Easy Homemade Sourdough Bagels
Easy homemade sourdough bagels are crunchy on the outside, soft and chewy on the inside and the perfect vehicle for schmearing with cream cheese. Don't let the timeline scare you, made with 100% natural yeast sourdough, these bagels don't actually take much hands on time - just fermentation time.
Ingredients
Stiff Sweet Levain (peaks in about 12 hours)
- 24 grams ripe sourdough starter
- 20 grams granulated sugar
- 60 grams water
- 120 grams all purpose or bread flour
Easy Homemade Sourdough Bagels
- 200 grams ripe levain
- 475 grams water
- 30 grams pure maple syrup not pancake syrup
- 820 grams bread flour see recipe notes
- 30 grams vital wheat gluten see recipe notes
- 7 grams diastatic malt powder see recipe notes
- 18 grams salt
- cornmeal for sprinking
- any desired toppings
Instructions
Day 1: Make Levain (10-12 hours/overnight at 78ºF)
- Stiff Sweet Levain: Mix together ripe, 100% hydration sourdough starter with granulated sugar, water and all purpose flour. This will be thicker than a traditional 100% hydration levain and will require a bit of kneading to incorporate the sourdough starter. Place the freshly kneaded levain into a clear jar and cover lightly. Let it sit at 78ºF for about 10-12 hours until levain has doubled in size, is rounded on the top and full of bubbles.
Day 2: Mix/Bulk Fermentation/Cold Bulk Fermentation
- Mix the Dough (15 minutes): Set the bowl of a stand mixer on a kitchen scale. Add ripe levain and the rest of the ingredients to the bowl. Start the mixer and knead the dough together for about 8 minutes until smooth. The dough should be smooth and pass the windowpane test before moving to the bulk fermentation.You can also knead this dough completely by hand for about 10-15 minutes until smooth.
- Bulk Fermentation (3.5 hours): Move the dough to a container. Do your best to keep the temperature of the dough at 78 degrees F. I use a bread proofer in the winter to help the dough develop at the right temperature. Cover the container. The entire bulk fermentation will take about 3.5 hours. The dough will be more cohesive and strong, although it may not have risen very much.
- Prepare a baking sheet: Sprinkle cornmeal liberally over the sheet. This will help the bagels not to stick to the pan while they rise.
- Shape Bagels (15 minutes): Separate the dough into 12 equal pieces, about 130 grams each. 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. Take your finger and press it 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. After you've put holes in all the bagels, stretch them out again as desired and place on the cornmeal dusted baking sheet.
- Proof Bagels (2-3 hours): Cover the bagels with a kitchen towel and let the bagels rise on the baking sheet for about 2-3 hours at 78 degrees F. They will puff up a little and rise. After about 2 hours, check on the bagels. They should puff up a bit and not feel dense. If they do, give them another 30 minutes to an hour and check them again. Stick the sheet of bagels into the refrigerator for a cold bulk fermentation. If you prefer to boil and bake the bagels right away, let them rise another hour or two until puffed up and very soft. Then boil and bake.
- Cold Bulk Fermentation (12-24 hours): Place the covered bagels in the refrigerator overnight for a cold bulk fermentation. This dough can stay in the refrigerator for up to about 24 hours. If you go much longer than that they are prone to overpoofing.
Day 3 Boil and Bake
- Pull the bagels out of the refrigerator to rest at room temperature while you prepare the water bath.
- Prepare the Oven: Place a baking stone in the bottom of your oven. You can bake these without a baking stone, but they will be more susceptible to burn on the bottom. Preheat oven to 475 degrees F.
- Prepare the Baking Sheets: This recipe makes 12 bagels. To allow the bagels full room to expand while they bake, I use 2 baking sheets. Cover the baking sheet with parchment paper and place 6-8 bagels per baking sheet.
- Boiling: Place a large pot of water, about half full, 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, place a bagel into the water. It should float within the first 10 seconds or so of placing in the water. If it doesn't, this is a sign of being under-proved. Allow the rest of the bagels to proof and rise a little bit longer. 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 per 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 topping and placing on a baking sheet.
- Topping: Quickly top bagels with your favorite toppings. Our favorites: sharp shredded cheese, Maldon Flaky Sea Salt and Everything but the Bagel Seasoning.
- Baking: Place about 1/2 - 1 cup of ice cubes in a baking sheet or baking pan. Place the pan on the bottom rack of the oven and then quickly slide the bagels into the oven and close the oven door. This creates steam for baking the bagels. If you prefer less crispy bagels, omit this step. Bake for 10 minutes at 475 degrees F. Then rotate the pan and decrease the oven temperature to 450 degrees F. Bake for another 10-15 minutes, until bagels are golden and baked all the way through.
- Cooling: Let bagels cool for about 20-25 minutes before serving. Bagels can be stored for 24 hours at room temperature and then frozen. Enjoy!
Notes
Recipe Notes: To boil/bake the bagels the same day, shape the bagels and let them proof for 3-4 hours at 78 degrees F before boiling and baking. The bagel dough should feel airy (not at all dense) if you skip the cold bulk fermentation. If the bagels sink in the water and don't float, let the remaining bagels rise a bit longer. They should float in the water when boiling.
Pure Maple Syrup: Barley Malt Syrup is traditionally used in bagels, but it's not an ingredient I often have on hand. I use pure maple syrup instead with great results.
Bread Flour: I almost always use bread flour for any bread that I am kneading. It's especially important in bagels to use a bread flour (12.5% protein) combined with vital wheat gluten OR a high protein flour (around 14% protein). The higher protein content and properly activating the gluten results in a lighter/springy bagel
Vital Wheat Gluten: Vital wheat gluten is an easy way to increase the protein content needed for bagels. You can use high protein flour in place of the bread flour and vital wheat gluten if desired (use 850 grams high protein flour instead of the bread flour/vital wheat gluten combination).
Diastatic Malt Powder: A small amount of this powder helps encourage fermentation, impart flavor and gives a caramelization color to the bagel dough. If you want to make bagels without it, you can leave it out.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!