Easy Honey Whole Wheat Sourdough Bagels [Recipe]

Here is a little something to make your days a little sweeter: honey whole wheat sourdough bagels. Try one of these delicious bagels toasted with a smothering of cream cheese, and I’m pretty sure you’ll never want to buy bagels from the store again!

These honey-kissed bagels are hearty, healthy (source), and great to have on hand for breakfasts on the go. I especially love that sourdough bagel dough can be made the night before, making the process of fresh bagels first thing in the morning doable, quick, and easy.

How to make bagels from scratch

If you’ve never made bagels from scratch, you’ve come to the right place! I have made thousands of bagels in my short life, and using a reliable recipe is a big part of how to make these delicious bread rolls into a regular part of your life. Here I’ll walk you through all that you will need, and what you will need to do, in order to make this bagel recipe at home.

Ingredients

Water

Water is essential to making any sourdough bread or bagels. This moistens the flour, binds the ingredients together, and makes the dough, well, dough! For best results, use lukewarm water to give the yeast (or in this case, sourdough starter) its best shot at rising well.

Whole wheat sourdough starter

To make this recipe whole wheat, I like to feed my sourdough starter with whole wheat flour. This incorporates whole wheat into the recipe, gives my starter a boost (my starter always gets very excited when I feed it with whole wheat flour), and makes a great leaven for perfectly risen bagels. Use a good active sourdough starter for this recipe.

Oil

In this recipe, I used olive oil to make my bagels, but any cooking oil (or melted butter) will work well.

Honey

This is an essential ingredient to this recipe, since it gives the bagels their texture and signature flavor. 

Molasses

I like to add molasses to my bagel recipes in place of using the typical barley malt syrup. I find that the rich flavor gives a similar effect, and molasses is easier to come by for the average person.

Brown sugar

This addition to the recipe is completely optional, but I find that honey has such a gentle sweetness in baking that I (frankly) want to give it a little boost. Sugar goes a long way quickly, so a touch of brown sugar makes the sweetness of these bagels, in my opinion, just right.

Salt

Salt is the backbone of every great bread and bagel recipe. Don’t skip this essential ingredient!

All-purpose flour

I recommend unbleached or organic white flour for this recipe, but regular all purpose works just as well. You can also easily use bread flour with good results.

Rolled oats

​Oats are completely optional in this recipe, but I do like to use them to make my bagels a little more pretty. If you prefer, you can omit the oats entirely.

Instructions

Here’s a breakdown of how to make whole wheat honey sourdough bagels at home!

Make the dough

In a large bowl, or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine the water, active starter, oil, honey, molasses, salt and flour. Knead by hand or with the dough hook in an electric mixer until smooth, about 10 minutes (the dough will be very stiff). Cover with plastic wrap, and allow to ferment at room temperature for 8-12 hours (overnight).

Shape the bagels

The next morning, turn the dough out onto and unfloured work surface and divide into 12-16 equal pieces (12 makes large bagels, 16 makes slightly small bagels). Roll each of the dough balls into a 12″-18″ rope, and pinch the ends together firmly (with a 1-2″ overlap) to seal. The hole in the middle of the bagel shape should be large enough to snugly fit a golf ball inside. Set the shaped bagels onto a lightly oiled or parchment lined cookie sheet. Allow them to rise 30 minutes in a warm place.

Poach the bagels

Meanwhile, in a large pot, bring 8 cups of water to a boil. Stir in the honey, and then boil the bagels for 1 minute per side after they begin to float. Remove from the water with a large round slotted spoon.

​Prep the glaze and topping

Ladle a small amount of the poaching syrup (boiling water with honey) from the pot into a small-medium sized bowl, and set this aside.

Measure rolled oats into another small-medium sized bowl, and set this aside.

Dip the bagels in oats

Once the bagels have been boiled, dip the tops into the reserved poaching syrup to make them sticky, and then dip them (sticky side down) into a bowl of rolled oats. Alternatively, you can sprinkle oats generously on top, or omit this step altogether.

Bake

Bake at 425 degrees F for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown. Cool on wire racks.

Baking Tips

When making this whole wheat bagel recipe, there are a few things to keep in mind for optimal results. Here are a couple of tips from my kitchen for you!

Try not to multi task 

During the second proof or boiling process (especially the first time you make them), try not to multi-task! Doing too many things can make an otherwise quick and easy job incredibly stressful. So, I recommend, don’t bite off more than you can chew, and stick to making only bagels during this time period.

I say, try because… I am a mom of 5 kids 5 and under, and well. If you have kids, you know.

Weigh the flour 

My preference for most baking is to weigh the flour, even if I measure my other ingredients by cups. The reason for this is simple: the weight of a cup of flour can range anywhere from 100g-170g, depending on how you scoop it! That said, for a stiff dough like this, it’s really easy to way over (or under) do it. To make sure the dough comes out right, try weighing the flour with a kitchen scale for optimal results.

Firmly pinch the ends together

If you don’t seal the ends firmly, the bagels may come apart during the poaching process. If this happens, you can reattach them once they come out of the water… but for the best look (and less stress), I recommend making sure that the ends are firmly sealed before you boil them.

Yeast vs. sourdough bagels

Yeast bagels are delicious, and really simple to make. However, sourdough bread has so many wonderful health benefits (source) and frankly– dare I say it– I think sourdough bagels are easier to make! 

The main difference between these two types of bagels are the leaven. One is made with dry active yeast, which shortens the overall process dramatically, while the other is made with a fermented culture of wild yeast called “sourdough starter” (which is made with just water and flour). The latter option raises the dough by allowing it to ferment, produce gas bubbles, and enrich the dough with that fantastic old-world bread flavor.

To learn more about sourdough starter and sourdough bread, check out the links provided here! 

Why are bagels boiled?

Bagels are boiled before they are baked to give them their signature texture and sheen. It only takes a couple of minutes to boil a bagel before you bake it, and the results are always incredible!

Boiling bagels: what goes in the water?

There are several different options for what goes into the water for making bagels, and all of them have a slightly different effect on the finished product.

Barley malt syrup

This is the traditional addition to bagel dough and the poaching syrup in which bagels are boiled. The taste is a slightly sweet, rich (like molasses) flavor reminiscent of beer.

Salt

Salt can go into the water to give the bagels a little extra flavor. 

Baking soda

Baking soda can be added to the water to enhance the crust, flavor and color of your bagels. For nice chewy bagels with good color, baking soda is a good option.

Molasses

A little bit of molasses added to the water can give a similar flavor and effect to barley malt syrup.

Honey

​This is my favorite way to make poaching syrup: it gives the bagels a slightly sweet, shiny, chewy crust and delicious honey-kissed flavor.

Nothing! 

Yup, that’s right. Bagels can be boiled with absolutely nothing in the water – they just won’t have that little bit of extra flavour, and the final color may be more pale.

Toppings

You can top you bagels with nuts, poppy seeds, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, oats, or whatever you like best. For my other bagel sourdough recipes, I have used sesame seeds, everything bagel seasoning, or nothing at all! 

Since this recipe for whole wheat bagels is a little bit sweet, I would opt for seeds, oats, or something else that will complement these homemade bagels the best.

Storage

Store you finished bagels in an airtight container or sealed freezer bags. This recipe will keep at room temperature for a couple of days in a sealed container on the countertop, or for several months in the freezer.

For easy long-term use, slice the bagels in half before you freeze them, and just pull them out of the freezer as you need them.

You will need:

• Ingredients (see recipe card)
• Stand mixer (optional)
• Mixing bowls
• Stir spoon
• Measuring cups and spoons
• Kitchen scale
• Bench scraper or sharp knife (for dividing the dough)
• Large pot
• Slotted spoon or cooking skimmer (my preference)
• Pastry brush
• Parchment paper
• Baking trays

If you like this recipe, you may also like:

• Sourdough Everything Bagels
• Easy Sourdough Cinnamon Raisin Bagels
• Sourdough Sesame Montreal Bagels
• Easy No-Knead White Sourdough Bread

That’s it! If you make these homemade sourdough bagels, feel free to leave me a comment to let me know, or tag me in your photos on Instagram @naomicakesofficial so that I can see your beautiful work!

Bye for now,

Naomi

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