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.
The dough was wet after the first two cups of flour, then when adding the 2nd 2 cups it was SOO DRY! Like my dough hook on the kitchen aide was like having a very hard time turning the dough. This happened twice. The first time I trashed the dough… the second time I added a half cup more water and still super tough. Is the dough supposed to be insanely dry and tough? (My friend had a similar issue)
Yes! It is supposed to be extremely dry, almost to the point that it is hard to incorporate all the flour. It works because of the boiling stage later.
So wait do we add more water because mine didn’t want to incorporate at all for about 30 minutes. I finally added water.
I think adding a touch if it really needs it isn’t going to hurt anything! Sometimes you have to play with it a bit.
I just made my first 2 batches last week and my kitchenaid was struggling a bit, so I just hand kneaded the dough for a couple of minutes and plopped it back in the bowl for its overnight rise and they turned out great! I love this recipe!
Mine were so dry and tough, they never rose much during the fermentation stage. But I continued on. During shaping, they were really hard to shape. They didn’t rise much after shaping. When I dropped in the water, they were so heavy they sank, but haftway through the first minute, rose to the top of water. They are in the oven now,so we will see.
My starter is good, iam baking many other things with it no problem.
Oh no I hope they turned out ok.
Thank you for asking this question because mine has turned out the same way.. so incredible dry and I almost gave up on it but found your question! What a relief because I followed the directions to the tee. I can’t wait to see the end result.
Me too! I came here to read and see if it was just me, I’ll continue on…..
Hey! Just a note, the print button just redirects back to the top of the page. It would be really nice if I could print a clean copy to add to my binder.
Thank you!
Does the 8-12 hour “long ferment” take place on the counter or in the fridge? I’d like to make these but wasn’t sure where to leave them.
On the counter 🙂
Thank you for asking this i scrolled for 5 mins for this answer haha
I just scrolled for 5 minutes to find the answer to the same question. I suggest adding that information to the recipe.
I have made these before but couldn’t remember. I love these and they are so easy. My husband is my greatest fan.
Tawnya H
Hi Lisa! I made the recipe today and I love it, last night by hand I prepared the dough, left for 8 hours to ferment and this morning I baked. I have made it before normal bagel recipes and require more work in my experience and the final result it’s ok, sometimes good. Your recipe for me was easy and the result was great, chewy, good flavor, good shape, definitely the recipe I will use every time :). Thank you !
Hello I was wondering why the sodium content is so high with barely any salt added? I just received a sourdough starter a week ago and have no idea what I’m doing. But that number seems high to me
Yes it does. The recipe card I use automatically calculate it. Each teaspoon of salt has 2300 mg of sodium so times 2 for 2 tsp and divided by 8 for 8 bagels, it should be more like 575 mg.
Mine are still warm out of the oven and are SO good! We made lunch sandwiches:)
Just made these and they are so delicious and the recipe was easy to follow. I have a decent amount of baking knowledge but never tried bagels and I’m so glad I did. Thank you for sharing this wonderful recipe. Everyone do yourself a favor and add cinnamon brown sugar to the top of a few. They were outstanding! 😊
Just inherited kitchen aid mixer. Made Bagels —Delicious!! Thank u so very much🤗. I’ve made ur English muffins and pancakes too. Come out amazing. Thx for sharing👏❤️
can i make these with spelt or einkorn flour?
Yes! I just did 100% einkorn yesterday and they were so good. I haven’t tried spelt yet!
Did you have to use less water or change anything when using Eincorn Flour? I was going to ask this question!
I just made my first batch and used about 50% sprouted spelt, 20% freshly milled spelt, 20% AP and 5% vital wheat gluten. Absolutely delic!
These were incredibly good and so easy to make. I’ve been intimidated by bagels before, but they were as easy as making a loaf of sourdough. Thank you for this amazing recipe! My kids also have these bagels a 10/10.
Gave* not have.
Can’t wait to try these! But I’d like to use white whole wheat, do you know if that will work? Thank you!