The Best Sourdough Discard Bagels

I love bagels and I love my sourdough starter (I call her stinky), thus I was on the hunt for a good sourdough discard recipe for bagels and I think I found the one! I will be linking the original recipe, but I did make a few changes that I think would be helpful for newer bakers.

First Step: Finding the Recipe

I came across a video on Tik Tok when looking for discard recipes and I found this one page that contained a bunch of recipes that looked delicious!

The Tik Tok user was thisjess.cooks and she is amazing. She has so many beautiful videos and recipes that are to die for! I tried to link her video, but it wouldn’t embed, so I highly recommend watching her TikTok and reading her blog!

I added cheese on top of a few of the bagels and everything bagel seasoning on the others and they were all delicious. I ate two in one night…

Turning bagels into a sandwich is also a great idea for those of us who want a simple bread that isn’t too messy and is self contained. Sometimes I find that when I slice homemade bread it gets super messy. But with these bagels the only mess I had was some of the everything bagel seasoning falling off the top.

Adding mayo, cheese, lettuce, bacon, tomato, and turkey onto a bagel and then air frying it is scrumptious. The air fryer takes these bagel sandwiches to a new level!

To read her original recipe, click the link below. To read my tweaked version, keep reading!

My Recipe:

• 4 cups bread flour
• 3 Tablespoons granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon instant yeast
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 200 grams (about ¾ cup) sourdough discard
• 1 ¼ cup warm water
• Toppings (optional)
• 1 tablespoon of molasses or honey for boiling the bagels.

1. Put all the ingredients in the stand mixer, bowl with a spoon, or a bread maker and mix until just combined then let it sit for 5–10 minutes for the flour to hydrate.
2. Mix or knead by hand for about 10–15 minutes on low.
3. Take the bowl out of the machine and cover the dough for 1 hour and 40 minutes.
4. Portion out 8 pieces of the dough and form into bagel shapes. Cover and let rest for 30 minutes.
5. While the dough is resting, in a large pot boil water and molasses (or honey).
6. Once the 30 minutes is up, preheat your oven to 425 and boil the bagels for about 30 seconds on each side.
7. Place the boiled bagels on a parchment lined baking sheet, add any desired toppings, and bake for 20–25 minutes.

My recipe is only slightly different than the original, but I like to let my dough autolyse to fully hydrate and develop some extra gluten for that good chew we love bagels for.

I also add a little extra flour so it would be a little easier to work with as I am still a beginner baker.

The original recipe states to only add 1 tablespoon of sugar to the dough, but I misread it and added 3. But they turned out delicious! I am obsessed with the extra sweetness and caramelization that gives it a nice crust.

Last adjustment made was using molasses instead of sugar in the boiling water. I think this adds a better flavor and gives the bagels a better color overall.

Here is a link to the original video that I found. It isn’t loading for me, but hopefully it loads for you!