We love sourdough bagel breakfast sandwiches. And I mean WE – Dave, Matt, Cherie, Jenny, Eric and I all love the relaxed fun type of breakfast that comes after making our own, fresh, wonderful sourdough bagels. We get to pick the kind of bagel toppings we like and if we will have Canadian bacon, type of cheese and fried egg or any combination of these things. I really like poppy seed or sesame seed toppings, Eric and Cherie like theirs plain, and the rest of them like the everything bagel. Or maybe something different next time.
Bagels are a little tricky since they are boiled in a honey water before baking but otherwise pretty easy. They rise overnight so it is fun to shape them first thing, let them rise a little, boil and bake. Yummy!
Ingredients:
150 g (3/4 cup) sourdough starter
250 g (1 full cup) warm water
24 g (2 tbsp) sugar
375 g (3 cups) unbleached flour
125 g (1 cup) whole wheat flour
7 g (1 tsp) salt
20 g (1 tbsp) honey
Toppings
Egg wash- scrambled egg with a little water
Mix:
In the evening start by using a bread hook or bread machine (dough only and you will need to take it out after 15 minutes) to mix everything except the honey. The dough will be VERY thick. Remove from the machine and wait for 20 minutes and then hand knead a final time. Place in a lightly greased bowl, cover with plastic wrap, and allow to rise overnight. About 65-70F is a good temperature.
In the morning, break the dough into 10 approximately equal sized balls. I give it a good kneading here too. Take the ball and start wrapping it around your fingers to form a ring. It feels almost like fresh play dough – sort of elastic. Smooth out the ring to about a 4 inch diameter and place it on a greased baking sheet to rise. Cover with a sprayed/ greased sheet of plastic wrap. This takes about 30 minutes. I often place these in my oven on bread proof mode.
When the bread has about doubled in size, warm the oven to 420F and start a pan of water, with the honey added, to boil. The pan should easily fit two bagels. The bagels will double in size again during the boiling and baking stage so do not worry if they seem “thin.” Once boiling, add one bagel at a time for 30-40 seconds then flip it over for the same time again. I often add the second bagel as I flip the first so that there is a constant “bottom up, top up” situation going. Remove the cooked bagel to a greased or silicon covered baking sheet, brush with at the egg wash and sprinkle your toppings on it. When the baking pan is full, bake for 20-22 minutes.
Eat and enjoy!
Edit: you can also add flavors into the dough after the bulk(overnight) rise. So far I have tried cinnamon raisin and dried blueberries. Both yummy!