{"id":23356,"date":"2020-08-28T20:42:53","date_gmt":"2020-08-29T03:42:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/nourishedkitchen.com\/?p=23356"},"modified":"2020-10-07T20:11:56","modified_gmt":"2020-10-08T03:11:56","slug":"sourdough-bagels","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/nourishedkitchen.com\/sourdough-bagels\/","title":{"rendered":"Sourdough Bagels"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

With a punch of subtle, but complex sourness, these sourdough bagels <\/strong>are dreamy and perfect for a lazy Saturday brunch. Or, make them in advance on the weekend for an easy grab-and-go weekday breakfast.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

They have a beautiful, tight crumb with a chewy bite and thin crust that's topped with just about everything: caraway, sesame, poppy seeds, and garlic. Or you can skip the topping and serve them plain.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Sourdough<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Why sourdough?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Sourdough gives bagels a complex flavor, allowing just a hint of acidity to develop which balances the bread's natural, starchy sweetness. This process also encourages the breakdown of starches, meaning that sourdough bread<\/a> (including bagels) are generally easier on both your digestion and blood sugar than those leavened with bakers yeast (1, 2).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, beyond nutrition and flavor, there's another reason. The earliest bagels were leavened with a sourdough starter<\/a> or with wild yeast<\/a> from beer brewing. And when you bake your own, you tap into that deep tradition of Eastern European bread baking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historians suspect that the earliest bagels were made in Poland in the 14th century, and possibly rooted in the monastic German tradition of pretzel making (3). Both types of bread were leavened with a natural yeast starter since commercial yeast wouldn't be available for centuries, and boiled in an alkaline solution. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Today, one of the easiest ways to make your own would be to use a sourdough starter and boil your bagels in water alkalized by baking soda.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Key ingredients<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

While bagels are fairly easy to make (all you need to do is mix, rise, shape, boil, and bake), much of their success depends on your ingredients. And with so few ingredients, each one matters.<\/p>\n\n\n\n