Sourdough Bagels Recipes

SOURDOUGH BAGELS

Steps:

• Mix sourdough starter, warm water, and flour in a bowl. Cover and let sit overnight; the mixture should look bubbly and "spongy" in the morning.
• Add sugar, salt and additional flour. Mix well.
• Knead on a floured surface for 10 minutes, adding additional flour as needed. The dough should be firm. Place dough in a greased bowl, cover, and let rise until double (sour dough takes longer to rise than traditional yeast breads).
• After punching down, divide dough into 12 balls. Make a hole in the middle of each ball with your thumb, and shape into a bagel shape, with a 2" hole in the middle.
• Meanwhile, bring 2 quarts of water to boil on your stove-top. Drop 2 or 3 bagels at a time into the water; boil for 30 seconds, flip bagels over, and boil for an additional 30 seconds. Drain with slotted spoon and place on baking sheet.
• Brush tops with egg white and add additional toppings if desired (poppy seeds, dried onions, etc.).
• Bake at 350 for 35 minutes, turning once for even browning. Bagels are done when they are golden and shiny.

SOURDOUGH BAGELS RECIPE

Steps:

• 12 hours before you plan to mix the dough, add the ingredients to make ½ cup (100 g) of active sourdough starter to a clean jar. Stir until combined, loosely cover the jar and let the starter rise at room temperature. (The ingredients will create a total of 115 g active starter but, because some of it will stick to the sides of the jar during the transfer, we are making a little more than needed.) The sourdough starter is ready to use when it has doubled in size and there are plenty of bubbles on the surface and sides of the jar.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer, stir together the starter, water, honey and salt with a spatula. Add the bread flour and use your hands to bring the ingredients together as best as possible. The dough will be very stiff. Place the dough hook on the mixer and mix the dough on the lowest speed for 6-7 minutes. (Or 10 minutes by hand.) Cover the bowl and let rest at room temperature for 8-12 hours. (See notes for cinnamon raisin bagels.)
• Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Turn the dough out onto a clean work surface and divide into 8 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a ball. To shape the bagel, place a dough ball on the surface in front of you and use your thumb to poke a hole straight down through the middle of the dough. Pick the bagel dough up, gently shape the ring and place on the parchment paper. Repeat with remaining dough balls. Cover the dough with a towel and let rise for 30-60 minutes or until puffy.
• Preheat oven to 425°F (218°C) making sure that the oven rack in the center position. Bring 6 cups of water to a boil in a large stockpot and add 1 tablespoon of sugar. Once the bagels have finished rising, boil them for 2 minutes on each side. (Only boil 3-4 at a time, making sure not to crowd the pot.)
• Use a mesh stainer to remove the bagels and let rest on the parchment paper until cool enough to handle. Once cool enough, dip one side into your choice of toppings and place back onto the parchment paper.
• Bake the bagels at 425°F (218°C) for 25-28 minutes or until golden brown.

SOURDOUGH BAGELS

Steps:

• Gather the ingredients.
• Add the sourdough starter, water, flour, honey, and salt to a large bowl. Stir with a spoon to combine.
• Knead the dough with your hands until well mixed, about 5 minutes. Cover the bowl with a damp towel or plastic bag and let rest for 30 minutes.
• Stretch and fold the dough . Rest for another 30 minutes.
• Line a sheet pan with parchment paper. Lightly grease the parchment with spray oil.
• Divide the dough into 6 pieces weighing approximately 100 grams each.
• To shape the bagels, roll each piece into a rope approximately 12 inches long. Lightly moisten both ends of the rope, and then firmly press them together so the rope forms a closed loop. Make sure to let the ends overlap by about 3 inches so you get a nice strong seam.
• Place the bagels on the parchment and cover them with plastic wrap.
• Allow them to rise at room temperature for about 90 minutes, then put them in the refrigerator and leave overnight.
• Remove the bagels from the refrigerator and let sit for 60 to 90 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 500 F. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add the baking soda .
• Add the bagels to the boiling water and poach for 2 minutes, flipping halfway through.
• Remove with a wire spider or slotted spoon and return to the greased, parchment-lined sheet pan. Sprinkle with seeds or salt if desired.
• Place in the oven and bake until golden, 15 to 18 minutes.
• Cool on a wire rack.

WHOLE GRAIN SOURDOUGH BAGELS

Steps:

• Early Morning Day 1: Starter Prep
• Feed 40g sourdough starter with 80g whole grain flour and 80g water. Let it ripen in a warm spot until at least doubled. This should take 4-6 hours. If you don't have a warm spot, do a 70:70:70 feed; and if you prefer to prep the starter the night before, use cool water and a higher feeding ratio, for example 20:90:90.
• Midday Day 1: Mixing and Fermenting
• Combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a stand mixer with a dough hook. Mix for about 5 minutes at low speed. The dough should be stiffer than pizza dough but not as dry as pasta dough. If you don't have a stand mixer, after combining the ingredients, knead the dough by hand for about 5 minutes.
• Lightly oil your bowl or bucket, place the dough inside, cover and let it rise until it has expanded by 75-100% (see the photo below). My dough took 5 hours in a warm lit-oven, but at cooler kitchen temps, your dough may need 8-10 hours. In the case of a cold environment, prepping the starter the night before and mixing in the morning may work best.
• Evening Day 1: Shaping (see the video above)
• Prep a large baking sheet with parchment paper and a dusting of flour.
• Scrape your dough out of its bowl or bucket onto a lightly oiled work surface. Fold the dough into a thick tube and roll it to about 24 inches in length.
• Cut the dough tube into 12 pieces.
• Roll each piece into a ball, and then roll all the balls into tubes, de-gassing the dough as much as possible.
• Wrap each tube around your palm and roll the seams on your work surface to seal and even out the bagel diameter.
• Lay the bagels on your baking sheet and cover with plastic wrap.
• Day 1 into Day 2 Overnight: Final Proof
• Unlike yeast-leavened dough, some room temperature proofing is needed before refrigerating the this sourdough bagel dough. Let the shaped bagels rise at room temperature for about 1 hour and then refrigerate the baking sheet overnight. In a warm kitchen, 40 minutes at room temperature before retarding might be sufficient. If you prefer to boil and bake the bagels on Day 1, plan for a room temperature final proof of 1 1/2 to 2 hours.
• Day 2: Stove and Oven Prep
• Preheat your oven to 500F with a baking stone or steel on the middle shelf for at least 30 minutes.
• Set 3 to 4 quarts of water to boil in a large pot.
• Soak your bagel boards for at least 10 minutes by laying them inside a rimmed baking sheet and filling it with water.
• Prepare dishes with seeds or any other bagel toppings you'd like to use.
• When the water is boiling and the preheat is complete, add the barley malt syrup to the water and stir.
• Remove the bagel dough from the refrigerator and remove the bagel boards from the water. Place the boards near your topping dishes, burlap-side up.
• Place a bowl of ice water near your toppings to quickly dunk the bagels in between the boiling and the topping. You can skip this step if your hands are relatively impervious to high temperatures and you adequately drain water off each bagel.
• Day 2: Boiling and Baking
• Transfer three bagels to the boiling water and boil for 1 minute on each side, using your bagel scoop to flip them.
• Remove the bagels from the boiling water and place them in the ice water.
• Lay a drained bagel on the topping of your choice, and then carefully transfer it to a bagel board, topping side down.
• Repeat this until you have six prepped bagels divided between two bagel boards.
• Load the bagel boards into your oven and bake for 4 minutes.
• Carefully turn the bagels over by lifting and flipping the boards so the bagels are now topping side up and baking directly onto the hot stone.
• Continue baking for 14 minutes more.
• Re-soak the boards and begin boiling and topping the next six bagels during this time so that when you remove the first batch from the oven, the next batch is ready to load.
• Cooling and Storage
• Let the bagels cool on a rack about 30 minutes before serving.
• The bagels can be stored in beeswax, paper, or plastic bags.
• After a couple of days, it's best to freeze the bagels. I like to pre-cut them in half and defrost directly in the toaster.