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A tray of sourdough bagels
Tannah Kuusikumpu

Sourdough Bagels

Make these sourdough bagels in your own kitchen and amaze friends and family. These bagels are chewy with that tangy sourdough kick, crispy outside, and begging for cream cheese or whatever topping you dream up!
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Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Resting Time 4 hours
Total Time 4 hours 35 minutes
Servings: 9 bagels
Course: Bread
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 250 grams water
  • 475 grams bread flour
  • 150 grams active sourdough starter
  • 25 grams sugar
  • 6 grams salt
  • 1 packet instant yeast optional (see recipe notes)
  • 2 tbsp baking soda
  • 1 pot of boiling water
  • optional bagel toppings sesame seeds, everything bagel seasoning, brown sugar and cinnamon

Equipment

  • 1 Stand Mixer optional
  • 1 Large Mixing Bowl
  • 1 Mixing Utensil Dutch whisk, silicon spatula, etc
  • 1 Pot

Method
 

  1. Mix water, flour, active sourdough starter, sugar, salt, and instant yeast (if using) together to form a dough.
  2. Cover and let the dough raise on the counter until doubled. This can take 1-8 hours depending on kitchen environment, yeast use, and your sourdough starter. Watch the dough not the clock.
  3. Dump dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Cut the dough into 100 gram pieces, you should end up with 9 total.
  4. Roll each of the 9 pieces into a snake shape, and then connect the ends to form a bagel/doughnut shape. Cover and let rest on a baking sheet while you continue to the next steps.
  5. Preheat the oven to 220C.
  6. Bring a pot of water to boil and add in the baking soda a little at a time to prevent overflowing.
  7. Lower heat and boil each bagel one at a time for 30 seconds per side. Placing the boiled bagels back on the baking sheet when finished.
  8. Optional: Top bagels with desired toppings, such as seasonings or cheese.
  9. Bake at 220C for 23 minutes or until golden.
  10. Remove from oven and enjoy. Any leftovers can be stored as you would store bread for a few days, or you can slice them and freeze them to keep longer. You can pop the frozen bagel halves into a toaster and enjoy.

Notes

Low on time? Sprinkle some instant yeast into your water before mixing all the ingredients together and it will speed up the fermentation process. 
Sourdough starter not active? Use sourdough discard for this recipe instead and add in half of a packet of instant yeast into the water before mixing all the ingredients together.
No sourdough starter or discard? Replace the active starter with a full packet instant yeast. Dissolve yeast in the recipe's warm water then mix/knead as directed. Let dough rise 1-2 hours until doubled. Boil and bake per recipe. Flavor will be less tangy but still chewy.