Chocolate Chunk Bagels

in Bread, Breakfast, Chocolate

Chocolate Chunk (Chip) Bagels

A few years ago, one of my New Year’s resolutions was to start making most of our own bread. With a little bit of scheduling and some room in the freezer, I could bake up sandwich bread, burger buns, english muffins, and bagels without having to buy very much.

Aside from burger buns, my favorite bread-thing to make is bagels. Partly because 1 batch will allow us to share a bagel for breakfast for nearly 2 weeks. And partly because the bagels from the nearby bakery place that we used to adore have really gone downhill over the last couple of years. Shelling out $12 for a disappointing breakfast for 2 isn’t the ideal start to a weekend.

Chocolate Chunk Bagels

This batch, we flavored the dough with some vanilla and added chopped semisweet chocolate. The dough isn’t overly sweet so you feel like you’re eating dessert for breakfast but there is chocolate. So you’re still kinda eating dessert for breakfast.

Chocolate Chunk Bagels

An overnight rest yields chewy, flavorful bagels studded with your favorite chocolate.

Ingredients

  • For the sponge:
  • 1 tsp sugar
  • 2 1/2 cups warm water (divided)
  • 1 tsp active dry yeast
  • 4 cups all-purpose flour
  • For the dough
  • 1/2 tsp dry active yeast
  • 2 1/2 - 3 cups flour
  • 2 3/4 tsp salt
  • 2 Tbsp sugar
  • 1 Tbsp vanilla
  • 2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks
  • To finish:
  • 1 Tbsp baking soda
  • Cornmeal for dusting pan

Instructions

  1. To make the sponge, dissolve sugar into 1/2 cup warm water in the bowl of your stand mixer. Sprinkle yeast over top and let proof for 5 minutes.
  2. Add the remaining water and flour and mix on low with the paddle until sponge is smooth and the consistency of pancake batter.
  3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let sit until doubled, approximately 2 hours. (The sponge will be foamy and bubbly and will collapse when the bowl is tapped on the countertop).
  4. To make the dough, fit the mixer with the dough hook. Add the additional yeast to the sponge and mix on low until combined.
  5. Add 2 cups flour, all of the salt, sugar, vanilla, and chocolate, mixing on low until the ingredients form a ball, adding additional flour 1/4 cup at a time to stiffen the dough.
  6. Knead the dough for 6 minutes. It will be firm but still pliable and smooth and should clean the sides of the mixer bowl. The kneaded dough should feels satiny and pliable but not be tacky.
  7. Form the bagels: Divide the dough into 4 oz pieces and shape into rolls. Cover the rolls with a damp towel and let sit for 20 minutes.
  8. Line two baking sheets with parchment. Shape the bagels by pushing a hole through the center of each roll and working the dough around your thumb, stretching out the hole to ~2.5 inches in diameter.
  9. Place bagels 2 inches apart on the pan. Cover with a damp towel and let sit for 20 minutes.
  10. Fill a small bowl with room-temp water. Drop one bagel into the water. If the bagel floats within 10 seconds, remove the bagel, pat it dry, return it to the pan, and place the pans in the refrigerator overnight covered loosely with plastic wrap. If the bagel does not float, pat it dry, return it to the pan, and test again in 10-20 minutes.
  11. Baking the bagels: Preheat the oven to 500 with the two racks set in the middle of the oven. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the baking soda. Boil the bagels in batches 1-2 minutes on each side (for chewy bagels, go 2 minutes). Remove with a slotted spoon or spatula.
  12. Sprinkle the same parchment-lined baking sheets with cornmeal. Transfer the pans to the oven. Bake for 5 minutes and then swap the pans in the oven. Lower the oven setting to 450 and continue baking for about 5 minutes, or until the bagels are golden brown.
  13. Remove from the oven and let the bagels cool on a rack for 15 minutes or longer before serving.
  14. To freeze: I slice the completely cooled bagels almost all the way through, enough that they flip open all the way but still are just barely attached so tops and bottoms stay together. A square of wax paper in the middle keeps them from freezing shut. I layer them in a gallon freezer bag and put in the freezer. To reheat, I place the frozen bagel halves in the oven when I turn on the broiler to toast. They thaw, heat, and toast perfectly

Notes

Yields: ~12 bagels

Adapted from The Bread Baker's Apprentice

Estimated time: 16 hours 30 minutes

16 comments… add one
  • Oh yeah, this is my kind of breakfast! I think bagels might be the one breakfast item I’ve never added chocolate to – going to remedy that soon 🙂

  • Oohh these look fantastic!! Great recipe ;D

  • Lindsay

    I have made so many flavors of bagels and somehow chocolate never crossed my mind. I now have these on my ‘must make soon’ list!

  • I tend to make my own bread also, though I’ve only made bagels ONCE. They were cinnamon raisin. And wonderful. Better than any NYC bagels, actually, if I do say so myself. Mostly because they just had so much more flavor. I can’t wait to try these chocolate chunk bagels! Dessert for breakfast is ALWAYS my thing.

  • I started making all our own bagels when we moved overseas, and I’m not sure I’ll ever got back. It really is one of the most satisfying things to bake – and not nearly as hard I as I would have thought. Haven’t tried them with chocolate yet, but I’m thinking I’m definitely going to give this a try!

  • Love this idea! Dessert for breakfast, but not really dessert for breakfast, like you said 🙂

  • These look really good. I always thought i need a bread machine to make bagels. Thanks for posting.

  • Breakfast of champions! I need to start making my own bagels.

  • Molly F.C.

    I’ve made bagels using the King Arthur’s recipe, and the nondiastatic, (think I have correct spelling here), malt powder. Nondiastatic powder goes in both the dough, and in the water bath that precedes baking. Wondering how this recipe compares. Your bagels look gorgeous; waaayyyyy better looking than mine.

  • never thought of making my own bagels. this sounds like a great recipe… maybe i’ll make some mini bagels!

  • I love making homemade bagels! I had planned on making sea salt bagels this weekend, but I may need to change to these! Such a freaking amazing idea to put chocolate in them!

  • Oh! So ambitious! I made bagels once about 12 years ago, and I’ve never done it again – it was. . . . daunting! But these look so tempting. Maybe I should try again!

  • Your recipe sounds better than the bagels I usually buy. Every time I go out for bagels, all the good flavors are gone anyway : P

  • Meg

    You’re recipe sounds amazing! I have recently been diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrom and for at least the next two months (if not forever) I can’t eat wheat. Could I make these with gluten free flour? Or would that just screw everything up? Thanks!

    • I don’t have any experience with gluten-free baking but I have heard from people who’ve gotten good results baking other recipes (cakes, etc) with the “all-purpose” GF flour mixture.

  • beatrice

    do i have to leave them in the fridge over night?

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