Even if you have an excellent bagel baked out of the oven, it will lose its yummy taste if you won’t consume it within the day. But don’t worry. This article will discuss how to toast a bagel in the oven.
To toast a bagel in the oven, you must preheat the oven to 375°F and then place the whole bagel inside it for around four to five minutes. You can use a regular oven for this purpose. If you don’t have that, a toaster oven will do.
If you want to slow bake your bagel in the oven, you must preheat it at 350°F or even lower. You may need to toast your bagel inside the oven for around 10 minutes. Place the bagel in the middle rack and pay close attention to it so that it won’t get burned.
Read on to learn more about how you can toast a bagel in the oven and how you can enjoy it afterward.
How to Toast a Bagel in the Oven
Preheat the Oven to 375°F
If you want to toast your bagel in the oven, you have to place it entirely in the oven for about four to five minutes. Before you do that, you have to preheat the oven to 375°F.
Use a Regular Oven or Toaster Oven
You can use a regular oven for toasting the bagel. If you don’t have that, a smaller toaster oven will do. You need to know how to toast a bagel in a toaster oven.
Preheat the Oven to 350°F or Lower to Slow Bake the Bagel
But if you want to slow bake your bagel, you have to preheat your oven at 350°F or lower. Then toast it for around 10 minutes. It is best to put the bagel in the middle rack of a regular oven. You also need to pay close attention to the bagel because you can easily overcook it and get it burned.
Toast the Bagel If It’s Not Fresh Out of the Oven
If the bagel is not fresh out of the oven and has been standing at room temperature for around six hours, you need to toast it. You won’t enjoy it that much if you don’t. It will be a bit hard to bite. The bagel can only be brought back to life with good toasting.
Make the Bagels in the Oven
You can also make bagels in the oven. To do this, place several bagels on a lined baking sheet. Put them inside the oven that is preheated at 350°F to 375°F. Bake the bagels for about 20 to 25 minutes.
You should rotate the pan halfway through your cooking time. The bagels should be dark golden brown when fully cooked.
When they have already acquired this color, remove them from the oven and allow them to cool on the baking sheet for about 20 minutes. Transfer them to a wire rack so they can cool completely.
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Step-by-Step Process of Toasting Bagels
If you want to know how to toast a fresh bagel in the oven, you need detailed instructions on how it should be done. Firstly, the best way to toast a bagel in the oven is to toast it whole and cut it into smaller bite-size pieces. With that said, here’s how you can do it.
1. Preheat the Oven
You should preheat the oven to 375°F. This will prepare the oven to be hot before placing the bagel inside it.
2. Immerse the Bagel in Hot Water
you need to submerge the bagel in hot water. Put some hot water in a bowl and dunk the bagel in it. Leave the bagel submerged in hot water for around 1 minute. An alternate way is to run the bagel under a stream of hot water.
3. Toast the Bagel
Put the bagel on a baking sheet and place the baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven.
4. Check the Bagel
Let the bagel toast inside the oven for four minutes. While toasting, check the bagel if it’s turning hot and crispy. There will be tiny blisters on the bagel’s surfaces because you have previously immersed it in hot water.
It will make the texture of the bagel crunchy, which is what they are known for. This is also a sign that your bagel is toasted right.
5. Add Your Favorite Toppings
Enjoy your bagel by adding a topping that will make it yummier.
This method will be useful if you know how to toast a bagel in a convection oven. While this is a method you can use to toast leftover bagels in the oven, there is no right or wrong way. If the bagels are cooked rightly in the first place, you will be able to enjoy them toasted or untoasted.
How to Toast the Leftover Bagels
After bagels are cooked and baked, they should be eaten right away. This is the best way to enjoy them. However, there are some situations where you can’t avoid having leftovers. If you are a bagel lover, you don’t want to throw these leftovers. So, what will you do to your bagel leftovers?
1. Dip and Heat Method
Works Well with Dry and Stale Bagels
This method works well with dry and stale bagels. In this method, you need to immerse your bagel in hot water and then toast it in the oven whole. This method mimics the original way the bagel was baked in the first place.
In cooking bagels, they are first boiled and then baked. So, the dip and heat method copies the way bagels are cooked initially.
Submerge in a Bowl of Hot Water for 30 Seconds
Run the bagel under hot water for around 30 seconds. You can also submerge the bagel in a bowl of hot water. The idea here is to add moisture to the already dried bagel so that when it is heated inside the oven, it will acquire a certain moistness that you can mistake for a freshly baked bagel.
Then place the heated bagel inside a preheated oven so it will be reheated.
Effective in Re-moistening a Dried Bagel
This method is effective in re-moistening a dried bagel. When the bagel is heated, the water evaporates, and the steam will work its way out of the bagel’s interior, making the bagel’s surface moist and crisp.
Not as Crisp as a Freshly Baked Bagel
However, the exterior of the heated bagel will not be as crisp as that of a freshly baked bagel. At least, with this method, it will still be able to get some degree of its original moistness.
This method is best for bagels that have lost their moistness while in storage. Bagels lose their moisture if stored in paper bags and other moisture-hungry materials.
2. Whole-Bagel Toast
Good for Bagels Stored in an Air-tight Container
Here is a better option for salvaging a bagel. This method requires you to toast the whole bagel. Preheat your oven to 375°F. Then put the bagel inside the oven and let it stay there for four to five minutes.
This method will work for a bagel stored in an air-tight container such as a zip-lock. The bagel should also not be older than three days for this method to work. The bagel retains some of its juices at this early stage and is not yet wholly stale and dry.
Results in a Bagel with Chewy Insides and Crispy Crust
If you toast this whole bagel in the oven, it will acquire the same chewy insides and crispy crust that you can get from a bagel that you bought straight from the store. This method also works well with frozen and thawed bagels.
Won’t Work with Completely Dry Bagels
Unfortunately, this method won’t work if your bagel is already completely dry. In this case, you need to know how to toast a frozen bagel in the oven. So, be sure to store your bagels correctly so they won’t dry completely.
3. Slice – Then – Toast
The first method of dealing with bagel leftovers is to slice them first and then toast them in the oven like a fresh and still non-baked bagel. The re-toasted bagel will be close to the texture and appearance of a regular bagel.
Re-toasting Removes the Contrast Between the Chewy Center and the Crackly Exterior
So, if you think that your bagel is delicious, you should not toast it again. This re-toasting will remove the contrast between the dense and chewy center and the thin and crackly exterior that bagels are known for.
Toast the Bagel to Bring Back Its Freshness
However, if your bagel is already a day old and you want to taste some of its freshness again, then toasting it is not bad.
Again, how to toast a bagel in the oven? To toast a bagel in the oven, you have to preheat your oven or toaster oven to 375°F, place the bagel inside, then allow it to toast for 4-5 minutes.
How to Toast a Bagel in the Microwave
Technically, a microwave oven can’t toast and make crisp the outside of bagels, bread, and other baked goods. If you are not careful, microwaving a baked good will typically make it soggy or even hard, depending on the time spent inside the microwave oven.
But you can still use a microwave to toast a bagel – if you know how to do it correctly. If you don’t have a standard oven and you have a leftover bagel to toast, you can use a microwave and a small oven toaster to toast it.
Here’s how you can do it:
Microwave and Toast the Bagel
Put the bagel inside the microwave without cutting it. Let it stay there for around 3 minutes. The bagel will end up steamy if you will do this properly. Remove the bagel from the microwave and cut it.
Now put the bagel inside your toaster oven for another 30 seconds. The bagel will become crispy and nice with no browning on its surface. It is similar to toasting the bagel without the crust while restoring its freshly baked appearance.
Use a Special Container
There are special microwave containers such as the Reheatza Microwave Pizza Pan that you can use to reheat your bagel. It will make your bagel crispy without turning it soggy or burnt because of excess microwaving.
This special microwave pan manufacturer claims it could crisp bagels, grilled cheese sandwiches, pizzas, and quesadillas.
Microwave Frozen or Cold Bagel
Heating a frozen or cold bagel straight from the fridge can be done in a microwave. You need to place the bagel inside a microwave-proof plastic bag like the Ziploc. Then put it inside the microwave for about 30 seconds.
Don’t exceed this time. If the bagel is still cold, microwave it for another 15 seconds. That should be the maximum time you can microwave the bagel, or else you will overcook it.
Wrap the Bagel with a Paper Towel
Wrap the bagel with a paper towel and put it inside the microwave. By wrapping your bagel with a paper towel, you can extend the time to 10 minutes. It will also prevent the bagel from being soggy since the paper towel will soak up the moisture released by the food.
Place the bagel on a microwave-proof plate such as thick glass or ceramic. Then toast the bagel for 20 seconds at the maximum setting of the microwave. After this, allow the bagel to cool down for about 30 seconds before serving.
Slice then Microwave
This is the proper way of microwaving a bagel. Slice the bagel in half and then put it in a microwave-proof dish or plate. The cut sides of the bagel should face upwards to optimize the microwaving process.
Add butter to taste, and then add cream cheese or some toppings. Then microwave the sliced bagel for about 10 seconds. You will have a bagel that is warm, crispy, and tasty.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Bagel lovers will have certain questions about toasting bagels in the oven. Here are the answers to these most often asked questions:
How Do I Toast a Bagel in My Oven?
It’s pretty simple. Just put the whole bagel into your regular oven or even a smaller oven toaster preheated to 375°F. Let the bagel cook inside the microwave for four to five minutes.
Are You Supposed to Heat Bagels in the Oven?
If you have a bagel around six hours old and no longer fresh in the oven, it must be toasted. It will be tough to your bite if you don’t toast it. It has to be resuscitated if you still want to eat it.
Do You Need to Cut a Bagel Before Toasting It?
Most people will refrain from cutting their bagels before toasting them so they can retain the moisture inside. But even if you slice the bagel, reheating it in a toaster oven will not ruin it.
You can use a sharp and serrated knife to slice the bagel in half. Then you can add toppings to your bagel to make it more palatable.
In Closing: Toasting a Bagel in the Oven
If you want to toast a bagel in the oven, place the whole bagel inside an oven preheated to 375°F. Toast the bagel for four to five minutes. You can use a standard oven for this purpose. If you don’t have a standard oven, you can use a smaller toaster oven.
It will not ruin your bagel if you toast it in the oven. You can even add some toppings to it to enjoy it even more.
Read next:
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