Making sourdough discard bagels is so much easier than you might think! And the flavor combinations are abundant. Whether you favor savory or sweet flavors, this recipe is a go-to for both. And unlike many sourdough recipes, it only takes about an hour of your time. Nice, right?! Follow my step-by-step Sourdough Discard Bagel Recipe below!
Equipment needed to make Sourdough Discard Bagels
- Stand Mixer with dough hook attachment
- Large stove pot
- Baking Sheet
- Spatula
- Parchment paper
Ingredients for Sourdough Discard Bagels
- Sourdough discard
- Water
- Instant Dry Yeast
- Unbleached all-purpose flour
- Salt
- Seasoning of your choice if desired (in this recipe I’ve used salted everything bagel seasoning)
Instructions for making Sourdough Discard Bagels
Making the dough
1. The first step in making sourdough discard bagels is to combine 2 cups of warm water, 2 tablespoons of white or raw cane sugar, 3.5 teaspoons instant dry yeast, and half a cup of sourdough discard.
I find that this recipe turns out best using discard that’s only gone a day or so without a feeding. If you want to use your older, refrigerated discard, that works too. I have done that many times! But I do recommend feeding it at least once the day before, or within 12 hours of using it in this recipe for best results.
2. Next, you want to loosely cover the bowl with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 10-15 minutes. This gives the yeast time to get active and you want the mixture to look bubbly and a bit frothy. See the #1 photo below for reference.
3. Once your yeast mixture is nice and bubbly, you’re going to add 2 teaspoons of salt and 5 cups of flour to the bowl. When making everything seasoned bagels, I like to add a tablespoon of the seasoning into the dough at this step. So go ahead and do that with your choice of seasonings if you’d like!
4. Now, in your mixer fitted with the dough hook attachment, mix the dough on low speed for 3-5 minutes, slowly adding a few more tablespoons of flour as needed so that the dough starts to pull away from the bowl. Once the dough is mostly pulling away from the bowl, turn the mixer to a low/medium speed. For me, this is a 3 on my mixer. Let the mixer run for approximately 10 more minutes or until a nice smooth-looking dough forms. See photo #2 below for reference.
5. Then grease the bowl, cover it, and let the dough rest for 30-45 minutes or until it’s doubled in size. I like to tightly cover the bowl with a greased piece of plastic wrap and place it into my oven with the light on. This provides just enough warmth to help the dough along in rising, but not cook it at all. See #3 photo below for reference.
After doubling, your dough should look something like the #4 photo above. Light and fluffy!
Shaping and boiling the Sourdough Discard Bagels
6. After the dough has doubled in size, you’ll want to prepare a pot of water with 2 tablespoons sugar on the stove. You want it to reach a good boil. In the meantime, divide up the dough and shape your bagels!
7. On a lightly floured surface, remove the dough from the bowl and gently knead it for a minute or so, just until it smooths out a bit. See the #5 and #6 photos above.
8. Next, you’re going to divide the dough into the amount of bagels that you want. I typically make eight, but you can make six large ones or twelve smaller ones. It’s up to you!
If you want eight bagels, you’re going to cut the dough in half. Next, you’ll cut those halves in half. Making four equal-ish sections (see middle photo above). Now, you want to roll those 4 pieces into balls. And then you’ll cut each of those four dough balls in half. Now you’ve got eight!
If you want to make six bagels, you want to start by cutting the large dough ball into thirds. Then roll each piece into a ball and cut each third in half. That will leave you with six.
To make twelve smaller bagels, start by cutting the large dough ball in half. Then cut those two halves in half also. You’ll have four pieces of dough (see the middle photo above). Next, roll each piece into a ball and cut them into thirds. That will leave you with twelve.
9. After dividing the dough into your desired amount of bagels, you need to roll them each into circles. I do this by first pinching the “corners” of the dough together. Then I turn it over with the seam side down and provide a bit of tension in the dough by cupping the sides of the dough ball and slightly pinching it underneath with my pinkies while rotating it multiple times. See the video below for reference.
10. Next, you’re going to poke a hole in each dough ball to make that classic bagel shape. See video below for reference on how I form each bagel.
11. In the meantime, let your bagels rest while the pot of water is getting to a rapid boil. And preheat your oven to 400℉.
12. Once your pot of water is boiling, add a few bagels (2 or 3) and let them sit in the boiling water for 30 seconds on each side. So, put them into the pot of boiling water, count to 30, flip them, and count to 30 again.
13. Next, transfer the bagels from the pot of boiling water onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. NOT WAX PAPER. I like to use a spatula to do this. It keeps the bagels flat on the bottom and is slotted which helps water to run off of them as they’re pulled out of the pot.
14. And then season the bagels immediately after transferring them onto the baking sheet while they’re still wet. This is what makes the seasoning stick! If you choose to not season them and are making plain bagels, then just brush them with an egg wash. An egg wash consists of an egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon or so of water.
Baking the Sourdough Discard Bagels
15. Once all of your bagels have had their water bath, pop them into your oven and bake for 15-25 minutes depending on their size. When making eight bagels, I bake them for around 25 minutes. The smaller the bagels, the less cooking time is needed. The bigger the bagels, the more cooking time needed. It’s that simple!
As most foods, these bagels are best served warm. Lather with butter, cream cheese, jam…it’s your bagel, have it your way!
I enjoy them with just a little butter or sometimes a good vegetable blend cream cheese. YUM. Although my favorite way to enjoy these bagels is to make a breakfast sandwich. Cook some bacon (follow my easy oven-baked method for the best bacon!), fry up an egg, and add a slice of cheese, tomato, and some lettuce. D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S. They seriously are just so good!
I store the bagels at room temperature in a plastic flip-top Better Homes and Gardens bagel storage container from Walmart, and they last about 4-5 days. They tend to become harder by the day, but nothing a little toasting in the oven or a toaster won’t fix!
Common Questions
Is eating Sourdough Discard healthy?
Sourdough Discard is technically a fermented food. It is rich in probiotics which help to promote a healthy gut. And a healthy gut aids in digestion, so the short answer here is, Yes!
Are Sourdough Bagels healthier?
Since sourdough is a fermented food, Sourdough Discard Bagels are therefore healthier for you than other white flour varieties are.
How long is Sourdough Discard usable?
This is a great question and you’ll get many different answers on it! Personally, I’ve had sourdough discard stored in an airtight glass jar in my fridge for over a year and brought it back to life. Crazy, right?! But it’s true! That’s how I made the bagels pictured in this post! Give it a couple of days and some feedings and boom…she’s revived. Now this may not be the case for everyone. But you won’t know if you don’t try, right? Discard stored at room temperature is different however. And it may only last a week or so before it starts to mold. So I always recommend storing it in an air tight container in the fridge.
How can you tell if Sourdough Discard has gone bad?
Don’t be fooled by a dark liquid that rises to the top of a starter or discard that you haven’t fed recently. That’s the hooch and it’s harmless! Smells just like nail polish remover to me. Hooch is formed when the starter has been left hungry and thus released alcohol during the fermentation process. You can mix it in or pour it out. That’s just a matter of preference. A Sourdough Discard that has gone bad will have obvious fuzzy white or greenish/black mold on it, or even pinkish-orange streaks in it. Any of those seen in your discard is a sure sign to toss it.
Do you refrigerate Sourdough Discard?
I do! And I always recommend it so that you don’t risk it growing mold. There are so many wonderfully delicious things you can make with it! No need to throw it away.
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Sourdough Discard Bagels
Equipment
- 1 stand mixer with a dough hook attachment or a large mixing bowl
- measuring spoons
- dry measuring cup
- liquid measuring cup
- 1 large stove pot for boiling bagels
- 1 baking sheet
- parchment paper
- 1 spatula
Ingredients
For the dough
- 2 cups warm water
- ½ cup sourdough discard
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 3.5 tsp instant dry yeast
- 2 tsp salt
- 1 tbsp everything bagel seasoning optional
- 5-5.5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
For boiling bagels
- 1 full pot of water
- 2 tbsp sugar
Optional toppings / mix-ins
- everything seasoning
- poppy seeds
- sesame seeds
- dried onions
- cinnamon raisin
- cheese
- multigrain
- jalapeno and cheese
- blueberries
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Instructions
Making the dough
- In the bowl of your stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, combine the warm water, sourdough discard, sugar and yeast. Give it a quick whisk, cover it with a tea towel and let it sit for approximately 10-15 minutes. Or until it's quite bubbly.2 cups warm water, 2 tbsp sugar, 3.5 tsp instant dry yeast, 1/2 cup sourdough discard
- Next, add the salt, any seasoning that you'd like to mix into the dough, and 5 cups of the flour. Reserve a half cup of flour in order to slowly add it to the dough as it's mixing if needed.2 tsp salt, 1 tbsp everything bagel seasoning, 5-5.5 cups unbleached all purpose flour
- Let the mixer run on low speed until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl, slowly adding a tablespoon or so of flour at a time as needed if the dough seems to sticky.
- Once the dough is mostly pulling away from the bowl, turn your mixer to medium speed and let it run for 10 or so minutes.
- Once the dough has come together nicely and is not too sticky, grease the inside of a bowl and some plastic wrap. Place the dough in the bowl and cover with the greased plastic wrap. Put into a warm place and let it rest until it's doubled in size.I like to let my dough rise in my oven with the light on. It provides just enough warmth to help the dough along without making it to hot.
- Once the dough has doubled in size, remove it from the bowl onto a lightly floured surface. Knead it for a minute or so until it's a nice smooth texture.
- Fill a large stove pot with water and 2 tablespoons of sugar. Get it to a good boil.1 full pot of water, 2 tbsp sugar
- In the meantime, you're going to shape your bagels.Decide how many bagels you'd like to have. Six very large, eight regular size or 12 small size.For eight bagels, you're going to cut the dough in half. Next, you'll cut those halves in half. Making four equal-ish sections. Now, you want to roll those 4 pieces into balls. And then you'll cut each of those four dough balls in half. Now you've got eight!For six bagels, you want to start by cutting the large dough ball into thirds. Then roll each piece into a ball and cut each third in half. That will leave you with six.For twelve smaller bagels, start by cutting the large dough ball in half. Then cut those two halves in half also. You'll have four pieces of dough. Next, roll each piece into a ball and cut them into thirds. That will leave you with twelve.
- To make the hole in the center of each bagel, poke a hole with a floured finger and gently work the hole open a bit. Watch the video in this post to see how I do this.
- Preheat your oven to 400℉ and line a baking sheet with parchment paper. NOT WAX PAPER.
- Once your bagels are shaped and the water is boiling rapidly, drop a few (2 or 3) bagels into the pot. Count to 30, flip them over and count to 30 again.Remove them from the pot onto the parchment paper lined baking sheet and sprinkle seasoning on top now while they're still wet, if you want seasoning.
- Once all the bagels have been in their water bath and are seasoned, bake them for 25 minutes at 400℉.This time will vary if you're making smaller or larger bagels. Smaller bagels will take less time and larger ones will take more.
- Serve warm and enjoy!
This recipe was so easy to follow with delicious results! Definitely my go to for bagels now!
That’s so wonderful to hear! Thank you so much for sharing your thoughts Cristin!