Honey Oat Sourdough Bagels
If you want an easy sourdough bagel recipe, you have to try these honey oat sourdough bagels. They come out so soft and just slightly sweet from the honey and oats. They’re the perfect breakfast for your family.
Ok, so you’ve been in the sourdough world for a little bit. You have a healthy, bubbly starter that puffs up wonderfully with each feed. You’ve been making delicious loaves of bread so much that your family has stopped buying store-bought bread. It’s an amazing thing. You’ve tried my sourdough pizza crust and had a fun pizza movie night as a family.
And now, it’s time. It’s time to try bagels. “But Emily! The shaping and the boiling – I just can’t do it.” No. Stop that self-doubt talk. Trust me, it’s truly not as hard as you think. Read through this blog for some tips. Follow the recipe. Watch the video. This is the perfect easy sourdough bagel recipe to start with. I’m so sure once you make them once, these honey oat sourdough bagels will soon be part of your monthly breakfast rotation.
Do I Have to Make The Sourdough Bagel Dough the Night Before?
NO! Unlike yeasted recipes, sourdough does take longer to rise. However, as long as you leave yourself enough time, you can also make this in the morning and use it in the evening.
Or if you need *MORE* time, you can leave the dough in your fridge for up to a couple of days. Plus, a bonus is that the longer the sourdough ferments, the better it becomes for digestion.
Let me break down two workflow options below that I tend to bounce between.
If You Want to Make This Easy Sourdough Bagel Dough The Night Before and Bake in the Morning…
Here are some approximate times to follow for an easy workflow. Please note that I’m not a strict sourdough girl. I am a busy mom and follow all rules and times very loosely. So if you can’t stick to the timing perfectly, I can say from experience there’s plenty of wiggle room. Also, the temperature of your house does impact things a bit.
DAY 1 (night before):
6:00 PM – Mix your ingredients in your stand mixer (see recipe card down below).
6:30 PM – Stretch and fold your shaggy dough a few times until it comes together.
7:00 PM – Stretch and fold for a couple of minutes.
7:30 PM – Stretch and fold for a couple of minutes.
8:00 PM – Stretch and fold for a couple of minutes.
8:30 PM – Stretch and fold for 2 minutes, then cover with a damp towel.
*As I said above, I’m pretty relaxed with my sourdough. However, I will say if you can get in at least 3-6 rounds of stretch and folds spaced about 30-60 mins apart, that’s ideal for gluten development.
DAY 2 (day you’ll be eating your honey oat sourdough bagels):
When you wake up, shape your dough (more details in the recipe card down below).
Cover your shaped bagels and let them rise for about 1 hour.
Boil your bagels
Bake
ENJOY!
If you want to make your sourdough Bagel Dough in the Morning and Bake it in the Evening…
If you don’t plan ahead and just want to make your sourdough bagels the day of, where they’ll be baking in the evening, as long as you have plenty of healthy sourdough starter, they should rise just in time to boil and bake them in the evening.
Timeline to make bagels in one day:
7:00 AM – Mix your ingredients in your stand mixer (see recipe card down below).
7:30 AM – Stretch and fold your shaggy dough a few times until it comes together.
8:00 AM – Stretch and fold for a couple of minutes.
8:30 AM – Stretch and fold for a couple of minutes.
9:00 AM – Stretch and fold for a couple of minutes.
9:30 AM – Stretch and fold for 1-2 minutes, then cover with a damp towel to rise for about 6-10 hours.
*As I said above, I’m pretty relaxed with my sourdough. However, I will say if you can get in at least 3-6 rounds of stretch and folds spaced about 30-60 mins apart, that’s ideal for gluten development.
Around 5:00 PM, once your dough has risen for 6-10 hours at room temperature, it’s time to shape your dough. Then they’ll do their final rise for 1 hour.
6:00 PM – boil, and bake. See the recipe card down below for more details.
Should I Use a Freshly Fed Starter or Discard?
Some sourdough recipes don’t require as much poof from a crazy active starter. My sourdough pizza crust recipe is a great one if you need to use up a lot of discard or not so not-so-lively starter. However, for this recipe, the more lively the better. Using a starter at peak will result in a more desirable soft bagel.
If you’re brand new to sourdough, here is a good blog post by one of my favorite bloggers – Farmhouse on Boone – to help get you started.
How Do I Shape My Bagels?
There are a few methods for shaping bagel dough. You can use YouTube to see the varying methods. But in my video below, you’ll see that I’m poking the center of the bagel and then very gently pulling outward to expand the hole. This method is less traditional, but incredibly easy. Especially since the dough for these honey oat bagels is a bit denser and slightly sticky (this comes from the oats and honey), the “roll it like a snake and attach the ends” method that traditional bagel purists use just doesn’t work very well for me. I can never quite get the ends to stay attached.
The poke-and-pull method (this is my name for it) works great, and you can see an example of how I do this in my video below.
One thing to keep in mind is that as your bagels go through their second rise and then the boil, the shape will grow significantly, and the hole will shrink. So make your bagel hole a bit larger than you actually want.
Honey Oat Sourdough Bagels
Ingredients
- 150 Grams Active Sourdough Starter
- 260 Grams Warm Water – just gently warm. Should be able to dunk hand in it comfortably.
- 24 Grams Honey
- 300 Grams Unbleached Bread Flour
- 200 Grams Rolled Oats
- 9 Grams Salt
- Cooking spray, oil, or butter – for coating the parchment paper
Topping
- 80 grams Rolled Oats
Instructions
- Wet Ingredients: Weigh out and mix your wet ingredients in a large bowl or the bowl of your stand mixer.150 Grams Active Sourdough Starter, 24 Grams Honey, 260 Grams Warm Water
- Dry Ingredients: Weigh in your dry ingredients.300 Grams Unbleached Bread Flour, 200 Grams Rolled Oats, 9 Grams Salt
- Make your Dough: Mix just until a shaggy dough forms (this means it won't be smooth or perfect yet, but a rough ball will have formed). I like to do this step in my stand mixer as it can be really sticky and messy. You can also do it with a dough whisk by hand, though.
- Rest: Cover the bowl your dough is in with a damp towel and let it rest for about 30 minutes to 1 hour. *If you want help figuring out your baking schedule, see the blog post for timeline ideas.
- Stretch and Fold: Begin to stretch and fold your dough every half hour or so. You'll want to try and stretch and fold your dough at least 3-6 times, spaced about a half hour to an hour apart. You'll notice by the second or so stretch and fold that your dough is becoming a nice ball and is no longer shaggy. Make sure to cover your bowl with the damp towel between each stretch and fold so your dough does not dry out.
- Bulk Rise: Now it's time to let your dough go through the bulk rise. Make sure your towel is very wet, as it will likely dry a bit during this long rise, and cover the bowl of your dough. Let your dough rise for 6-10 hours. It will increase in size and be softer to the touch once finished. *It won't be quite as fluffy or jiggly as a white bread sourdough recipe, though, as the oats and honey make it a bit firmer.
- Shape your Bagels: After your bulk rise, it's time to shape your bagels. Do not flour your surface. The bagels aren't very wet at this point, and too much flour will interfere with shaping. Divide your dough into balls. Roll them slightly to tighten the bottom of the ball. Poke a finger in the center and gently pull out to create the bagel hole. You'll want it slightly bigger than the final size, as it will shrink when the bagels puff up when boiled. *See the video for an example of how I shape the bagel.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and coat it with butter, cooking spray, or oil. Lay on your shaped bagels and cover with a damp towel.Cooking spray, oil, or butter
- Second Rise: Let the bagels rise for about 1 hour. They won't puff up too much at this point, only slightly.
- Prepare the Boiling Water and Oven: Near the end of the second rise, prepare a large pot to boil the bagels. Add in your boiling ingredients (these are based on a pot filled with 8 cups of water – if you're using a significantly larger or smaller amount of water, adjust accordingly). Preheat your oven to 425℉ (220℃).Boil your bagels for about 30 seconds to a minute on each side. The longer you boil, the thicker the outer crust will be. I prefer a thin crust, so it's not too tough for my kids to chew.1 tablespoon baking soda, 2 tablespoons honey, 2 teaspoons salt
- Top your Bagels (optional): After boiling, while the bagels are still wet, you can dip them in the rolled oats as a topping.80 grams Rolled Oats
- Bake your Bagels: After boiling and topping, place your bagels back on your lined baking sheet. Bake for about 20-25 minutes in the center of the oven. Flip your bagels over carefully around the 15-minute mark so the bottom side can brown as well. *If you notice your bagels getting dark brown too soon, they're likely done. All ovens are different, so keep an eye on them after 15 minutes. Transfer to a wire cooling rack and let rest until cool. Slice and enjoy as is with just a bit of butter, or toast and top with your favorite toppings!
- To Store the Bagels: As this is a fresh, homemade baked good without preservatives, they'll only last on the counter for 2-3 days. Once cooled, I like to leave a few in a tightly sealed bag on the counter for the next couple of days. Then I slice the rest, lay them out in one layer on a lined baking sheet, and place them in the freezer. Once frozen, I place them in a tightly sealed bag. You can toast them right from frozen or defrost them the night before for the next morning.
Video
Notes
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