Sourdough Bagels
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Sourdough bagels are such a treat. Your family will love you for them. And you will want to make them all the time. They’re perfect for a holiday brunch, a breakfast potluck, or just a leisurely Saturday morning.
This dough comes together quickly. With an overnight bulk ferment at room temperature, you can mix the dough the day before and forget about it until it’s time to shape, boil, and bake in the morning.
Why Sourdough Bagels?
Aside from the fact that they taste so good—the tang of sourdough makes everything better—there are several reasons to make bagels using a slow-fermented sourdough method.
In brief, fermentation pre-processes the starches and degrades the gluten, making the bagel more digestible than bagels made with conventional yeast. Fermentation also lowers the glycemic index of the bagel.
And did I mention that they taste so good?
I did, I know. But it’s what I always come back to. Good-for-you is important, but if it doesn’t taste good, then what’s the point?!? And these bagels taste goooood—even better than their conventional alternatives, I’d say.
What Is Sourdough, Anyway?
These sourdough bagels are made with the traditional sourdough method. This method is also called slow-fermented sourdough or long-fermented sourdough. This means the bagels are made with natural, wild yeast and beneficial bacteria, rather than with conventional yeast found in packets at the supermarket.
The wild yeast and bacteria that are used in sourdough baking are cultured and cultivated in a sourdough starter. In traditional sourdough baking, a small amount of sourdough starter is incorporated into the dough instead of conventional yeast. The microbes that live within the sourdough starter are what cause the bagels to rise.
Read more about sourdough and how to make a starter here.
Tips for Making Bagels
The Leaven
This recipe (as with most of my sourdough recipes) calls for a “leaven.”
Leaven is an intermediary step between the sourdough starter and the dough. The leaven is mixed 6-8 hours before building the dough, and it is mixed into the dough when the dough is formed. It’s what will cause the bread to rise.
Basically, the leaven is a sourdough starter designed and built up specifically for the recipe you are making. It’s made with a tiny bit of starter, some flour, and some water, mixed to the specific amount you need for your recipe.
On Measurement
As a north-America born baker, I was raised with imperial measurement, but have come to use—and love—the metric system for baking, especially with sourdough. Measuring ingredients by metric weight (that is, in grams), is simple, easy to scale, and so accurate.
This is especially helpful in sourdough baking as the starter grows and collapses over a 24 hour cycle. It’s volume is ever changing, and measuring by weight rather than by volume ensures an accurate measurement regardless of the stage of fermentation. A digital scale is a game-changer in bread making and will quickly become one of your most-used kitchen tools.
Read more about measuring by weight rather than volume and using a digital scale here.
As much as I recommend measuring by weight with a digital scale, you don’t have to have one to work with sourdough. You can use cups, teaspoons, and tablespoons and get decent results. I’ve included these measurements by volume as an alternative to grams along with the recipe. It is not an exact conversion, but is as precise as I could get it.
For measuring the ripe starter/leaven by cup, you will need to stir it down first. Knocking out all the air will help you get right amount of starter/leaven you actually need for recipe.
Boiling the Bagels
The most important step in the bagel making process is boiling. This is what makes a bagel a bagel, and you do not want to skip this step. Before you slide that tray bagels into the oven, each bagel must be boiled in water for 30-60 seconds per side (flip half way through). Boil just a few at a time, so not to crowd the pot. This is what gives the bagel its quintessential firm skin. Without the boil, you won’t have a bagel. You’ll just have a bread roll with a hole in the middle.
And now, the recipe.
PIN IT FOR LATER
Sourdough Bagels
Ingredients
For the leaven
20 grams starter (1 Tbsp)
60 grams water (1/4 cup)
60 grams all-purpose flour (1/4 cup)
For the dough
115 grams of ripe leaven (1/2 cup stirred down)
460 grams all-purpose flour (3 cups)
14 grams salt (2 tsp)
40 grams honey (2 Tbsp)
190 grams water (3/4 cup)
Preparation
To build the leaven:
Six hours before building the dough, prepare the leaven. In a medium sized jar, stir starter, flour, and water together in a medium sized jar. Cover loosely and leave in a warm place. Leaven should double in size.
To make the dough:
In a large bowl, combine the flour and salt and set aside.
In a smaller bowl, combine the leaven, water and honey.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry and stir together by hand until it forms a shaggy mass.
Turn the shaggy mass on a clean surface and knead until the dough is smooth, tough, and elastic.
While kneading, add more water if necessary to bring the mass together as dough. Add at the rate of 20 grams (2 Tbsp) at a time.
Return the dough to the large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to ferment at room temperature for 12 hours, or until doubled in size.
To prepare the bagels:
Remove dough from the bowl and rest, covered, for 10 minutes.
Cut into 8 equal pieces and shape into bagels: Roll 6-8inch long ropes and form into a circle. Keep each covered while working and placed on a greased baking sheet when shaped.
Rest for 30 minutes.
In a large pot of boiling water, boil each bagel for 30-60 seconds on each side, being careful not to crowd the pot. Drain on a drying rack.
Top bagels as desired, with sesame seeds, dried garlic, cheese, etc, and place on a greased baking tray.
Bake at 400*F for 25 minutes.
Cool before slicing.
