Chewy New York Style Bagels are even better when made with a sourdough starter. The sourdough discard adds depth of flavor and keeps the bagels fresh longer!
The idea of making homemade bagels may seem a bit intimidating, but bagel dough is denser (more flour) and easier to work with than normal bread dough.
These bagels use yeast and sourdough starter. They are mild and delicious in flavor and done in about 2 hours. Although they are not purely sourdough they still have a beautiful soft and chewy inside!
These easy sourdough bagels are our most requested gift to give to friends. We have even been asked to make several dozen for brunches!
They are naturally vegan! No crazy ingredients to substitute! Top with vegan cream cheese or butter.
Have you tried a New York style everything bagel with cream cheese, lox (smoked salmon) and a slice of tomato? They are divine!
Why You'll Love This Recipe
- The bagel are chewy on the outside and soft and on the inside!
- The dough is not sticky at all and so easy to work with!
- These will miles better than the store bought bagels.
- You can customize them with your favorite toppings!
Recipe Ingredients
You'll need the following ingredients to make New York Style Sourdough Discard Bagels.
Flour: Bread flour or a flour with higher wheat protein will yield chewier bagels. King Arthur bread flour or King Arthur all purpose flour are great.
Water
Sourdough Discard: These will take your mediocre homemade bagels and make them magnificent. The discard adds flavor and longevity to the bagels!
Sugar: Helps feed the yeast.
Yeast: Hands down our favorite yeast is SAF Instant Yeast. We use it in all our breads!
Salt: Brings out the flavor.
Optional Toppings: everything seasoning, dried onion flakes, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, coarse salt.
How to Make Bagels
Here are some quick instructions including a video on how to roll them out. The full recipe with ingredient measurements is below!
Step 1: Add the water, flour, yeast, salt and sugar to the mixer. Knead for at least 10 minutes.
Step 2: Put the dough in a large bowl, cover with plastic wrap and rise.
Step 3: Shape the bagels and let them rest. See video below on how to shape the bagels.
Step 4: Boil the bagels, add the toppings and bake.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
There are two ways to shape the bagels. The first way is to roll each piece into a tight ball and then use your fingers to make a hole in the middle. Then, carefully stretch out the hole.
The second way is to roll the piece of dough into a snake that can fit around your hand. Then roll the overlapping dough against the counter to roll the ends together. Watch this Easy Homemade Bagels video to see them in action.
Good parchment paper or Silpat Baking Mats are a must. These bagels come out of the boiling water and the dough will stick to a bare pan.
Storage and Reheating
- Storage: Store the bagels in a bread bag. They will stay fluffy for 3 days. After day 3 you may want to toast them or freeze them.
- Reheating: Take the frozen bagels out of the freezer. Allow them to thaw on the counter or in the microwave. Then toast them.
- Freezing: Cut the bagels in half and put the cut sides back together. Double bag them and freeze them.
Additions and Substitutions
- Toppings: It is fun to experiment with the bagels and toppings. Try everything seasoning, dried onion flakes, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, coarse salt.
- Cinnamon Raisin: Add an additional 2 tablespoons of sugar to the dough, 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and ½ cup of raisins.
- Chocolate Chip: Add an additional 2 tablespoons of sugar to the dough. Add mini chocolate chips after the rise and before shaping the bagels.
Frequently Asked Questions
You can keep it simple and add butter or cream cheese to the bagel. You can also add lox (smoked salmon), onion, tomato and capers on top of the cream cheese. Many people like to use bagels for breakfast or lunch sandwiches. You can add scrambled eggs and cheese for breakfast. Deli meat, cheese, lettuce and tomato are perfect toppings for lunch.
Boiling the bagels creates that chewy outer crust, but keep the center of the bagel soft.
Barley malt syrup or sugar can be used in the water when boiling bagels. It helps to create the shiny, chewy exterior of the bagel.
You can make bagels without a mixer, but they need to be kneaded very well to create the classic chewy bagel. The dough is very dense and requires some strength to knead for at least 10 minutes.
New York Style Sourdough Starter Discard Bagels
Equipment
- 1 Mixer
Ingredients
- 2 cups warm water
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 3½ teaspoons Instant Yeast (prefer SAF Yeast, but can sub active dry yeast)
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
- 2½ teaspoons kosher salt
- 5¾ cups unbleached bread flour (all purpose will work too)
For Boiling Bagels
- water
- 2 tablespoons white sugar
Optional Toppings
- everything bagel seasoning
- dried onion flakes
- sesame seeds
- poppy seeds
- coarse salt
Instructions
- Add the water, sourdough discard, yeast, sugar and salt to a mixer. Add 5 cups of flour to the mixer. Using the dough hook begin to knead the dough. It may take some time do mix well because there is a lot of flour. Slowly add the ½ -¾ cups of flour until the dough isn't sticky anymore and it feels very dense.
- Knead for about 10 minutes using a Bosch mixer and about 13 minutes using a Kitchenaid mixer.
- Transfer the dough to a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let rise is a warm place for about 45 minutes to 1 hour or until it has doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough and cut it into 8-12 pieces (depends on how large you want your bagels).
- Dust your counter with flour and place the shaped bagels onto your counter. There are two methods to share the bagels (see video). Option 1: You can roll the piece of dough into a ball and stick your finger through the center to make a hole and then use your fingers to stretch the hole. Option 2: Roll the piece of dough into a "snake." Bring the two ends together under your palm and roll the ends together.
- While your shaped bagels are resting fill a large pot with water and add the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Bring the pot of water to a gentle boil. Preheat the oven to 400°
- Line two pans with parchment paper or Silpat mats.
- Gently lift a bagel and place it into the boiling water. I can fit 3 at a time into my pot of boiling water. Boil for 30 seconds on each side. Remove them with a large slotted spoon or spatula. Place them gently on the parchment paper. If you want to add toppings now is the time - while they are still wet from the water.
- Put the first pan in the 400° oven as soon as it is full. Follow with the second pan as soon as you finish boiling the rest of the bagels.
- Bake for 25-30 minutes. After 15 minutes swap the pans. Put the pan from the bottom on the top rack and put the pan from the top on the bottom rack. Make sure your bagels have started to brown nicely before taking the out of the oven. The dough is dense and if you take them out too early it will still be a little gummy in the middle. Let them cool before slicing.
Notes
Shop It
- Bosch Mixer
- Kitchenaid Mixer
- Baking Sheet Pans
- SAF yeast (MY FAV)
- King Arthur Unbleached Flour
- Calphalon Pot
- Silpat Mats
- Parchment Paper
More from Thyme at the Table
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Sharon Hunt says
I tried making these bagels for my husband and I and they came out great! The video definitely helped with shaping them!
Thyme for the Table says
I'm glad the video was helpful and the bagels turned out good!
Kristin says
Oh My Bagel! I am obsessed with this recipe and absolutely love that I can have homemade bagels from start to finish in less than 2 hours! Who knew making delicious bagels was that easy?!
Thyme for the Table says
It really is so much easier than you would think! I'm glad you gave them a try!
Jacqueline Meldrum says
Oh these look so good. Unfortunately my husband managed to end Bob my starter when I was visiting my mum.
Thyme for the Table says
Oh no! Poor Bob! My Doughlene got neglected when I was on vacation in Florida, but a couple feeds later and she perked right back up.
Hayley Dhanecha says
These look super delicious and absolutely loving this recipe. Homemade bagels in 2 hours? How amazing is that!!
Thyme for the Table says
They really are incredible!
Casey says
You can't really eat store bought bagels after making these!! I love that the dough wasn't sticky and easy to work with! Thanks so much for this recipe!
Thyme for the Table says
You're welcome Casey! I can't even remember the last time I bought pre-packaged bagels!
Rika says
I didn't know that I could turn sourdough discard into bagel! I love the idea!
Thyme for the Table says
Yes! It is a great way to use your ever-growing sourdough starter!
Alison says
Making your own bagels is so much fun! And you're right, the sourdough starter really makes these extra special!
Timothy says
I’ve tried several recipes for bagels using some sourdough starter, and these are by far the best. My mixer had some struggles with the dense dough but that made the difference: really nice chew on the exterior, and an appropriately soft but not TOO soft interior. Thank you!
Thyme for the Table says
You're welcome! My friend has a KitchenAid and I have a Bosch and the Bosch handles the denser dough a little better, but both get the job done. I'm so glad the bagels were a success.
Kat says
What setting is the mixer supposed to be at? I have a 6qt KitchenAid mixer.
Jen Talley says
The dough is going to be very dense, I would keep it at the slowest setting to knead it.
Laura says
Sooo.. I don’t have a stand mixer. Could I cut this recipe in half and knead by hand?
Jen Talley says
Hi Laura! Yes, you can absolutely knead this by hand. The nice thing about kneading it by hand is that this is not a sticky dough. However, it will be very dense and you will need to put some muscle into it. You really want to knead it well to get that chewiness of New York bagels. You can even just keep the recipe, "as is" and knead it by hand. No need to halve it.