teaspoon instant yeast
- 3 – 3 ¾ cups unbleached high-gluten or bread flour
- 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
- 5 tablespoons sugar
- 2 ¾ teaspoons salt
- 2 teaspoons malt powder or 1 tablespoon dark or light malt syrup (Honey or brown sugar can be substituted.)
- 2 cups Craisins
To Finish
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- Cornmeal or semolina flour for dusting
- Melted butter for brushing optional
- Cinnamon sugar for sprinkling optional
Instructions
Day One: Make the Sponge
- Stir the yeast into the flour in a 4-quart mixing bowl. Add the water, whisking or stirring only until it forms a smooth, sticky batter like pancake batter.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and leave at room temperature for approximately 2 hours, or until the mixture becomes very foamy and bubbly. It should swell to nearly double in size and collapse when the bowl is tapped on the countertop. (Mine was doubled in 1 ½ hours.)
Day One: Make the Dough
- In the same mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer, add the additional yeast to the sponge and stir. Then add 3 cups of the flour, cinnamon, sugar, salt and malt (or substitute).
- Stir or mix on low speed with the dough hook until the ingredients form a ball, slowly working in the remaining ¾ cup flour to stiffen the dough. In the last two minutes of mixing, add the Craisins.
- Transfer the dough to the counter and knead for at least 10 minutes (or for 6 minutes by machine). The dough should be firm, stiffer than French bread dough, but still pliable and smooth. There should be no raw flour – all ingredients should be hydrated. The dough should 77 to 71°F. If the dough seems too dry and rips, add a few drops of water and continue kneading. If the dough seems tacky or sticky, add more flour to achieve the stiffness required. The kneaded dough should feel satiny and pliable but not be tacky.
- Immediately divide the dough into 16 (3.375 ounce) pieces. Form pieces into rolls. Cover the rolls with a damp towel and allow them to rest for approximately 20 minutes.
- Line two sheet pans with parchment paper and mist lightly with spray oil.
- Poke a hole in a ball of bagel dough and gently rotate your thumb around the inside of the hole to widen it to approximately 2 inches in diameter. The dough should be as evenly stretched as possible — try to avoid thick and thin spots.
- Place each of the shaped pieces 2 inches apart on the pans. Mist the bagels very lightly with the spray oil and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let the pans sit at room temperature for about 20 minutes.
Day One: The Float Test
- Check to see if the bagels are ready to be retarded in the refrigerator by using the float test. Fill a small bowl with cool or room-temperature water. The bagels are ready to be retarded when they float within 10 seconds of being dropped into the water. Take one bagel and test it. If it floats, immediately return the tester bagel to the pan, pat it dry, cover the pan, and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
- If the bagel does not float, return it to the pan and continue to proof the dough at room temperature, checking back every 10 to 20 minutes until a tester floats. return the tester bagel to the pan, pat it dry, cover the pan, and place it in the refrigerator overnight.
- Note: The time needed to accomplish the float will vary, depending on the ambient temperature and the stiffness of the dough. The dough can stay in the refrigerator for up to 2 days so these are a good make-ahead option!
Day Two: Finish the Bagels
- Preheat the oven to 500°F with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil — the wider the pot the better. Add the baking soda to the water. Have a slotted spoon or skimmer nearby.
- Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and gently drop them into the water, boiling only as many as comfortably fit. They should float within 10 seconds.
- After 1 minute, flip them over and boil for another minute. If you like very chewy bagels, you can extend the boiling to 2 minutes per side.
- While the bagels are boiling, sprinkle the same parchment-lined sheet pans with cornmeal or semolina flour. (If you decide to replace the paper, be sure to spray the new paper lightly with spray oil to prevent the bagels from sticking to the surface.)
- When all the bagels have been boiled, place the pans on two middle shelves in the oven. Bake for approximately 5 minutes, then rotate the pans, switching shelves and giving the pans a 180-degree rotation. (If you are baking only one pan, keep it on the center shelf but still rotate 180 degrees.)
- After the rotation, lower the oven setting to 450°F and continue baking for about 5 minutes, or until the bagels turn light golden brown. You may bake them darker if you prefer. (I baked mine for about 15 minutes and you can see how dark they got in the picture.)
- Remove the pans from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before serving. Optionally, when they come out of the oven and are still hot, you can brush the tops with the melted butter and dip them in cinnamon sugar to create a cinnamon-sugar crust, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
How To Make Cranberry Bagels
Step 1: (Day One) Mix 1 teaspoon yeast with 4 cups bread flour and 2½ cups water until smooth. Cover and let sit 2 hours until doubled and bubbly.
Step 2: Add 1 teaspoon yeast to sponge, then mix in 3 cups flour, cinnamon, sugar, salt, and malt powder. Add Craisins in final 2 minutes of mixing.
Step 3: Knead 10 minutes until firm but pliable. Divide into 16 pieces, form rolls, rest 20 minutes, then shape into 2-inch diameter bagels.
Step 4: Proof shaped bagels 20 minutes. Test one in water – if it floats within 10 seconds, refrigerate all bagels overnight.
Step 5: (Day Two) Boil bagels in water with baking soda for 1 minute per side. Place on cornmeal-dusted pans.
Step 6: Bake at 500°F for 5 minutes, rotate pans, reduce to 450°F and bake 5 more minutes until golden. Cool 15 minutes before serving.
Recipe FAQs
While the recipe is designed for two days, you can make them in one day if needed. After the float test passes, let them sit at room temperature for about 2-3 hours instead of refrigerating overnight. The flavor won’t be as developed, but they will still be delicious.
You can substitute honey, brown sugar, or even maple syrup in the same amount. The malt adds a subtle depth of flavor, but these alternatives work well too. Brown sugar is probably the closest substitute in terms of flavor complexity.
This usually indicates under-proofed dough or water that wasn’t hot enough during boiling. Make sure your bagels pass the float test before refrigerating, and maintain a rolling boil when cooking them. Also check that your yeast is fresh and active.
More Yummy Bread Recipes to Consider
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Ellen S.
I make my own bagels also, either sesame coated or cranberry-orange-walnut. I have a couple of questions for you – first, my COW bagels tend to be a little over-moist, because, I think, the cranberries swell up absorbing more water, which gets transferred to the rest of the bagel during cooking and the whole bagel ends up sort of “flat”, compared to the plain or sesame ones. Any ideas on counteracting this issue?
And second, I was wondering what the purposes of the sponge and float test, and what “retarding” is? I just make my dough in the bread machine, shape, rise, boil and bake, and other than the earlier issue I noted, they seem fine (and a lot less complicated to do).
I just happened upon Craisins the last time I purchased cranberries for my bagels, and I think they are great also!
Thanks,
Ellen
Barbara Schieving
Hi Ellen – I wonder if it’s the sugar in the cranberries causing the problem http://redstaryeast.com/yeast-baking-lessons/common-baking-ingredients/sweeteners/. Here’s a good article on starting with a sponge https://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/food/better-bread-starts-with-a-sponge/2013/02/04/86ad2460-69a4-11e2-af53-7b2b2a7510a8_story.html?utm_term=.2570c133f565 But if you’re happy with the flavor and texture of your bagels. I’d stick with what’s working for you.
Lisa J
Your bagels look absolutely delicious! I’ve never tried making my own, but whenever I see someone making a recipe as scrumptious looking as this one…I start thinking I should!
Amanda
What a great combination of flavors for your first shot Barbara!
RJ Flamingo
These are beautiful – so much nicer than my first attempts at cinnamon raisin bagels! I’ll have to try this recipe, for sure.
Eliana
I like the idea of these with cranberries instead of raisins. They look super super delicious.
zorra
Gorgeous bagels. It’s interesting to read that you also have to adapt recipes due to the geographical position. I have mostly to reduce water as here it’s very humid. Thank you for participating in World Bread Day.
kristy
Barbara, what a great recipe for the celebration! yay… Happy World Bread Day to you too!
Cheers, Kristy
Mags
You know I’m a homemade bagel freak. I love these…. especially the addition of the cranberries..
Sue
I have loved bagels since I was a little girl, but have yet to attempt them. Your bagels look fantastic! Love the flavors too. I need to make some!
FOODESSA
I love the way a talented baker like yourself takes a recipe and makes it her own ;o) Those bagels are waiting to meet my apple compote ;o)
Flavourful wishes,
Claudia
Tracy
There’s nothing better than homemade bagels. I love cranberry bagels too; these look delicious!
blackbookkitchendiaries
i love how festive the bagels look ..so very pretty. thank you for sharing.
Evan @swEEts
I need to tell Mountain Man about these.. its about time we gave bagels another go!
lucy
lovely recipe!mi piacciono molto queste ciambelllotte, veramente gradevoli.
shaz
They sound so good Barbara! I’ve never made bagels before either but the method sounds doable, and I like the sound of the sugar crust on top. I once ate a blueberry bagel with a sugar crust, it was divine, been thinking about making my own ever since. Your post had nudged me that one step close 🙂
girlichef
Bagels are still something that make me a little apprehensive (making them…not eating them). Yours are absolutely wonderful, though! I would love to toast these up and eat them for breakfast. Right now!
sameena
Hi Barbara,
Love it…I should subcribe via email is it..i dont see a google connect..:)
Dr.Sameena@
http://www.myeasytocookrecipes.blogspot.com
Susan Kennedy
How did I miss world bread day?! Mind you I am pretty sure on the 16th I baked bread as well as eating it… 😀
theUngourmet
I’ve never tried making my own bagels. You did such a nice job with these, they looks beautiful! It would be great to make extras and freeze them for later.
Mary
Okay, I’m on a HUGE cranberry kick right now! These look fantastic and have been bookmarked! YUM!
Mary xo
Delightful Bitefuls