Sourdough bagels are savory, chewy, crusty, and deliciously tangy. These are an amazing way to start your morning or to enjoy for a yummy brunch.
Sourdough may be one of my favorite ways to start the morning, whether it be breakfast strata, pancakes, English muffins, crepes, or these delicious bagels.
It’s a delicious, easy, and filling way to start our busy days, fueled up.
Bagels may seem intimidating, but I promise that they really aren’t that difficult. It’s much like making any baked sourdough recipe, with the added step of cooking it in boiling water for a few minutes before baking.
These sourdough bagels have a yummy and tangy flavor, pairing really well with sweet or savory dishes. They’re a wonderful comfort food.
I love slathering cream cheese or homemade butter all over them.
Below, I share a few different variations and a bunch of bagel sandwich ideas.
Sourdough Bagel FAQ
Are all bagels sourdough?
No. They are typically leavened with either sourdough or commercial yeast. Unless they are specifically labeled as sourdough, you can expect bagels to be made with commercial yeast.
Why is there a hole in a bagel?
There is a hole for more even cooking throughout. This also helps with crust development.
Are bagels bad for you?
While they tend to be higher in calories, these simple sourdough bagels are made with wholesome ingredients and healthy fermented grains.
What do you eat bagels with?
There are so many ways to eat bagels. Most commonly, they are served with cream cheese. See below for sandwich recommendations.
Why are bagels boiled at first?
You boil bagels first to set the crust, which allows them to hold their shape in the oven. The longer you boil them, the thicker the crust. Boiling for 60 seconds on each side yields the perfect result. Although this step may seem silly, don’t skip it – it is one of the most important.
This post contains affiliate links, which means I make a small commission at no extra cost to you. See my full disclosure here.
Tips:
- Use a slotted spoon or ‘spider’ strainer to flip and pull the bagels out of the boiling water.
- If you don’t have a sourdough starter, you can check out this post, where I show you exactly how to make a starter from scratch.
- Cook 2-4 bagels in the baking soda water at a time. Don’t overcrowd your pot.
- You can knead the dough by hand or use a stand mixer. A stand mixer is much easier and less time consuming.
Tools you may need:
Measuring cups and spoons
Large pot or dutch oven
Parchment paper
Topping ideas
- Shredded cheddar cheese
- Sesame seeds
- Dried onion/dried garlic flakes
- Poppy seeds
- Everything But The Bagel seasoning
- Cinnamon sugar topping
Additional Bagel Add-Ins:
Mix in these extras into the dough right before forming into bagels:
Blueberries – add fresh blueberries
Cinnamon and raisins
Chocolate chips
How To Make Sourdough Bagels From Scratch
Add sourdough starter, water, honey, salt, and two cups of flour to a stand mixer.
Mix until it comes together, about 10 minutes on low speed. The dough will be really stiff and difficult to incorporate.
Add remaining flour, half a cup at a time. Use a dough hook and knead until it is smooth and pliable. You could also knead by hand, but the stand mixer makes this process much easier.
Cover dough with wet tea towel, plastic wrap, or beeswax wrap; allow to ferment for 8 to 12 hours. Don’t just cover with a dry towel, because it will create a hard skin on the top of your dough, which you don’t want.
After the dough has fermented, divide into 8 equal pieces.
Roll the dough into balls, flatten them down a bit, and poke a hole in the middle with your finger. Stretch the hole a bit to widen.
Cover with a tea towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm spot for two hours or until puffy. The time will depend on how warm your house is. It could take 1 to 4 hours.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the baking soda and sugar.
Using a slotted spoon, gently add bagels to the water and boil for one minute, flip, then boil for another minute.
Shake off excess water and dip into desired toppings (optional).
Place boiled bagels on parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden on top.
Sourdough Bagel Sandwich Ideas
Truly, a sourdough bagel is a vessel for the yummy toppings you want to add.
- Breakfast sandwich – add a fried egg, bacon or sausage, cheese, and some lettuce for a yummy way to start your morning.
- Cream cheese and veggie. Spread cream cheese on bagel, add slices of tomato, cucumber, avocado (optional). Sprinkle with salt and enjoy.
- Avocado… bagel. Rather than toast. Add sliced avocado and sprinkle with salt.
- Locks – cream cheese and smoked salmon (locks) make a really delicious sandwich any time of day.
- Turkey club. Really any of your favorite lunch meat will do; top with slices of cheese, tomato, avocado, and an egg.
- Ham and cheese. Top with ham and a slice of Swiss or cheddar cheese. Bake it in the oven until the cheese starts to melt. Honey mustard takes this up a notch.
- Add chicken salad
Find More Sourdough Recipes:
If you try this recipe and love it, I would love if you could come back and give it 5 stars!
Sourdough Bagels
Ingredients
- ½ cup sourdough starter, bubbly and active (113 grams)
- 1 cup water, 236 grams
- 2 tablespoons honey, 21 grams
- 2 teaspoons salt, 10 grams
- 4 cups unbleached all purpose flour, 560 grams
For boiling the bagels
- 2 quarts water
- 1 tablespoon baking soda
- 1 tablespoon brown sugar
Instructions
- Add sourdough starter, water, honey, salt, and two cups flour to a stand mixer.
- Mix until it comes together, about 10 minutes on low speed. The dough will be really stiff and difficult to incorporate.
- Add remaining flour, half a cup at a time. Use a dough hook and knead until it is smooth and pliable.
- Cover dough with wet tea towel, plastic wrap, or beeswax wrap and allow to ferment for 8 to 12 hours.
- After fermentation, divide into 8 equal pieces.
- Roll the dough into balls, flatten them down a bit, and poke a hole in the middle with your finger. Stretch the hole a bit to widen.
- Cover with a tea towel and allow the dough to rise in a warm spot for 1-4 hours or until puffy.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
- Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the baking soda and sugar.
- Using a slotted spoon, gently add bagels to the water and boil for one minute, flip, then boil for another minute.
- Shake off excess water and dip into desired toppings (optional).
- Place boiled bagels on parchment-lined baking sheet.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden on top.
Notes
- Use a slotted spoon or ‘spider’ strainer to flip and to pull the bagels out of the boiling water.
- Cook 2-4 bagels in the baking soda water at a time. Don’t overcrowd your pot.
- You can knead the dough by hand or use a stand mixer. A stand mixer is much easier and less time consuming.
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Does anyone else have a trusted blogger/baker they trust so much they know that whatever recipe it is, it will be good? Yeah, Lisa is that person for me. I have a goal to make all her sourdough recipes! I’ve never been disappointed. This recipe is super amazing for bagels!! There is no going back now
Delicious & perfect; I’m making these at least once a week. Another wonderful recipe, Lisa!
Oh! After a couple tries with extremely stiff dough, I started weighing rather than measuring the flour; it made ALL the difference!
At what point do you add any mix-ins? I have a husband who only likes cinnamon raisin bagels. The recipe I currently use is not sourdough. I have to kneed in the raisins and cinnamon/sugar mixture before I let it rise. Since this is fermenting for a long period of time, is it ok to add cinnamon/sugar and raisins to the dough during the kneeding process? The sugar always makes the dough seem wet and I’m afraid it will not work well with the long ferment time.
Add them in before shaping into bagels!
I started bagels today but found I am running out of time to complete them. Can the dough be put in the refrigerator and finished tomorrow?
Yes!
This is my first time making these and I am more than happy to make plain the first time around but can you add frozen blue berries to this dough and if so when do you incorporate them. Excited to try these tomorrow when they are complete. I have tried tons of your other recipes and your instructions couldn’t be more straightforward and helpful. Used to think sourdough was taxing until I came across your YouTube. 🙂
When you say “Add remaining flour, half a cup at a time” how quickly are you adding that flour in? Just scoop after scoop until it’s all in the mix, or do you leave some time between adding each 1/2 cup of flour?
The last couple times I’ve made this I’ve only been able to use about 1/2 the dough since the rest just never mixed in. I have a solid piece of mixed dough with 1 – 1/2 cups of flour under it that just never blends in, so I’m wondering how quickly I should be adding the remaining flour in.
SAME!!!
I find that when making these I add all the ingredients at once to get it to mix in better. If there is some dry mix at the bottom I will flip it to the top and add a tablespoon of starter and mix.
I learned this by mistake. First time I didn’t read all the directions and added everything at once and it all worked out good. The next time I did like she said and added one cup of flour at a time and it would get stiff before being able to incorporate more flour. So I went back to the way I did it at first and its way better!
This is the 4th or 5th time making these. They’re a hit at home! Getting a nice round shape with a hole is a challenge at times, but practice makes perfect.
The flavor of these bagels is amazing. My grandpa who has lived long and traveled far says they were they best bagels he’s ever tasted.
That being said, these are SUPER stiff. I know that is purposeful, but I have the professional series KitchenAid mixer and it starts to smell like very hot motor long before the flour is even incorporated. So I do two things differently now. Mix the dough with a dutch whisk till shaggy and then rest for 30 minutes to get the flour to hydrate better . After this the mixer incorporates the flour completely and I turn it out to finish kneading by hand. Otherwise I am so scared I will destroy my mixer .
Love the recipe very easy.
Thank you my family love them