Blueberry Sourdough Bagels

overhead photo of a sourdough blueberry bagel sliced in half and topped with cream cheese topped with blueberries. The bagels are on parchment paper with a cream cheese in a white container and topped with a knife

4.65 from 85 votes

You will love this delicious sourdough blueberry bagel recipe. These chewy bagels not only taste amazing, but they have the most striking purple color.

Prep Time20

Cook Time24

Additional Time14

Total Time14 44

Course: Sourdough

Cuisine: American

Keyword: bagels, sourdough bagels

Servings:

Author: Lisa Bass

Ingredients

½ cup sourdough starter bubbly and active (113 grams)
2/3 cup water 158 grams
2 tablespoons honey 21 grams
2 teaspoons salt 10 grams
4 cups unbleached all purpose flour 560 grams
1 1/2 cups fresh or frozen blueberries the difference is I am going to cook them first this time, so that way I don't have to adjust the flour/water ratio from the original recipe tis time.
1/2 cup dried blueberries optional

For boiling the bagels

2 quarts water
1 tablespoon baking soda
1 tablespoon brown sugar

Instructions

Feed sourdough starter 4-12 hours before starting this recipe. Since this recipe doesn't include any commercial active dry yeast, you will want your starter to be really nice and active.
Add the blueberries to a small saucepan over low heat. Once they start to get juicy, turn the heat up to medium and bring the mixture to a light simmer. Stir constantly, until the liquid has reduced by half. Allow the berries to cool until they are no longer hot. A little warmer than room temperature is fine, but you don’t want to kill the yeast in your sourdough starter when adding them to the dough
Add an active sourdough starter, water, honey, salt, cooked blueberries, and two cups of flour to the bowl of your stand mixer. Some people have no issue adding all of the flour right away. Others find it easier to add half now and half later.
Mix until it comes together, about 10 minutes on low speed. This is a stiff dough and can be difficult to incorporate.
Add remaining flour, half a cup at a time. Use a dough hook and knead until the dough ball is smooth and pliable
Add dried blueberries if desired and knead in.
Place in a large bowl and cover dough with a damp towel, plastic wrap, or beeswax wrap and let the dough rise at room temperature for 8 to 12 hours.
After fermentation, divide into 8 equal pieces.
Roll the bagel dough into balls, flatten them down a bit, and create the center hole in the middle of the dough with your finger. Stretch the hole a bit to widen.
Place the shaped bagels on a sheet pan or on a clean counter.
Cover with a tea towel and let the dough rest in a warm place for 1-4 hours or until puffy.
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees.
Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add the baking soda and sugar.
Using a slotted spoon or spider, add bagels to the boiling water and boil for one minute, flip, then boil for another minute on the other side.
Shake off excess water and place boiled bagels on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on top.
Slice and serve. I love to serve it with homemade cream cheese.

Notes

This is a stiffer dough. It will come together though. Mix dough until it does.
Boil a few bagels in the water at a time. Don’t overcrowd your pot.
A stand mixer is much easier and less time consuming, but if you do not have one you can knead it with your hands.
If you are sensitive to the taste of baking soda, you can also get that shiny brown crust with just using sugar.
For more of a blueberry flavor, add dried blueberries to the dough. It's double blueberry bagels.
If you don't have honey, you can substitute it with sugar.

Nutrition