Bagel Guide

Quick navigation:

Tools Ingredients 0: Feed levain 1: Wet 2: Dry 3: Hand knead 4: Rest 5: Divide 6: Rest 7: Shape 8: Rise 9: Fridge 10: Room temp 11: Preheat 12: Boil water 13: Boil bagels 14: Toppings 15: Bake 16: Cool

This recipe leans heavily on New York Style Sourdough Bagels.

Note: This recipe requires levain (sourdough starter). If you don't have one, see the Bread Guide for instructions on creating and maintaining levain.

Required tools

Scale with 1g precision: Amazon
Scale with 0.01g precision: Amazon
Slotted spoon
Cooling rack
Optional: kitchen machine with dough hook

Ingredients

Levain, see Bread Guide
Maple syrup
Fine salt, ideally uniodized
Flour
Baking soda
Brown sugar

Step 0: 12 hours prior: feed the levain

Roughly 12 hours before you begin, follow the levain feeding instructions from the Bread Guide.

You can use the levain for this recipe when it's stringy when you pull a spoon through it the first time. When it's wet and sloppy, you can no longer use it and you will need to re-feed it.

Step 1: Mix wet ingredients

Mix:

200g levain
315g cold water
30g maple syrup

Step 2: Add dry ingredients

Add:

750g flour
10.00g salt, measured with a 0.01g precision scale

Knead the dough in the machine until all ingredients are incorporated, plus 1-2 more minutes. Do not overknead the dough. You'll kill it.

Step 3: Knead by hand

Knead by hand for 1-2 more minutes until it becomes almost too firm to handle.

Step 4: Rest the dough for 20 minutes

The dough should feel velvety after resting.

Step 5: Weigh, cut into 10 equal parts, shape into balls

Protect the dough from drying out while you work on shaping balls.

Step 6: Rest dough for 15 minutes under plastic foil, towel

Step 7: Shape into bagels

Step 8: Let rise for 90-120 minutes under plastic foil, towel

The longer you let them rise, the fluffier they will get. I like bagels dense and chewy. I let them rise for 90-120 minutes. The original recipe asks for a 4-hour rise. That's fine, but the end result will be fluffy bagels.