Fresh Milled Sourdough Bagels
Soft, chewy, and tangy sourdough bagels made with fresh-milled flour. Sweet or savory, these are easy as can be, and perfect for any meal.
Ingredients
- 850 g Fresh-milled hard white wheat (7 cups)
- 30 g Vital wheat gluten (optional) (3 tbsp)
- 2 tsp Salt
- 227 g Sourdough starter, active and bubbly: 1 cup)
- 560-575 Water (2 ¼ - 2 ⅓ cups) (more if needed)
- 25 g Honey or sugar (2 tbsp)
- Water Enough to fill a large pot ¾ full
- Honey or molasses 50g (¼ cup)
- Optional toppings: Sesame seeds poppy seeds, everything bagel seasoning, cinnamon sugar or coarse salt
Instructions
- Mill about 900g (7 cups) of wheat berries into flour
- In the bowl of your stand mixer, combine the sourdough starter, water, and honey. Stir until the starter is dissolved. Use a large mixing bowl for this if you do not have a stand mixer.
- To the wet ingredients, add the vital wheat gluten (if using,) salt and freshly milled flour. I like to add the flour slowly, 1-2 cups at a time.
- Set your mixer to medium-low speed (I use setting 2 on my Bosch Universal mixer) and knead the dough for 10–12 minutes, until it becomes smooth and elastic. The dough will be stiff but smooth. You can knead by hand for this step if you do not have a stand mixer.
- Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with a damp towel, and let it ferment at room temperature for 4–6 hours, or until it nearly doubles in size. For a morning bake, prepare the dough in the evening and refrigerate it overnight, covered, for 8–10 hours. In the morning, let the dough come to room temp before continuing.
- Divide the dough into 12 equal pieces, about 130g each.
- Roll each piece into a ball, then poke a hole in the center with your thumb. Stretch the hole to about 2 inches in diameter, as it will shrink during the next rise.
- Place the shaped bagels on a parchment-lined baking sheet, cover them, and let them rise for 30-60 minutes while you prepare the boiling water.
- Preheat your oven to 425°F (220°C.)
- Bring a large pot of water to a rolling boil and add honey or molasses. Boil each bagel for 2 minutes per side, then transfer them back to the baking sheet.
- Sprinkle your desired toppings on the bagels immediately after boiling. Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown.
- Serve warm with the toppings of your choice
Notes
The vital wheat gluten is completely optional, it will make your bagels have a bit more of a "light and fluffy" consistency. If you'd like to skip it, they will still turn out great, I make these all the time without it and have great results.
If you would like a sweeter dessert bagel, you can up the sweetener a bit.
Make sure you're using an active starter with this recipe.
You can play around with the types of grains you mill for this recipe. But I do recommend a hard wheat (not soft, as it doesn't have enough protein to create the rise you're looking for.)
Keep an eye on your dough when adding the flour. if you feel like it's getting too stiff or dry, hold back on the last 1/2 cup, or add the larger of the range of liquid.
These are really best enjoyed warm, but you can store them in an airtight container for a few days and toast them up to eat them.
To freeze these: let them cool, slice them in half, and store them in a freezer safe container for up to a few months.