Easy Homemade Sourdough Bagels
If you’ve never tried homemade sourdough bagels before, you’re in for a real treat! And if you think they’re complicated to make, think again. It’s actually much simpler than you might expect. With my easy, step-by-step instructions, you’ll be whipping up delicious bagels like a pro. While these bagels do take a bit of time from start to finish, I promise it’s all worth it—and you can easily fit this recipe into your daily routine.
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Why You Will Love This Recipe
- these homemade bagels are easy to make
- they have the perfect combination of crisp crust and chewy texture
- you can add your favorite toppings or ingredients to this basic sourdough bagel recipe
- they will just be as delicious as the ones from your favorite bagel shop
The ingredients
Bagel ingredients:
- Flour: I love using simple all-purpose flour
- Active sourdough starter: If you don’t already have one, you can learn how to easily make a sourdough starter yourself
- Salt: Since this recipe only uses a few ingredients, I like to use a high-quality sea salt
- Water: Not necessarily an ingredient but since we need it, I thought I would list it as well
Bagel bath:
- Brown sugar: This adds color and a slight sweetness to the crust
- Baking soda: Adding baking soda gives the crust a bit more chewiness
Useful tools and equipment
I am sure you have most if not all of these:
- Kitchen scale: Weighing ingredients is much more accurate than using volume measurements and digital scales are really inexpensive
- Standmixer: If you don’t have one, you can absolutely knead the dough by hand
- Large pot: You will need this for boiling the bagels before baking
- Slotted spoon: This kitchen essential helps get the bagels in and out of the bath
- Baking tray: For baking the bagels
- Parchment paper: I like to line my cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone mat
Substitutions and variations
This is the fun part:
- Flour: Many people will tell you that you need bread flour but we think our bagels are perfect with regular flour. Instead of AP flour, you can use spelt flour or whole-grain flour. Just know that whole-grain bagels will be a bit denser and chewier than white bagels but will be healthier.
- Toppings: You can use anything you like such as sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, poppy seeds, bagel seasoning (sometimes called “everything but the bagel”), or dried flaked onions.
- Other ingredients: You could add cinnamon and raisins, blueberries, garlic, or asiago cheese.
How to serve
Our favorite way to enjoy them is slicing a fresh bagel in half, smearing it with cream cheese, adding smoked salmon, and topping it off with some capers, red onions, and capers. But there are a lot of different ways you can enjoy your homemade sourdough bagels: toasted with butter, nut butter, only cream cheese, some homemade jam, or any of your favorite toppings.
Make ahead of time?
We love eating our bagels fresh or within two days of baking.
If you’d like to keep your bagels longer, I recommend letting them cool down completely after baking and then freezing them. For that, you want to wrap them individually and then keep them in a freezer-safe container. Once frozen, they keep for about 3 months.
Other sourdough recipes you might like
How to make them
1. Make the starter
Unless you already have a very active sourdough starter, you will want to mix a small amount of starter with some rye flour and water. Let sit in a warm spot for 4-8 hours or until it has visibly risen and has lots of bubbles.
2. Make the dough
To the bowl of your stand mixer or another large bowl, add the sourdough starter, warm water, flour, and salt. With the dough hook attachment, knead the dough for 7-10 minutes on low, then for 5 minutes on medium-low speed. Alternatively, you can use your hands to knead the dough until it doesn’t stick to your hands anymore. Cover the bowl and let the dough rest at room temperature for 30 minutes.
3. Make the bagels
Transfer the dough to a clean work surface. Divide the dough into 10 equal pieces and form them into smooth balls. If you want them to be exactly the same size, you can weigh each piece of dough (about 130 grams each). Let the dough balls rest at room temperature for 30 minutes. Then roll each dough ball into a long roll and create a bagel shape. Transfer them onto a baking sheet, cover them with plastic wrap, and let them rise in a warm place for 2-5 hours. Then, let them proof in the refrigerator overnight or for 8-12 hours.
4. Boil the bagels
The next day, fill a large pot with about one quart of water and bring to a boil. Preheat the oven to 400˚ F. Add the brown sugar and baking soda. Remove the shaped bagels from the refrigerator and carefully place them in the boiling water bath. You will have to do this in batches. Boil them for about 40 seconds. Should they come up to the surface, flip them and boil them again for 40 seconds on the second side. With a slotted spoon, remove the bagels and place them on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat until all the bagels have been boiled.
Optional: You can sprinkle your favorite toppings on the wet bagels at this point. I always love bagel seasoning, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and dried flaked onions.
5. Bake the bagels
Transfer the boiled bagels to the preheated oven and bake them for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. You may have to adjust the baking time depending on your oven. Once fully baked, remove the bagels from the oven, transfer them to a wire rack, and let them completely cool down.
Let me know if you have any questions or comments!
Pin For Later:
Sourdough Bagels
Ingredients
Bagel dough:
- 750 g flour
- 380 g warm water
- 200 g active sourdough starter
- 10 g sea salt
Bagel bath:
- 1 TBSP brown sugar or honey
- 2 tsp baking soda
Toppings/additional ingredients:
- bagel seasoning, poppy seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, dried flaked onions, etc.
- cinnamon and raisins, blueberries, etc.
Instructions
- Add the bagel ingredients to the bowl of a stand mixer. Mix on low for 7-10 mins. and medium-low for 5 mins. Let the dough rest for 30 mins.
- Transfer dough to a clean work surface and divide into 10 equal pieces (about 130 g each). Roll into a smooth ball and let them rest for 30 mins. Roll each ball into a long log, press the ends together to form the bagel, and place them onto a baking sheet. Cover with a towel and let them rest for 2-5 hrs.
- Preheat oven to 400˚F. Bring water in a large pot to a boil. Add sugar and baking soda. Boil the shaped bagels for 40 secs. each side. Remove with a slotted spoon and place onto a parchment-lined baking tray. Optional: sprinkle with your favorite toppings. Repeat until all the bagels have been boiled.
- Bake the bagels for 20-25 mins. or until golden-brown. When done, transfer them to a wire rack and let them cool down completely.
I’m having a hard time waiting for these bits of Heaven to cool down! Recipe went without a glitch. Thanks again Anja. 💕
Nice! So glad you liked them ~ Anja
wondering if you can plz put the American standard measurements with the gram ones ?
i am not familar with the gram ones, and wont work on a recipe ,if i don’t know how to measure itas soon as i see grams in a recipe i shy away from it no matter how much i love the recipe its all new to me to use grams .
Will do (I have to do it manually) so please check back again ~ Anja