Pizza bagels are quick, easy and delicious, you can cook it for any informal or semi-formal occasion. Whether you’re having friends over for a football game or you’re hosting your kid’s birthday party, pizza bagels will serve it’s ultimate function; and that is to be simple and tasty finger food to eat.
If you’re looking for how to get perfection out of pizza bagels in your home, you’re in the right once. Because in this article, I’ll be showing you the best cooking tips and guidelines I always carry out whenever I’m trying my hands at pizza bagels in my kitchen.
Pizza Nutrition Facts
Tips for Cooking Pizza Bagels
You can make homemade bagels – there isn’t much difference between a bagel and an ordinary bread. If you can find any bagels in shops or you simply don’t want to use them, you can always make your own bagels at home. This is much better than store-bought bagels because you can control the size and quantity of what you’re making, and they’re sure to still be fresh.
Cook them at medium temperature – since pizza bagels contain a lot of cheese, you might want to cook it at a lower temperature because the cheese in it runs the risk of burning. Also, at the same time, you don’t want to cook it too low so it can get well cooked on all sides. I normally set my oven to 350° or 400° when cooking pizza bagels.
Put the pepperoni on top – I once made this mistake when I was still trying to figure out how to cook pizza bagels, I’d place my pepperonis underneath all the other ingredients. Although this doesn’t really affect the taste of your pizza bagels, it won’t give the pepperonis much space to really develop juices since the bagels are small and cook really fast.
You can make your own sauce – just like the bagels themselves, you can either buy from supermarkets or you can make them at home. I personally make my own sauce at home, because 1, it’s really not that hard; and 2, I can add any seasonings I want without having to go everywhere in a store looking for sauces with specific flavors. If you’re running out of time though, and you can’t make homemade bagels or sauce, then by all means, buy from grocery stores.
Use foil and wire rack – I once saw this on the Internet and when I tried it, it worked perfectly for me. Place the foil and wire rack on top of your baking sheet for easier and better cooking. The foil helps for an easier clean-up after you’re done cooking the pizza bagels, and the wire rack helps to lift up the bagels from the baking sheet so they’re well cooked and crispy, and also prevent them from getting soggy.
Rest the bagels – the bagels will definitely be sizzling hot when they’re done cooking, and you should leave them to rest for a couple of minutes. Resting allows the pepperonis on the bagels to be able to absorb their juices back, while also giving the rest of the bagel to cool off so you don’t burn yourself.
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Cooking Time for Pizza Bagels
Below are the necessary timing guidelines you should take note of whenever you want to cook pizza bagels.
| Cooking procedure | Cooking time |
| Cooking pizza bagels in the oven at 350° F | 1 hour, 30 minutes |
Oven-Baked Pizza Bagels (3 to 4 servings)
Ingredients
- 1½ cups water
- 1 tbsp honey
- 1 tbsp active dry yeast
- 1½ tsp salt
- 3½ cups bread flour
- Baking soda
- 2–3 eggs
- Slices of provolone
- Shredded mozzarella cheese
- Pepperoni slices
For sauce
- 2 to 3 cups of tomato paste
- 1 tsp olive oil
- ¼ tsp oregano
- 1 garlic clove, minced
- Fresh pepper flakes
- Pinch of salt
Instructions
- In a large bowl, combine the water, honey, and active dry yeast. Whisk together and let it stand for 5 minutes. Next, sprinkle 1½ tsp of salt. While it’s mixing, add 3½ cups of bread flour. Sprinkle some flour on a flat surface and put your dough on it. Knead the dough for 8 to 10 minutes, or until it’s smooth and springy.
- Place the kneaded dough in a bowl and cover it with a damp towel or cloth. Leave it in a warm place for one and a half hours. After that time, take off the towel and remove the dough. You can massage it for a little bit if you want. Divide the dough into the number of pieces you want.
- Take one and roll on your board until it becomes round and smooth. Create a doughnut hole in the dough with a finger. Repeat this process for all the dough you’ve cut out. Place them on a tray and cover them again with a damp cloth for 30 minutes.
- Sprinkle some baking soda into boiling water, and then add the bagels. Allow them to cook on each side for a minute. After they’re cooked, take them out and brush some beaten eggs on their surface. Bake in the oven at 400° for 20 minutes.
- Combine all ingredients for the sauce and set aside. Slice your bagel in half and spread the sauce on it. Next add in the provolone, mozzarella cheese on top, and lastly, the pepperoni slices. Put the bagels on the wire rack and foil on top of the baking sheet and preheat the oven broiler for a minute or two. Put the bagels in the broiler and allow to cook. Monitor the broiler every few seconds to make sure your bagels don’t burn because they cook super fast. Once the bagel toppings start sizzling, take them out of the oven and leave to rest for a few minutes.
- Your delicious pizza bagels are ready to be eaten. Enjoy!
Keep in mind that this recipe includes making the bagels and sauce at home, but if you don’t have enough time, you can always buy from the stores and follow the same instructions above. Also, this recipe is designed to feed 3 or 4 people, so of you’re cooking for a larger number of people, multiply the ingredients by the number of people you’re cooking for.
If you’re interested in more ways to cook pizza bagels at home, ensure you watch this video.