Bagels made with Belgian beer

€1.78 │ €0.30 per portion │ Serves 6 │ Over 60mins

Why would you put beer in a bagel? To speed up the process! Beer is yeasty and promotes raising, so you don't need two days to make bagels - just one hour.

Crunchy, fluffy, fresh, and versatile. These bagels are way better than the rubbery bagels you buy in supermarkets for a fraction of the price. This recipe is inspired by Brian Lagerstrom - our twist doubles down on Belgian beer. We plan to update this recipe page with great Belgian combinations as we try them!

Explore our flexible base recipe and ideas to combine Belgian beers, cheeses, and other ingredients.

• What to serve it with?
• How to use in a meal plan
• Leftovers
• Utensils
• Ingredients
• Method

What to serve it with?

Bagels are a great lunch sandwich by themselves because they naturally filling. What really matters is what you put inside!

How to use in a meal plan

Good home economics is using ingredients smartly - and that saves money and cuts food waste. A meal plan is a great way to do this.

These 1-hour Belgian beer bagels are great to make on Sundays. If you make lots, you can freeze the bagels for emergency lunches and avoid unnecessary spending.

Leftovers

Spoonfeed meal plans save you money by using the economy of scale. Making dinner also your leftover lunch avoids spending money and extra time cooking!

This recipe makes six bagels. But making leftovers is a great idea, given that the recipe takes time and bagels are fine frozen in air-tight bags for 3-4 months.

Utensils

• Mixing bowl
• Sauté pot
• Slotted spoon
• Baking tray
• Wooden spoon
• Weighing scales (optional, very useful)
• Thermometer (optional, also useful)

Ingredients

• 475g flour (at least 11g/100g gluten)
• 265ml beer
• 6g yeast
• 2 tsp salt
• 1 tbsp sugar
• 50g Liège syrup/molasses
• 50g seeds for topping

Method

1. In a sauté pot, warm up beer on the lowest heat until it reaches 38 degrees. If you don't have a thermometer, this should feel just above body temperature. You should also see dozens of small bubbles start to form. Remove from heat.
2. Stir 6g yeast into warm beer and mix well. Ensure that the yeast is alive, it should immediately react and start bubbling.
3. Add the flour, salt, and sugar to a mixing bowl. Slowly whisk in the warm beer with a wooden spoon. When it becomes too difficult to stir with the spoon, get your hands very wet and knead by hand for at 5 minutes. The dough should end up feeling elastic and not rip when you pull it.
4. Cover the bowl and let the dough ferment for 25 minutes.
5. Divide dough into even pieces of ~125g each.
6. With the dough in your hands, poke a hole in the centre with your thumb and stretch it out. Even out the bagel so that there are no thick and thin sides. Ensure to stretch the bagel hole a little further than you want as it will shrink.
7. Place shaped bagels on a baking tray and cover again for 20 minutes.
8. Take your sauté pot (rinse out the beer) and fill it with boiling water. To help the bagels brown, the original recipe recommends molasses, but at least for us, this can be hard to find in Belgium. Liège syrup is a fine substitute. Whisk it into the water until well mixed.
9. When the water is bubbling, boil each bagel for 30 seconds on each side. With a slotted spoon, take out the bagels and set them on a rack/plate to drain (beware, these can stick to surfaces). Repeat until all bagels have been boiled.
10. Place seeds or your chosen topping on a plate and press one side of the bagel into the seeds to coat them. Place all bagels side up on your baking tray and bake at 245 degrees for 13-16 minutes or until toasted and golden brown.
11. Wait to cool slightly (to avoid burns from escaping steam) before cutting with a serrated knife and adding your fillings.
12. Eat fresh, toasted, cold, or freeze for later and enjoy!