Sourdough Bagels

Sourdough bagels are golden and chewy on the outside with a soft, slightly tangy crumb, perfect for toasting and spreading with cream cheese. With step-by-step instructions, this recipe makes it easy to bake your own bagels at home!

This past summer, I got to enjoy breakfast at a cute bagel shop in D.C. with a friend from college. It was such a lovely morning, and ever since then, making and eating bagels always reminds me of that memory. 🙂

Making bagels at home is definitely a labor of love, but I think you’ll find it worth your while once you enjoy a warm, chewy bagel fresh from the oven. And while bagels do take time to prepare, they actually don’t require much skill. If you can roll dough into a ball, you can shape bagels!

Besides tasting amazing, I love that sourdough bagels are made with a few simple ingredients. You don’t have to worry about any weird chemicals or preservatives in your bagels when you make them at home. Plus, the sourdough helps to break down the carbohydrates a bit, which gives the bagels a lower glycemic index than traditional bagels. This means you won’t have as high of a blood sugar spike after eating them (which also means you won’t have as much of a crash later on either). There are so many reasons to love these bagels, so go ahead and make a batch to see for yourself!

Tips for making Sourdough Bagels

• Don’t have a stand mixer? No worries! You can knead the dough by hand instead, and your bagels will still turn out fine.
• If your kitchen runs cold or you’re baking these bagels during the winter, use warm water in the dough, and set your bowl on a towel so that the cold countertop doesn’t cool the bottom of the bowl.
• Try not to over-boil or over-bake the bagels so that they don’t turn out too hard!
• Store leftover bagels in an air-tight container for 2-3 days for best results. You can also freeze bagels for up to 3 months if you want.

Tools you will need

To make these bagels, you’ll need a stand mixer with a dough hook attachment and bowl, measuring cups and spoons, a large pot, two baking trays, and parchment paper.

Ingredients you will need

• 4 cups flour – All-purpose flour works best for this.
• 1/2 cup sourdough starter – Make sure it’s active and bubbly!
• 1 tbsp maple syrup – Feel free to use honey if you prefer.
• 2 tsp salt – Kosher salt works well here.
• 1 cup water
• 1 tbsp baking soda – This is for boiling the bagels
• Optional toppings – Shredded cheddar cheese or parmesan, everything bagel seasoning, cinnamon sugar blend, or whatever else you like!

How to make Sourdough Bagels

The night before:

In the bowl of the stand mixer, add 2 cups of flour, sourdough starter, water, maple syrup, and salt. Stir together on low-medium speed using a dough hook.

With the mixer still running, pour in the rest of the floru a little bit at a time until a stiff dough forms. It should clump together around the dough hook, but it won’t be a completely smooth dough. You may need to add a little extra water for all of the flour to get mixed in. Mix for 10 minutes to help develop the gluten.

Cover the bowl with a towel and let the dough proof overnight.

In the morning:

Divide the dough into 12 equal sections and roll each section into a ball.

Set the bagels on parchment paper for 5 minutes to rest, then use your fingers to poke a hole in the middle of the bagel and stretch it out to form a ring. Try to make the hole about 2-3 inches wide because it will shrink as the dough rises.

Cover the bagels and let them rise again for 2-4 hours until they are puffy. You don’t want them to get very jiggly (which would mean they over-proofed). Properly proofed bagels should have noticeably risen but don’t collapse when you lightly press the tops.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees Fahrenheit, and use a convection setting if you have it!

Fill a large pot with water and stir in the baking soda. Bring the water to a boil.

Use a slotted spoon to lower 1-3 bagels into the water and let them boil for about 1 minute. Flip the bagels over, then boil them for another minute. Remove them from the pot and place the bagels on the baking rack.

Repeat for the remaining bagels. Depending on the size of your pot, you can cook 2-3 bagels at a time, but be careful not to over-crowd them.

Once all the bagels have been boiled and have dried off on the baking rack, place them on two baking trays lined with parchment paper.

If you want to top your bagels with cheese, cinnamon sugar, or everything bagel seasoning, now is the time to do it!

Bake the bagels for 12 minutes until they are golden brown. Let them cool on a baking rack and enjoy!

Hungry for more bagel recipes?

If so, make sure to head over to the Kitchen Counter for other sourdough recipes like these:

• Sourdough Discard Bagels
• Sourdough Bagel Bites
• Sourdough Blueberry Bagels

If you make this recipe and enjoy it, let me know in the comments section below! You can also tag me on instagram @oldfashionedinspiration with a picture of your creation!