Imagine biting into a chewy and delicious gluten free sourdough bagel. Boiled before baking, these bagels are as traditional as they come. They are perfect toasted with butter, or served with a schmear of homemade cream cheese.
Bagels were one thing that I really missed when I became gluten free in 2009. Since then I’ve worked hard on developing delicious homemade gluten free foods, and I’ve discovered two things that seem to make everything come together: prefermenting flour and psyllium husk
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Chewy and Delicious Gluten Free Bagels
PrintGluten Free Sourdough Bagels
This deliciously chewy, gluten free bagel uses sourdough for flavour and psyllium husk for structure. It is a traditional boiled-bagel, and 8 different options for flavouring the bagels can be found below the recipe.
- Prep Time: 2 hours
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 45 minutes
- Yield: 8 bagels 1x
- Category: Bread
- Cuisine: Gluten free
Ingredients
Dough Ingredients
- 1 cup active sourdough starter
- 1/4 cup of water
- 2 tsp instant bread yeast
- 2 tsp sugar
- 1 tbsp molasses
- 3 tbsp vegetable oil
- 1 egg
- 3 cups gluten free bread flour mix
- 2 tbsp psyllium husk
- 1 1/4 tsp salt
For Boiling
- 1 tbsp baking soda or 1/3 cup of honey
- 2 tbsp toppings (optional, see below)
Instructions
- Combine all of the dough ingredients together and mix well. The dough will be quite stiff, so kneed to get everything combined. Lightly oil your hands to prevent the dough from sticking to you.
- Divide the dough into 8-10 equal pieces. Working with 1 piece of dough at a time, form into a bagel shape. Be sure that the ends overlap and are pinched together.
- Line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper. Set the bagels on the cookie sheet, evenly space to allow room for rising. Leave the bagels somewhere warm to rise for 2-4 hours.
- Bring 4 liters water in a large pot to boil. Add either honey or baking soda to the water. (See notes for details.)
- Working with 1 bagel at a time, place in boiling water and cook for 10 seconds, flipping them over halfway through cooking. Using a slotted spoon, return bagels to the baking sheet. Sprinkle on any toppings before the bagels cool. (See below for some ideas.)
- Once all the bagels have boiled, bake them for 15 minutes at 425 F. Reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees, rotate the cookie sheet, and continue to bake for another 20 minutes, until bagels are golden brown.
- Remove bagels from oven and allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.
- Use within 3 days, or slice and freeze for future use.
Notes
- You need to start with an active gluten free sourdough starter. It only takes 2-3 days to start one with buckwheat flour.
- Use either a store-bought GF bread flour
or make your own bread flour mix.
- If you don’t have psyllium husk, then add 2 tsp of xantham gum instead.
- Adding baking soda or honey to the boiling water increases browning on the bagel. Baking soda will give the bagel a pretzel-like flavour, where as honey will add a sweet caramelization.
Keywords: gluten free, sourdough, traditional
Bagel toppings
Toppings will stick to freshly boiled bagels. You don’t need to add an egg wash or anything like that. Just sprinkle on the toppings as soon as they come out of the water. Here are a few delicious options:
- Plain
- Poppy seed
- Sesame seed
- Onion: Sprinkle with minced fresh onion.
- Rosemary garlic: Top with minced fresh garlic and rosemary.
- Everything: Use a mixture of 1 tbsp poppy seeds, 1 tbsp sesame seeds, 1 tsp dried minced onion and 1 tsp dried minced garlic.
- Cinnamon: Mix 2 tbsp sugar with 2 tsp of cinnamon
- Cheese: Asiago cheese is traditional, but any hard cheese will work. Sprinkle 1 tbsp of grated cheese over each bagel.
they sell psyllium husk at Ingredients in bulk 🙂
I noticed that the last time I was there. I’ll post my psyllium husk GF sourdough soon. Just finished up with my cheeses. 🙂
What would you recommend as an almond flour substitute for the
nut allergic?
I would replace it with any whole grain flour. You may need to add a bit more liquid because almond flour doesn’t absorb as much liquid as other flours. Let me know how it goes!
Can I substitute an egg for a flax egg?
The recipe calls for an egg, however, if you want to use a flax egg I recommend adding 2 tsp xanthan gum. The bagels are boiled, and you really want to make sure that it keeps it’s form.
I had doubts that these would hold up in the toaster, but they did great!
★★★★★
Thanks! My kids literally eat these for breakfast EVERYDAY.
Looks so delicious and perfect for weekend brunch!
★★★★★