Homemade Sourdough Bagels

Who doesn't love a good bagel?  Warm and chewy, crunchy outside, soft and doughy inside, and made in the shape of a ring.  Bagels are a beautiful breakfast bread, luscious for lunch, and delightful for dinner.  They  are often topped with seeds baked on the outer crust, with the traditional ones being poppy or sesame seeds. Some also may have salt sprinkled on their surface, and there are also a number of different dough types such as whole-grain or rye.

Bagels were invented in he city of Kraków Poland around 1610, and by the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries it had become a staple of the Polish diet, and of the Slavic diet generally.  The "roll-with-a-hole" design has other practical advantages besides providing for a more even cooking and baking of the dough: the hole could be used to thread string or dowels through groups of bagels, allowing for easier handling and transportation and more appealing seller displays.

When the Eastern European Jewish immigrants arrived in North America at the turn of the century, they brought the bagel with them. Many settled in Canada, giving cities like Toronto and Montreal their reputation for having superb bagels. The American bagel industry established formal roots in New York between 1910 and 1915 with the formation of Bagel Bakers Local #338. This exclusive group of 300 craftsmen with "bagels in their blood" limited its members to sons of its members. At the time, it was probably easier to get into medical school than to get an apprenticeship in one of the 36 union bagel shops in New York City and New Jersey.

I love all kinds of bagels but my favorite are made with sourdough from the simplest of ingredients - flour, salt, and water.  By skipping the oil you lower the calories and increase the chewiness of the crumb.  Biting into one of these beauties fresh and hot from the oven it is a completely different culinary experience from chawing on the stale, stiff packaged bagels you buy at the supermarket.  Just the smell of them makes your mouth water and your house feel like home.

Here's how to make Papa Joe's Sourdough Bagels: 

• 2 cups Sourdough Start (click here for more information on sourdough starts)
• 1 cup Water - luke warm
• 1 Tbsp Salt
• 1 cup White Flour
• 4 cups Whole Wheat Flour - freshly ground (use more or less than this to achieve a stiff dough)
• 1/4 cup Wheat Gluten (this allows the bagels to be mostly whole grain and still be chewy and delicious)

Add the water and salt to the sourdough start and stir to dissolve (if you really want to make bagels today and don't have a sourdough start available replace the two cups of start with 1 cup of water, 1 cup of white flour, and 1 Tbsp of yeast--it just won't have that wonderful sourdough tang).  Stir in the white flour and the gluten until fully incorporated.  Add the wheat flour a cup at a time until you have a stiff dough that pops back when you release it.  In order to work up the gluten, knead the dough on a floured surface by folding the edges to the middle and pressing them in with the palm or your hand (see the upper left photo in the collage above) over and over for 3 or 4 minutes.  Set the dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise until doubled.  With sourdough this takes several hours but it's worth it--not just for the amazing flavor, but because the wild yeast and enzymes in the sourdough pre-digest the wheat flour releasing extra nutrients and making it much more digestible.

Now divide the dough into 12 portions (should be 5 ounce balls a little smaller than a tennis ball).  Take one and make it into a smooth ball pulling up edges all the way around and pressing into the middle.  Poke your finger into the middle of the ball of dough (see the photos in the upper right side of the collage) to make a donut shaped ring of dough with a smooth hole through the middle.

Preheat the oven to 475 degrees fahrenheit and put a gallon of water on to boil in a large pot with plenty of room for the liquid to foam up.  BTW some traditional bagel shops add a cup of honey to the water to give the crust of the bagels a light sweetness.  I add a couple of tablespoons of salt to the water because I like a saltier taste.  Maybe you could try both!  After letting the bagels "rest" for 15 minutes or so drop two of them at a time into the boiling water until they float.  Flip them over in the water and then lift them out with a slotted spoon.  Dip them in sesame or poppy seeds (or even cheese) if desired and then lay them seed-side up on a cookie sheet lined with parchment or with a silicone baking sheet (oil the pan if you don't have either of these but that browns the bottom more than the top).  Many people brush them at this point with honey-water (equal parts) or egg-whites to give them a shine after they're cooked (I just spray mine lightly with cooking spray afterward).  Bake immediately until golden brown--15 to 20 minutes.

Take the bagels out of the oven and eat them while they're warm and crispy.  They're good enough to eat naked but they're also delicious dressed with cream cheese (or kefir cheese if you want a low-fat healthier alternative), butter (try my cholesterol-free vegan butter made from coconut oil) and jam, or even as a bun for an unforgettable burger.  Enjoy!