New York Style Sourdough Bagels
We love bagels. Is anyone around here a bagel fan? Warm from the oven, chewy exterior, spongy interior…yummy! Making bagels has been on our bucket list for a long time but we are pretty intimidated by the process. Fortunately for us, our friend and avid baker, Kelly Haarmeyer (St. Rey Bakery), is a bagel-making aficionado. We asked her to share her New York Style Sourdough bagel-making skills with us and she kindly obliged. They are crazy good! We cannot wait to try making more.
The entire process was spread out over three days due to the resting time for the sponge and the refrigeration for uncooked bagels. The timeframe can be shorter or longer depending on how long you refrigerate the uncooked bagels – we let ours refrigerate for about 21 hours. However, the hands-on time is not much at all. They are really fun to make – we especially enjoyed the “float test”. More so, we enjoyed eating them! They freeze really well, too, so don’t be intimidated if you don’t want to consume all 13 at once. Just pop a frozen bagel in the microwave for 30 seconds, slice and toast.
If you don’t have access to a sourdough starter, here’s a recipe you can use to start your own. Make sure you use a glass jar to keep your starter.
We also highly recommend a kitchen scale for measuring ingredients and portioning out the bagel dough into 4 oz balls.
Thank you, Kelly!
Note: You can find Kelly’s creations on Instagram and Facebook
Once the sponge is ready, add salt, malt syrup, yeast and whole wheat flour. Continue adding bread flour as needed.
Add bread flour 1/4 cup or so at a time and continue kneading until the dough is tough and non-sticky, but still smooth and elastic.
Form dough into a log and cut off 4oz. pieces.
Flatten each piece into a disk and gather the edges to form a tight ball. Roll the ball into a smooth, slightly flattened sphere. Cover with a damp towel to rest for about 20 minutes.
Use your thumb to poke a hole in the center of the ball of dough and gently rotate your thumb around the inside of the hole to widden it to about 2 1/2″. The dough should be as evenly stretched as possible. Place formed bagels on baking sheet lined with parchment and sprayed with cooking spray.
Following second rest, perform the “float” test.
Bring large pot of water to boil and add malt syrup and baking soda. Boil a few bagels at a time, turning once.
If using toppings, coat immediately after removing from water to be sure toppings stick. Allow to dry a bit on a dishtowel.
Transfer bagels to clean baking sheets lined with parchment and sprayed with baking spray.
Bake in 450 degree oven for about 8 minutes. Rotate sheets and bake for another 8-12 minutes.
Allow to cool at least slightly enjoy!
New York Style Sourdough Bagels
Adapted from Peter Reinhart & Smitten Kitchen
Sourdough Sponge:
- 17.5 oz (4 cups) bread flour
- 17 oz (2 cups) non-chlorinated water
- 5 oz ripe 100% hydration sourdough starter
Final Dough:
- 35 oz (5 cups) of sourdough sponge (above)
- 3 cups bread flour
- 1 cup whole wheat flour
- 1 TBS malt barley syrup
- 3 tsp salt
- 1 tsp dry yeast
For Boiling:
- 1 TBS baking soda
- 1 ½ TBS barley malt syrup
- Large Dutch oven or soup pot
Toppings, as desired:
- Everything But The Bagel Sesame seasoning from Trader Joe’s
- Sesame seeds
- Poppy seeds
- Coarse sea salt
- Shredded cheese
Instructions
- Make the sponge: Mix the sourdough starter with the water in a large bowl. Whisk until combined/foamy. Add the bread flour and mix thoroughly until all lumps are gone. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula. Cover loosely with plastic and leave at room temperature for at least 6-8 hours. Sponge is ready when very foamy and stretchy, and when 1 tsp of starter dunked in a glass of cold water doesn’t sink.
- Make the dough: Measure out 5 cups (or weight 35 oz) of the starter sponge. Reserve the remainder of the sponge for other projects.
- In the bowl of stand mixer, combine starter/sponge, salt, malt syrup, yeast, and 1 cup of bread flour and 1 cup whole wheat flour. Make sure the salt doesn’t touch the yeast when adding to mixing bowl. Mix with dough hook until it forms a ball.
- Adding the remaining flour in batches, ¼ cup at a time, continue kneading the dough until all added flour is fully absorbed (Note: we ended up using about 2 ¼ cups flour, not the full 3 cups). Keep adding flour until the dough is tough and non-sticky, but still smooth and elastic. If you notice tears or “stretch marks” in the dough, add a few drops of water to remedy that and stop the addition of the flour. Continue kneading the dough by hook until it’s fully smooth and elastic. It will still be quite tough but should feel satiny and pliable but not be tacky. It will take about 10 minutes by hook.
- Immediately divide the dough into 4 oz balls. Cover with a damp towel and let them rest and relax for 20 minutes.
- Using your thumb, poke a hole in the ball of dough and gently rotate your thumb around the inside of the hole to widen it to approximately 2 ½ inches in diameter. The dough should be as evenly stretched as possible (try to avoid thick and thin spots.)
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and spray generously with vegetable spray.
- Place the bagels as you shape them on the lined baking sheet. Cover with plastic wrap that has been sprayed with vegetable spray and let rise 20 minutes.
- After 20 minutes, perform the float test. Fill a medium bowl with cold water. Put one of the bagels in the bowl. If the bagel floats within a few seconds, it’s ready. If not, dry the bagel off with a towel and return it under the plastic for another 15-20 minutes. Repeat the test. Be sure to blot the test bagel dry with a towel after testing.
- Once bagels are ready, place them, still covered with plastic, in the refrigerator and leave overnight, at least 12 hours or up to 36. Do not skip the refrigeration step: it is necessary for flavor and texture development.
- Boiling and baking: once you are ready to bake your bagels, preheat the oven to 500° . Prepare a board or a tray lined with a clean and dry dish towel for wet bagels to rest on. Line up your bagel toppings at this time. Get your slotted spoon or skimmer ready.
- Place a wide pot filled with water on a stove and bring to a boil. Once the water is boiling rapidly, add 1 TBS of baking soda and 1 ½ TBS of barley malt syrup to the pot. Leave the heat on high to ensure rapid boil at all times.
- Remove bagels from the fridge and carefully lower them 3-4 at a time into the boiling water. Boil bagels for 1 minute on each side, turning them once with the slotted spoon.
- Remove bagels from the pot and line them up on the towel. Sprinkle bagels with toppings now, as they are the stickiest at this point. Some toppings may be easiest to apply when sprinkled on a plate, then pressing top of moist bagel into topping. Proceed with the remaining bagels, until all of them are done and sprinkled as desired.
- Transfer bagels to the parchment lined/sprayed baking sheet and place in oven. Reduce oven temperature to 450°.
- Bake for 8 minutes, then rotate the pans and check the underside of the bagels. If they’re getting too dark, place another pan under the baking sheet. (Doubling the pan will insulate the first baking sheet.) Bake for another 8 to 12 minutes, until the bagels are golden.
- Cool bagels on rack until manageable and allow bagels to cool fully before storing them in plastic.
Yield: 13 (4 oz.) bagels