Cinnamon Crunch Sourdough Bagels

Important Ingredients

• Ripe Sourdough Starter: Use an active/ripe sourdough starter (doubled in size/bubbly/mild sour aroma) to mix the levain
• Pure Maple Syrup: I use pure maple syrup for a little sweetness in these sourdough cinnamon crunch bagels. It pairs so well with the other flavors.
• Bread Flour: I almost always use bread flour for any bread that I am kneading. In this bagel recipe I chose to use only bread flour instead of the high-protein flour I recommend in my sourdough bagel recipe. If you prefer to use a high-protein flour, you can add a little extra vital wheat gluten to the dough to increase the protein content of the flour – but bread flour works great with these cinnamon crunch sourdough bagels.
• Diastatic Malt Powder: A small amount of this powder helps encourage fermentation, impart flavor and gives a caramelization color to the bagel dough. I like using it in the bagels, but I have made the dough both ways and leaving it out is also okay.
• Water: Room temperature or slightly warm water helps the dough keep a good temperature during fermentation.
• Salt: Salt is important to balance the flavors. Don’t leave it out.
• Sugar: A mix of brown sugar and granulated sugar makes for a delicious cinnamon crunch topping. Brown sugar is also an important part of the boil bath.
• Unsalted Butter: I always bake with unsalted butter, as there is no standardized amount of salt in salted butter.
• Cinnamon: Including cinnamon in the crunch topping makes for a delicious finish to these sourdough bagels.
• Cornmeal: This is used for sprinkling on a baking sheet before proofing the bagels and keeps the bagels from sticking to the pan.

Levain

1:1:1 Levain (ready in 3-4 hours/same day): Combine 45 grams ripe active sourdough starter with 45 grams water and 45 grams flour. Cover and set in a warm place to rise. Once your levain is active and bubbly you can proceed. If kept at around 78 degrees Fahrenheit, this will take about 3-4 hours. If you wan to use a different feeding ratio to fit your schedule, read more about that here.

Note: You can substitute active sourdough starter for levain in this recipe as long as it has been fed equal weights flour and water and is ripe, bubbly and active.

Bulk Fermentation

Once your levain is bubbly and active, mix your dough in the bowl of a stand mixer on a kitchen scale. Add ripe levain, water, maple syrup, bread flour, salt and diastatic malt powder to the bowl. Start the mixer and knead the dough together for about 5-7 minutes until smooth. The dough should feel smooth, tacky to the touch and not sticky. If it is sticky, add a little extra flour to the dough. If you don’t have a stand mixer, this sourdough bagel dough can be kneaded by hand for about 8-10 minutes until smooth.

After kneading, dump the dough in a large  container and cover. Your bagel dough will rise best if kept between 78-80ºF. I use a bread proofer in the winter to help the dough develop at the right temperature. The entire bulk fermentation will take about 4 hours. At the end of 4 hours, the dough will feel more cohesive and strong, although it may not have risen very much. You may need to adjust the proofing time if your dough is colder.

Shaping Dough

Prepare to shape your dough by sprinkling some cornmeal on a baking sheet. This will keep your bagels from sticking to the pan. Separate the dough into 8 equal pieces. Take each piece of dough and pull/pinch up the sides until it forms a ball. Roll the ball on the counter using your hand in a cupping shape (see video here) to seal the balls and create tension. Let the balls rest for a minute on the countertop before shaping into bagels.

To form the bagel shape, take your finger and press directly into the center of the ball of dough until it goes through to the other side, creating a hole. Use your fingers to widen the center hole, moving the dough around in a circle as you stretch it. Let the dough relax and repeat with the next bagel. The dough will spread back out a little and the hole will close up a bit, don’t worry. You will have a chance to widen it again before boiling and baking. Place the bagels on the baking sheet and cover.

Cold Ferment and Proofing

Once all of your sourdough bagels have been shaped, cover the bagels with a kitchen towel or sheet pan cover and let the bagels rise on the baking sheet for about 2-3 hours at 78-80ºF. I use a dough mat to keep the temperature consistent for rising bagels – the oven the with light on works too, but it may make the process faster or slower depending on the temperature. After about 2-3 hours the bagels will be puffed up and risen. They won’t look completely doubled, but you should notice a change in their texture – from dense to light and airy. If they don’t look this way, let them continue rising for another 30 minutes to an hour and check again. 

At this point, you can refrigerate your bagels overnight for a cold fermentation. This develops flavor and makes it easy for you to boil and bake them in the morning. Be careful going over 12-16 hours in the refrigerator as they can more easily over-proof. If you want to bake them the same day, you can skip the cold ferment.

Baking

Boil: The next morning after your cold ferment, prepare to bake your bagels by preheating the oven to 425ºF. Place a pot filled with 8 cups water on the stove and turn the heat to high. Have a slotted spoon and a cooling rack ready. As soon as the water comes to a boil, add brown sugar to the water. Gently widen the hole of the bagel again and place it into the boiling water. The sourdough bagel should float within the first 10 seconds or so of placing in the water. Add as many bagels to the pot of water as you can without stacking bagels on top of each other (they should each have a little personal space in the water). Boil for about 40 seconds and then flip. Boil for 40 seconds on the other side. Using the slotted spoon, remove the bagels from the boiling water and place on the cooling rack to drip dry for a minute before placing back on the parchment-lined baking sheet (this will help when you add the topping, as cleanup can be pretty messy. I recommend using parchment paper to make the cleanup easier).

Top: Prepare the cinnamon crunch topping by mixing together brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, butter and cinnamon until it forms a thick, crumbly mixture. Top each bagel with the cinnamon crunch topping.

Bake: After adding your topping to your sourdough cinnamon crunch bagels, bake for 25– 30 minutes until sourdough bagels are golden and baked all the way through. If your bagels are too dark on the bottom, place a baking stone or baking sheet on the rack underneath the bagels to help.

Let bagels cool for about 20-25 minutes before serving. The cinnamon crunch topping hardens a little (though the bottom can still sometimes be a little gooey) and the cinnamon flavor comes through more as the bagels cool. Bagels can be stored for 12-24 hours at room temperature and then frozen.

Substitutions

• Cinnamon Crunch Topping: Substitute cinnamon sugar and dip the bagels in cinnamon sugar right after boiling and before baking.
• Levain: Substitute ripe, bubbly, active sourdough starter for the levain in this recipe.
• Diastatic Malt Powder: Substitute bread flour and give a little extra time to rise.
• Bread Flour: Bread flour is important in this recipe. If you don’t have bread flour, you can use all-purpose flour but will wan to add some vital wheat gluten to the dough (about 3-5 grams per 140 grams of flour).

How to Store Leftovers

Leftover cinnamon crunch sourdough bagels can be stored in an air-tight container after cooling. Freeze for up to 2 months.

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