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.
What am I doing wrong? I’ve made these 3 times and all 3 times the dough didn’t rise or even come close to doubling. I have a mature starter and have never had a problem with your other recipes. They still taste good but they’re not as fluffy as they should be.
I’m sorry you are having this issue. I know you said your starter is mature, so I’m going to guess that it is nice and bubbly before you start the recipe. You could try to do the float test (take a little bit of starter and place it in a glass of water. If it floats it is ready). Also, are you letting it rise somewhere warmer? Does it not double during the bulk rise? If it were to rise too much and over-ferment during that first rise, then it may not rise well during the second rising before boiling. Those are my current thoughts. Hopefully we can figure out how to get you some tasty and fluffy bagels.
My mixer broke this week.=(
Can you make these without?
I’ve never made bagels before and loved this recipe.
Unfortunately I did not have any AP flour available but substituted bread flour instead. I added a smidge more water to the dough since bread flour as a replacement can leave dough dryer.
Followed everything else to a T and they turned out amazing.
My partner and toddler are already requesting more bagels and in more flavors.
Just a couple of questions. I love every recipe of yours that I’ve tried. I also have 7 children. What are your tips for doubling recipes? Are there any recipes you avoid making a double batch of? I honestly didn’t know what else to do except double the entire recipe for the bagels. Not a very experienced baker. They turned out yummy, but a bit salty and maybe a bit heavy. Any suggestions. I tried to use my starter right about the 5hr mark. I’m sure this will give a good laugh to those more experienced.
I actually only ever make this recipe doubled! I have it memorized that way.
WOW thank you so much for this recipe!!!! These are the best bagels I’ve ever had. Better than any bakery!! I used discard. For the second rest I left them overnight so more like 8 hours instead of 4, no idea if that makes any difference.
Can I use my sourdough discard or does it need to be fed starter?
Help me Lisa! I just got a nutrimill (so exciting!) so I’m trying to get the benefits of good grains. I’ve made a lot of your recipes with unbleached flour and they are great, I tried the hamburger buns yesterday with spelt and hard red winter and it tasted good but was dense. What’s the best freshly milled grain for these that usually taste best with all purpose? Or at least as close as I can get? I don’t mind the taste of wheat flour just looking for the healthiest lighter fluffy option! Help!
Try Prairie Gold from Wheat Montana! It is a Hard White Spring variety… the best ever for bread making!
Any reason as to why my dough isn’t rising when I let it ferment 8-12 hours?
My guess is that it’s too dry… this recipe makes no sense. I really hope I change my mind in the morning but in general if dough is too dry it won’t rise. It limits the activity of the yeast. All the comments and the original post say it’s supposed to be stiff and dry – to the point of the flour not fully incorporating but I am struggling to understand how these are going to rise at all. Also does this work with fresh milled flour? I’m using a combination of hard white wheat and spelt berries and milled it myself. I’m a little worried about how this is gonna turn out. Again, hope I change my mind in the morning. All the other recipes from this blog have been great but my mixer won’t even move the dough around with this one because there’s just too much flour. I had to add more water just to incorporate the last little bit of flour i milled.
I actually just sat down to my laptop after making some bagel dough myself. I find that if you put in the 7 cups, then walk away and allow the dough to autolyse for a bit (and give your mixer motor a break) you can come back to it and allow it to mix the rest of the way. If you can’t get all 8 in, just do 7.5. If your starter is less hydrated, you may not be able to incorporate it all in, but that is totally ok. You do want a very dry dough though. It does actually rise. I have made these dozens of times. Also, if you are doing 100% freshly milled whole grain wheat you may use less. Just add that last cup in slowly.
I’m so excited to try this recipe! I don’t have a mixer, so I knead everything by hand. How do I know when the dough is ready when using that method?
what time would you suggest starting these if i wanted them for breakfast?
I start them before bed, and then shape, rise and bake in the morning! If I get them shaped around 7 am, we have big fluffy bagels at 9 am.