Delicious Sourdough Bagels, made with sourdough starter, flour , water and salt with crispy outside and chewy interior goes well with a dollop of cream cheese.
If you love good bagels, then here is a recipe for Sourdough Bagels which I am sure you will love. It has the classic taste with crispy on the outside but Soft and Chewy on the inside. You will not need any high gluten flour to make this delicious sourdough bagels.
What is a perfect bagel?
A perfect bagel should have a dark crust with a dense, chewy interior. It should not be too bready or too flat, and the hole in the middle of the bagel should be small, not much larger than the width of a couple fingers.
It should be able to hold some cream cheese or you can convert it into small sandwich. Bagel should be about 4.5 – 5 oz but should be a fit in average person’s palm.
Earlier I have tried bagels with instant yeast, and you can check here. I think sourdough bagels get upper hand than yeasted version.
Ingredients to make Sourdough bagels
Flour: Traditionally bagels are made with High gluten flour. I have used bread flour; with this recipe you can achieve the chewiness with bread flour. You can also use all-purpose flour.
Sweetener: You can use barley malt or honey or rice syrup or you can use diastatic malt powder. I used diastatic malt powder as barley malt sounds too strong to me.
Salt: You can use kosher salt for traditional way or use regular sea salt.
Water: Use room temperature water, you do not need to use lukewarm water unless you are in short of time.
Sourdough starter: I use 50: 50 all-purpose flour: wholewheat starter you can use any starter if you want.
For poaching liquid:
1) You can use Brown sugar or Barley malt or honey. I used brown sugar in the recipe.
2) Baking soda
3) Salt: If you are using Everything bagel toppings you do not need to add any salt in the poaching liquid.
Tips to make Perfect sourdough bagels
1) You need fresh active starter. I used starter after 8 hours of feeding. You can use leavain if you want.
2) You need to make stiffer dough for normal bagels, if you made your dough wetter then it makes more crispier bagels. In the end, it is a matter of preference, so do not be afraid to tweak to your liking.
3) Use room temperature water for better results, but if you are short of time you can use lukewarm water (about 95°F or 35°C).
4) To achieve smooth, stretchy texture of the dough, which is key for the bagel shaping, mix the dough using an electric mixer with a hook attachment at low speed. Three minutes of mixing on the lowest speed then three minutes on the second-to-lowest speed will result.
5) Proof the dough for about 5 hours at room temperature, it will almost be double in volume, and then shape and proof again for 2 hours. Then refrigerate the dough overnight or up to 2 days. Then next day bring it to room temperature for 60 minutes and poach with liquid and bake it.
6) If you want to make extra flavored means blueberry, sundried tomato version of bagels tries to add after first proof and before shaping.
7) Normally 4 ounces or 113 grams dough is used before baking, but you can make them smaller if you want.
8) After poaching the bagel dough, you can do an egg wash then add topping to get better sticking. I did not do it I sticked them while dough is wet.
9) For topping you can use any thing you want I used everything bagel seasoning, you can either use dry garlic, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds. Feel free to use your favorite.
10) For baking pre-heat oven to 475°F and bake it 425°F for 25 minutes, in the middle of baking rotate the baking sheet to get uniform baking. I used steam in the initial 10 minutes of baking.
Once you made the sourdough bagels you serve with just softened cream cheese or whipped cream cheese spread. If you want, make a bagel sandwich that is also possible.
Delicious Homemade bagels great for breakfast goes well with cream cheese of your choice.
Sourdough Bagels
Ingredients
- Dough
- 1 teaspoon 0.25 oz / 7 g diastatic malt powder or 1 tablespoon (0.75 oz / 21 g) barley malt syrup/ honey/ or rice syrup.
- 100 g ½ cup sourdough starter
- 1 ½ teaspoons 0.37 oz / 10 g salt, or 2 ½ teaspoons coarse kosher salt
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons (9 oz / 260 g water
- 3-4 cups 475 g unbleached bread flour
- Poaching liquid
- 2 to 3 quarts 64 to 96 oz / 181 to 272 g water
- 1 tablespoon 0.5 oz/ 15g brown sugar
- 1 tablespoon 0.5 oz / 14 g baking soda
- For toppings
- ¼ cup of Everything bagel seasoning
Instructions
- Day before baking
- To make the dough in the bowl of kitchen aid stand mixer stir the sourdough starter and water and mix well.
- To this add flour, salt, diastatic malt powder and mix everything.
- Mix everything form a coarse ball, and the flour should be fully hydrated; If using a mixer, use the dough hook and mix on the lowest speed for 3 minutes. If mixing by hand, use a large, sturdy spoon and stir for about 3 minutes, until well blended. The dough should form a stiff,
- Let the dough rest for 5 minutes.
- Resume mixing with the dough hook on the lowest speed for another 3 minutes or transfer to a very lightly floured work surface and knead by hand for about 3 minutes to smooth out the dough.
- Place the dough in a clean, lightly oiled bowl, cover the bowl tightly with plastic wrap, and let the dough rise at room temperature for 5 hours.
- When you are ready to shape the bagels, prepare a sheet pan by lining it with parchment paper or a silicone mat, and sprinkle liberally with cornmeal.
- Divide the dough into 7 equal pieces about 120g . (A typical bagel is about 4 ounces or 113 grams before baking, but you can make them smaller.)
- Form each piece into a loose ball by rolling it on a clean, dry work surface with a cupped hand.
- (Don’t use any flour on the work surface. If the dough slides around and will not ball up, wipe the surface with a damp paper towel and try again; the slight bit of moisture will provide enough traction for the dough to form into a ball.)
- Then poke a hole through the center of the ball to create a donut shape.
- Holding the dough with both thumbs in the hole, rotate the dough with your hands, gradually stretching it to create a hole about 2 inches in diameter.
- If you want you can shape by making the dough to a 10 inch long snake and wrap around the finger to join together.
- Place each shaped bagel on the prepared sheet pan, then mist with spray oil or brush with a light coating of oil. Cover the entire pan with plastic wrap and set aside for proof about 2 hours and then refrigerate overnight or for up to 2 days. (You can also proof the full piece of dough in the oiled bowl overnight and then shape the bagels on baking day, 60 to 90 minutes before boiling and baking them, or as soon as they pass the float test.)
- On baking day
- Remove the bagels from the refrigerator 60 to 90 minutes before you plan to bake them,
- Immediately check whether the bagels are ready for baking using the “float test”: Place one of the bagels in a small bowl of cold water.
- If it sinks and does not float back to the surface, shake it off, return it to the pan, and wait for another 15 to 20 minutes, then test it again. When one bagel passes the float test, they are all ready to be boiled. If they pass the float test before you are ready to boil and bake them, return them to the refrigerator so they do not over proof.
- About 30 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 475°F (247°C) and gather and prepare your garnishes with everything bagel seasoning or (seeds, onions, garlic, and so on).
- To make the poaching liquid, fill a pot with 2 to 3 quarts (181 to 272 g) of water, making sure the water is at least 4 inches deep. Cover, bring to a boil, then lower the heat to maintain at a simmer
- . Stir in the brown sugar and baking soda.
- Gently lower each bagel into the simmering poaching liquid, adding as many as will comfortably fit in the pot. They should all float to the surface within 15 seconds. After 1 minute, use a slotted spoon to turn each bagel over. Poach for another 30 to 60 seconds,
- on a generous amount of whatever toppings, you like as soon as the bagels come out of the water then use the slotted spoon to transfer it back to the pan, domed side up. (It is important that the parchment paper should be sprinkled liberally with cornmeal, or the paper will glue itself to the dough as the bagels bake.) Sprinkle the top of bagels with seeds of your choice. I used everything bagel seasoning.
- Transfer the pan of bagels to the oven, then lower the oven heat to 425°F (218°C).
- Bake for 12 minutes, then rotate the pan and check the underside of the bagels. If they’re getting too dark, place another pan under the baking sheet. (Doubling the pan will insulate the first baking sheet.) Bake for another 13 minutes, until the bagels are a golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing or serving.
Video
Notes
Freezing bagels extends their life remarkably well, better than leaving them on room temperature. Freeze in an airtight bag, then thaw & reheat when you are ready to eat.
You can either re-bake at 475F for 3-5 minutes. This will get that nice crust back. Alternately, spritz the bagel and put it in microwave for 20-30 seconds on low power. but it will be decently soft. Slice, toast and enjoy a warm bagel.
You can keep your bagels on the counter for a day or two, but you will want to toast them. Storing them in their paper bag which in turn covered with a plastic bag will be better, but you need to toast them before eating.
Nutrition
This is Swathi ( Dr. Ambujom Saraswathy Ph.D) from Zesty South Indian Kitchen who loves to explore cuisines from all over the world. Whenever possible I try to to give an Indian touch to several of the world cuisine, and has weakness for freshly baked bread. All the recipes you see here are created by me and approved after taste-test by my family.
Joanne Kee says
hi, do i need to put sugar/honey is i use distatic malt powder? I saw in some recipies that it uses both but in your recipie, you stated only either one. thank you.
Swathi says
For blueberry bagels I added both, you can skip either one if you want.
Justine says
We have some everything bagel seasoning kicking around, and this just inspired me to make a batch of bagels!
Brianna May says
Bagels are my favorite thing to bake on the weekends. This recipe is great! We devoured them.
Jerika says
What I love about these bagels are its classic taste and its crispiness on the outside but soft and chewy on the inside. So delicious and satisfying perfect with my coffee! Thanks.:)
Nora says
Made a batch already! They were gone in no time! Making another batch again tomorrow. 😀 Thanks for this wonderful bagel recipe!
Gloria says
I could eat bagels at every meal of the day. I have never tried to make them at home. I love baking bread, so I have to give this a try.
Debra Adderley says
I need help. This is the 4th recipe I have tried, and the taste is great. The problem is when I boil them they deflate and then don't have rise in the oven. All of the recipes I tried do this. Can you please help me?
Swathi says
Looks like over proofed. Make sure to reduce to the time and use it.
Amy Liu Dong says
One of my favorite bread. Thanks for the detailed recipe, and I will definitely make this at home.
Sanna says
This is a nice detailed recipe. I’m glad I found it.
Alexandra says
Love these delicious bagels!
Taleen | Just As Tasty says
How delicious! I've always wanted to attempt homemade bagels... you've inspired me!
Ice Cream n Sticky Fingers says
Yum. I love a good bagel. I’ve never tried making homemade bagels though. It sounds fairly easy. I’ll have to give it a try.
Sue says
I've never made bagels but I think I'll have to try now!
Emily Flint says
I'm so glad I found your recipe now that I have a sourdough starter!
Kita Bryant says
I would really like to try these. Sourdough bagels sounds so good right now.
Catalina says
Sounds so easy to make these bagels at home! A must try it!
Heather says
Bagels are my weakness. These look super tasty.
Sarah Bailey says
Now I do love a good bagel and these sound super delicious. I have to admit I would love to try one with some cream cheese.
Ruth I says
Oh how beautiful! I am not sure if I'll ever make it as perfect as this but I would love try this recipe!
Lois says
Absolutely delicious. What a great twist on bagels.
Marisa González says
Dear Swathi. The first and unique time, I baked bagels, was in your challenge. Now, I'm amazed your bagels are perfect and beautiful. I'm sure that you and your family have enjoyed them. Congrats my friend.
Lynndee says
I love bagels! I've never tried making sourdough bagels though. I did make sourdough bread before.
Jennifer Van Haitsma says
Warm bagels sound delicious right about now. Everything bagels, and cinnamon swirl ones, are my favorites!
Ben says
Those sound awesome! I love bagels, and I'm all about anything sourdough. I can't wait to try these.