Montreal bagels, honey-boiled and sesame-crusted
Hand-rolled rings boiled in honey water, crusted in sesame, and baked deep golden at high heat. Smaller, sweeter, and chewier than New York's, best warm with cream cheese.
Montreal takes its bagels seriously, and takes them in a different direction. These are smaller, sweeter, and denser than the New York kind: hand-rolled thin, boiled in honey water, crusted in sesame, and baked hard and fast. In Mile End, the wood-fired ovens at the classic shops have run day and night for generations, and locals eat them warm from the paper bag on the sidewalk. The honey in the boil is the signature. It gives the crust its sweet sheen and deep color. Your home oven can get close: a stiff dough, a proper honey boil, a generous sesame coat, and the highest heat you have. Eat them warm, with cream cheese, within the hour.
Method
Make a stiff dough.
Whisk the warm water, yeast, sugar, honey, egg, and oil in a large bowl. Add the flour and mix until shaggy, then knead 8-10 minutes until smooth and firm. Cover and rest 30 minutes; the dough will relax rather than double, and that is correct.
Roll the rings by hand.
Divide the dough into 8 pieces. Roll each into a rope about 25 cm long, wrap it around your palm with the ends overlapping under your fingers, and roll the seam closed against the counter. The hole should look too big; it shrinks in the boil and the oven.
Boil them in honey water.
Bring a wide pot of water to a gentle boil and stir in the honey. Lower in the bagels a few at a time and boil 45 seconds per side. They will puff slightly and turn glossy.
Coat generously in sesame.
Lift each bagel out, let it drip for a moment, and lay it straight into a plate of sesame seeds while still sticky. Turn to coat both sides. Be generous; a Montreal bagel wears its seeds like a coat.
Bake hot and flip once.
Bake at 260°C (500°F) on a preheated baking steel, stone, or heavy sheet pan for 6 minutes, then flip and bake 6-8 minutes more until deep golden. The flip mimics the wood-fired ovens of Mile End, where bagels bake on the oven floor and get turned on long wooden boards.
Eat them warm.
Cool for 10 minutes on a rack, no longer. Split and spread with cold cream cheese, or eat one plain straight from the tray, the way they are eaten out of the paper bag on St-Viateur Street. Freeze any extras the same day.
Frequently asked questions
- Why honey in the boiling water?
- It is the Montreal signature. The honey caramelizes in the hot oven, giving the crust its sweet sheen, deeper color, and the faint sweetness New York bagels do not have. About 80 ml in a wide pot of water is plenty.
- Why is there no salt in the dough?
- Tradition. The classic Mile End dough is made without salt; the egg, honey, and heavy sesame coat carry the flavor. If you find it too plain, add 1/2 tsp with the flour and no one in Montreal will know.
- Can I use all-purpose flour instead of bread flour?
- Yes, but the chew softens. Bread flour's higher protein gives the dense, chewy crumb these are known for. With all-purpose, hold back a tablespoon of the water and expect a slightly softer bagel.
- My bagels came out pale. What went wrong?
- Usually the oven was not hot enough, or the boil was too short. Preheat a full 30 minutes at 260°C, boil the full 45 seconds per side, and bake until they look almost too dark. A Montreal bagel should be deep golden, edging on bronze.
- How do I store them?
- You mostly don't. They are smaller, thinner, and baked harder than New York bagels, so they stale within hours. Freeze them the day they are baked, split first, and toast straight from the freezer.
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