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best homemade sourdough bagels sitting on a parchment lined sheet pan.

Best Sourdough Bagels

These homemade sourdough bagels are soft, chewy center & a crackly dark crust. Mix & shape one day, boil & bake the next, makes warm sourdough bagels for breakfast a possibility.
5 from 1 vote
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Cook Time 30 minutes
Servings 12 Bagels

Ingredients
  

  • 1.5 Cups Sourdough Starter Fed, Active, Bubbly
  • 1.5 Cups Water Room Temperature, Filtered
  • 4.5 Cups Flour Unbleached, Organic, All-Purpose
  • 1 tbsp./15g. Honey Raw
  • 1 tbsp./5g. Maple Syrup
  • 2 tsp./4g. Salt We like to use Himalayan Salt or Sea Salt
  • Olive Oil
  • t tbsp. Maple Sugar Barley Malt, Baking Soda
  • Bagel Toppings Optional and to your preference. For these bagels I used a combination of Everything bagel seasoning, and sesame seeds mixed with fleur de Sal.
  • 1 Egg White Beaten, Optional

Instructions
 

  • In the morning- start by making a Poolish. Combine water, sourdough starter and 2 cups of the flour into the stand mixing bowl, mixing with a whisk to combine until smooth. Cover and let it rest for 1 hour.
  • To the Poolish, add honey, maple syrup, and salt. Begin mixing with a dough hook in the stand mixer on medium-low or 2 on the KitchenAid. Add 2.5 cups of flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until it starts to completely pull away from the bowl. You might not need to use the full 2.5 cups of flour. Just watch the dough. Your cue is when it just barely pulls away from the bowl completely. You want this dough to be sticky and hydrated. It's best to add the flour slowly. You can always add more, but you cannot take flour out if you add too much! The whole process of adding flour happens over about 5 minutes, as the dough continues to knead in the stand mixer. The dough will pull away from the bottom of the bowl last. When it has just barely pulled away, continue to knead at the same speed until the dough is smooth.
  • Oil another large bowl, and with oiled hands transfer the dough into the oiled bowl and cover.
  • Over the next four hours, develop the gluten through a series of stretch and folds every half and hour. This will come to 8 sets of stretch and folds. You can set a timer, and be exact about this. However, in my experience it's a more enjoyable process to stretch and fold throughout the day in a groove that flows with the rest of your day. Don't stress yourself out.
  • Let the dough rise until the evening. It should double or triple in size.
  • Weigh the bulk of the dough and then divide that number by 12. I divide weigh, and pre-shape each of the 12 pieces into tight round balls. Covering the other dough as I work, so it doesn't develop skin over the top.
  • Then, take each ball and with your thumb poke a hole through the middle until your thumb hits the counter underneath the dough. Then pick the dough up off the counter, with both of your pointer fingers in the middle of the hole, rotate your fingers around each other to enlarge the hole, and create an even distribution of the dough around the whole circle. You want to make the hole larger than you want it to be at the end, to make room for rising and puffing up. If you don't make the whole big enough during this step, it will close up during the final rise and even more when boiling and baking. No one wants a hole-less bagel.
  • Place the shaped bagels onto a oiled sheet pan. Cover with plastic wrap and place them in the fridge overnight.
  • In the morning, preheat your oven to 425℉. While the oven is preheating, take the bagels out of the fridge and let them rise on the counter for 1-2 hours. I do this step upon waking.
  • When the bagels have properly risen, get a large pot of water boiling. When the water is boiling, add a tablespoon of baking soda and a tablespoon of maple sugar. Stir. Bagel makers often use barley malt, it can be hard to find, and not something I have on hand. This is why I use maple sugar. You can also use molasses.
  • Place three bagels at a time in the boiling water, let them boil for 1 minute, and flip them over for another 20-30 seconds of boiling. Removing with a spider and on an oiled sheet pan. If you don't boil the bagels long enough, or if you boil them too long the final shape of your bagels will be compromised in the baking process. Make sure you give them a nice boil on both sides.
  • Optionally, brush with beaten egg white.
  • Prepare a pan with the toppings of your choice dip both sides of the bagels in the toppings and place back on the sheet pan.
  • Bake for 30 minutes, turning after 15 minutes. Waiting until they are golden brown and beautiful.
  • Let them cool, just a tad, because everyone wants a nice warm out of the oven bagel.
    Bon Appétite!

Notes

  • The morning process of boiling and baking takes 1-2 of hands-off time, and 15 minutes of hands-on time, making it such a doable process if you're trying to serve these bagels for breakfast that morning.