These sourdough blueberry bagels are easy to make and are everything you want a bagel to be... crispy on the outside with a tasty chewy interior.
If you have a sourdough starter, you need to try making these bagels.
First, they are tasty, easy to make, and only require one rise. Second, the sourdough flavor is very distinct because of the cold fermentation in the refrigerator. Third, the blueberries add a wonderful sweetness to the bagels.
Tools and Ingredients:
Some of the specialized ingredients you will need include unbleached bread flour, vital wheat gluten, dried milk powder, barley malt syrup, and dried blueberries.
If you have access to high gluten flour, you can skip the vital wheat gluten and add more flour. Typically, high gluten flour isn't that easy to find, so I keep a bag of vital wheat gluten in my freezer for when I'm making bagels.
Barley malt syrup is used both for the dough and the water for boiling the bagels. Most grocery stores carry it, but if you can't find it there, try a health food store. You can also substitute nondiastatic barley malt if you have it, or honey.
I used dried blueberries rather than fresh. It makes it easier to control the hydration and color of the dough. I am in love with Mariani Wild Blueberries.
The dough for bagels is always fairly stiff, so hand kneading requires a lot of time, patience, strength, and stamina. If you have a good stand mixer, I definitely recommend using it instead.
My 5-quart tilt head mixer tended to strain and heat up when making a stiff dough, so I bought a 7-quart Pro model and this thing works like a charm. I love it.
A spider strainer is awesome for flipping and removing the bagels from the boiling water.
Procedure:
First, mix all of the ingredients except the blueberries on medium low. Then add the blueberries and mix until you have a super smooth dough. The blueberries will slightly break up and sweeten the dough a bit.
At this point, let the dough rest to relax so that it is easier to shape.
After that, divide the dough into six pieces and form each into a ball and let it rest again to relax.
Roll and stretch each ball out into 10-inch ropes and wrap the ropes around your hand, overlap the ends, and roll the seam together.
Place the shaped bagels on a semolina or corn flour sprinkled baking sheet, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let rise for 2 to 3 hours. Then refrigerate either for a few hours or overnight.
When you are ready to bake the bagels, bring a big pan of water to a boil along with some barley malt syrup and boil the bagels about 20 seconds per side.
In the meantime, heat your oven to 425 degrees F with a rack in the middle. When you are finished boiling the bagels, reduce the oven temperature to 400 degrees F and bake them for about 25 to 30 minutes.
Typical Schedule:
Noon:
Mix the dough, shape it, and let it rise on a baking sheet at room temperature.
4:00 p.m.:
Place the baking sheet in the refrigerator and refrigerate overnight.
8:00 a.m.:
Boil and bake the bagels.
You can also begin in the morning and bake the bagels in the late afternoon.
Storage:
These bagels are best the day they are made, although they will keep at room temperature for at least two days.
You can also individually wrap each bagel and keep them in a freezer bag. Thaw and reheat when ready to serve.
More Bagel Recipes You May Also Enjoy:
This month the Bread Bakers are baking bagels. Check out everyone's recipes:
- 2 Ingredients Bagels from Sneha’s Recipe
- Cardamom Scented Sweet Potato Sourdough Bagels from A Messy Kitchen
- Savory Sun-Dried Tomato and Cheese Bagels from Cook with Renu
- Sourdough Blueberry Bagels from Karen’s Kitchen Stories
- Tomato Bagels from Magical Ingredients
Sourdough Blueberry Bagels
Ingredients
- 226 grams bread flour
- 7 grams vital wheat gluten
- 85 grams cold water
- 18 grams milk powder (regular or nonfat)
- 11 grams barley malt syrup
- 6.75 grams (1 1/8 teaspoon) salt
- 200 grams active sourdough starter
- 47 grams dried blueberries
- 3 quarts water plus 2 tablespoons malt syrup for the water bath
Instructions
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, mix all of the ingredients except the blueberries on low for one minute. Increase the speed to medium low and mix for an additional 3 minutes.
- Add the blueberries and mix on medium low until you have a smooth and bouyant dough, about five to ten minutes.
- Hand knead the dough for a few turns, cover with oiled plastic wrap, and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Divide the dough into six equal sized pieces, about 100 grams each. Form each into a ball, cover, and let rest for 10 minutes.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment and sprinkle with coarse corn meal or semolina flour.
- Form each ball into a 10-inch rope and wrap each rope around your hand with a two-inch overlap. Roll the overlap under your hand to form a ring and place the shaped bagel onto the baking sheet. Keep the shaped bagels covered as you work with the rest of the dough.
- Cover the shaped bagels with oiled plastic wrap and let them rest at room temperature for about two to three hours. Move the baking sheet to the refrigerator and let them ferment for 4 to 12 hours.
- Heat your oven to 425 degrees F with a rack in the middle. Bring three quarts of water to boil in a pot and add the barley malt syrup.
- Boil the bagels in batches. Drop them into the boiling water, let them come to the top and boil about 20 seconds a side. With a slotted spoon or spider strainer, move the bagels to the baking sheet.
- Place the baking sheet in the oven and reduce the temperature to 400 degrees F and bake for 25 to 30 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Inspired by Wild Yeast Blog
Those bagles with blueberries look quite good. Would balance the flavours so much.
ReplyDeleteThey look gorgeous and absolutely perfect. Love the little bits of blueberry, those are delicious looking little pieces.
ReplyDeleteThat's an amazing bagel, love those blueberries in it!
ReplyDeleteSimply Awesome! The bagels look amazing on the interior as well as exterior, and I love the sourdough and blueberry combination.
ReplyDelete