Sourdough bagels are a multistep process, as you can see in this week’s long recipe in my Twice as Tasty column for the Flathead Beacon. But that’s bagels in general, whether you make them with active dry or wild yeast. If you want dense, chewy bagels, you need to boil and then bake the dough.

I learned when I first started making sourdough bagels that many commercial bakeries steam rather than boiling, which creates soft, fluffy bagels that seem more like hamburger buns. Immersing the dough in boiling water causes its starches to gel and form a firm crust over a dense interior after baking. This step is particularly important with long-ferment sourdough, which becomes so stretchy and acidic that it wants to rise—and then potentially deflate—if it goes straight into the oven.

Over years of making sourdough bagels, I’ve adjusted my technique to minimize tools and active time and consistently created the classic bagel shape. So the recipe in this week’s column is really Sourdough Bagels 2.0.
Learn to make Sourdough Bagels