Blueberry Sourdough Bagels
by sourdoughjesha on September 12, 2024
These blueberry sourdough bagels are naturally sweet with swirls of blueberry in every bite! They’re soft on the inside, perfectly chewy, and bake up beautifully! If you aren’t yet a blueberry bagel fan, this recipe will make your heart swoon. All you need is fresh or frozen blueberries!
These blueberry sourdough bagels are naturally sweet with swirls of blueberry in every bite! They’re soft on the inside, a little chewy, and bake up beautifully. If you aren’t yet a blueberry bagel fan, this recipe will make your heart swoon. All you need is fresh or frozen blueberries! Then add your favorite cream cheese or butter for the perfect breakfast.
Blueberry Sourdough Bagels
This week I was craving a REAL blueberry sourdough bagel. Something healthy with my morning coffee. And while I never really liked blueberry bagels growing up, as soon as I started making them from scratch, I became obsessed. The naturally sweet blueberry flavor, the pretty purple color, and the soft texture – it’s hard to want anything else!
Most blueberry bagels use artificial flavoring, blue dyes, and artificial ingredients which I’m not about. For my recipe, I used organic frozen blueberries but fresh blueberries work too! I just warm them up in the oven for a few minutes until there puffy and then use a fork to mash them.
If you need a full step-by-step tutorial on how to make homemade sourdough bagels check out this blog post.
✨Health Benefits of Sourdough Bagels✨
Sourdough bagels are unlike all other types of bagels because they go through a long and slow natural fermentation with wild yeasts and lactic acid bacteria (LAB). This ancient, 6,000-year-old tradition has remarkable health benefits. A long and slow sourdough fermentation transforms wheat and other grains, making them easy to digest because it degrades gluten, removes anti-nutrients, and breaks down FODMAPs and starches. Sourdough is also chock full of fiber, prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, making it an all-around microbiome superfood.
What I do to Make These Blueberry Sourdough Bagels Healthy
Most blueberry bagels use artificial flavoring, blue dyes, and artificial ingredients which I’m not about. This recipe calls for clean ingredients and a natural fermentation with sourdough.
LET’S GET SPECIFIC:
Sourdough Fermentation. These bagels are naturally fermented with sourdough starter instead of a rapid fermentation with yeast. Unlike commercial fermentation, a long and slow sourdough fermentation with sourdough starter makes wheat and other grains easy to digest because it degrades gluten, removes anti-nutrients, and breaks down FODMAPs and starches. Sourdough is also chock full of fiber, prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, making it an all-around microbiome superfood.
Organic, High-Quality Flour: I use an organic high-protein bread flour for the perfect rise and that classic soft and chewy bagel texture.
Organic Blueberries: Most blueberry bagels use artificial blueberry flavoring, blue dyes, and preservatives to give the bagel that blueberry flavor and look. But for my blueberry bagel recipe, we’re going to use only real blueberries. Organic is always my preference too!
Clean, Simple Ingredients. Nothing artificial to make these blueberry sourdough bagels!
Nutrition Breakdown of One Blueberry Sourdough Bagel
Macro-Nutrients
- 198 Calories
- 6.9g Protein (14%)
- 5.7g Fiber (20%)
- 1.6g Sugar (3%)
Micro-Nutrients
- 1.9mg Iron (11%)
- 3.2mg Vitamin K (3%)
- 2.8mg Vitamin B3 (18%)
- 0.1mg Vitamin B2 (10%)
Sourdough Bagel Baking Schedule
This is what a typical bagel-making schedule looks like for me.
P.S. Temperature is one of the single most important factors that affect fermentation. The warmer your place, the faster your dough will ferment. So please use my schedule as simply a jumping-off point for your own.
Prepare sourdough starter
Either feed your sourdough starter the night before to prepare or if your sourdough starter is in the fridge be sure to feed it every 12 hours, 3 days before you plan to bake.
Day One
- 10 AM – Mix bagel dough, cover and let sit at room temp until it doubles in size (6-8 hours)
- 6 PM – Place dough covered in the fridge for an overnight fermentation (10+ hours). This step is to develop flavor and nutrition… it’s optional, but highly recommended.
day two
- 8 AM – Divide bagel dough, shape and cover with tea towel. Let it rise for 2 hours.
- 10 AM – Prepare boiling water and preheat oven.
- 10:15 AM – Boil bagels, add toppings and bake.
Ingredients for Blueberry Sourdough Bagels
Here’s what you’ll need to make blueberry bagels at home.
5 CORE INGREDIENTS
- Bread Flour: A high-protein flour is needed for bagel making. King Arthur has a great bread flour that is usually widely available.
- Water: Preferably warm water is best! Warmer water helps kickstart fermentation.
- Sourdough Starter: Be sure you are using active sourdough starter (not discard).
- Organic Blueberries: You can use fresh or frozen blueberries. I usually use organic frozen blueberries because that’s usually what I have on hand.
- Sea Salt: Enhances flavor (and nutrition) by slowing fermentation.
- Honey: Honey or sugar helps soften the dough so you get that perfect soft and chewy bagel texture. I like to use raw honey.
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS
- Olive Oil: Used to grease the bowl or plate where are bagel dough will rise.
- Eggs: You’ll brush your bagels with an egg wash prior to baking.
- Cream cheese: I use my favorite probiotic cream cheese from Nancy’s, or my homemade cream cheese!
Equipment Needed for Sourdough Bagels
- Dough Mixer or Mixing Bowl (by hand): You can prepare the bagel dough with either a mixer or by hand. Kneading the dough by hand is essential to the bagel making process (and my favorite part).
- Dough Scraper: Used for dividing our dough.
- Baking Pan
- Baking Scale: ideal for accurate measurements of the ingredients and to weigh dough balls after dividing to ensure they are similar in size.
Tips for Making Sourdough Bagels
What flour is best for this recipe?
A high-protein flour is needed for bagel making. King Arthur has a great bread flour that is usually widely available.
How do I make just one Sourdough Bagel?
Ingredients for One Sourdough Blueberry Bagel:
- 100 g Bread Flour
- 37.5g Mashed, Warm Blueberries
- 25 g Water
- 25g Sourdough Starter
- 2g Sea Salt
- 2.5g Honey
Looking for other sourdough bagel recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Step-by-Step Sourdough Bagel Recipe
French Toast Sourdough Bagel Recipe
Blueberry Sourdough Bagels
Ingredients
BAGEL RECIPE
- 400 g Bread Flour Please see notes for hydration tips depending on the type of flour you use
- 150 g Mashed Warm Frozen Blueberries (37.5%) (Frozen blueberries will add a richer blue color to your dough but fresh works too)
- 100 g – 120g Water 25%
- 100 g Sourdough Starter 25%
- 8 g Sea Salt 2%
- 10 g Honey 2.5%
ADDITIONAL INGREDIENTS
- Olive Oil – Used to grease the bowl or plate where are bagel dough will rise.
- Eggs – You’ll brush your bagels with an egg wash prior to baking.
Instructions
- WARM AND MASH BLUEBERRIES: Preheat oven or toaster oven to 350f. Warm frozen or fresh blueberries for 5-10 minutes or until blueberries are soft but have not fully burst. Using the back of a fork or spoon, mash the blueberries until they burst. Transfer everything (blueberries and juice) to a separate bowl to cool for 10-15 minutes. Mashed blueberries should be warm, NOT hot before adding to the dough.
- MIX DOUGH AND FIRST RISE: In a bowl or stand mixer, mix all ingredients together including the cooled mashed blueberries/juice. Place the dough hook on the mixer and mix the dough on the lowest speed for 3 minutes. Or mix by hand for a couple of minutes until a ball forms. Now, turn the dough onto a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for 3-4 minutes or until the dough is smooth. Lightly grease a bowl and place the dough inside. Cover the bowl with a lid, plastic wrap or a clean kitchen towel. Let the dough rise at room temperature for 6 – 8 hours or until it doubles in size.
- OVERNIGHT RISE: Place your dough covered in the fridge for overnight proof. This is where your dough will develop flavor and L.A.B bacteria will get to work enhancing the nutrition of our dough. Remember, the longer we ferment the better for us it gets!
- DIVIDE AND SHAPE: Dump out and divide your dough into 8 pieces, you can eyeball it or weigh them out on a dough scale. If the dough is sticky, you can always add a little flour to your hands or dough before shaping (I usually do not need to). Shape each into a ball by pulling the corners up and over. Now, use your finger to poke a hole through the center of each ball and rotate the dough with two fingers to form a ring.
- FINAL (SHORT) RISE: Place your bagels on a parchment-lined baking sheet and cover with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rest for 1-3 hours or until puffy to the touch.
- BOIL BAGELS: Preheat oven to 450f. Fill a large, wide pot water and bring to a boil. Drop bagels in, 2-4 at a time, making sure they have enough room to float around. Cook the bagels for 1 minute on each side and remove with a slotted spoon; drain well. Place on baking sheets and brush with egg wash.
- BAKE + ENJOY: Bake bagels for 17-20 minutes or until golden brown on the outside. Layer on grass-fed butter or your favorite cream cheese and enjoy every nourishing bite.
These are SO good! Chewy and soft, with a nice crust from the boil and egg wash! I definitely wanted more of a blueberry taste to these but I would adjust and make again!
I’m so happy you enjoyed them!! And thank you so much for your review. Stay in touch 💕
Can they be made by using the same recipe but using gf bread flour?
Hi Jesha! My family loved these! Thanks for such a great recipe
Hi Tim! I’m so happy you enjoyed them!
Absolutely delicious. We did a maple syrup wash instead of egg due to allergy & they were so good!
Hi Sarah!! I’m so happy you liked them! And such a great tip with the maple syrup wash (also that just sounds incredible too).
These look amazing! Looking for a way to use up my sourdough discards.
Awe yay! Happy for you to try! Just make sure you use active starter not discard.
These are the best sourdough bagels I’ve made but they taste like a plain bagel to me and my 3 kiddos! We will have to try to find a way to boost the blueberry flavor and try again because they’re so delish!
Awe Im so happy to hear this!! And thank you for letting me know 🙂 You can replace water with blueberries almost 1:1 (i.e. add 50g more bluebs and 50g less water)!
My dough was a bit sticky when kneading for the 3-4 minutes before putting in greased bowl. Is that okay?
Hi Morgan! If it is too sticky add more flour! The type of blueberries can affect it. You should feel comfortable kneading it (it should be a stiffer dough). Add 50-100g more flour and then add 1-2g more salt (depending on the amount of flour you add).
Super good sourdough bagels, but agree with Brittany on them not tasting like blueberry bagels. I even added 50g more frozen organic blueberry’s and 50g less water and they still tasted like plain sourdough bagels. Still good though, I wonder if maybe the sourdough just overpowers the blueberries?
Hi Madison!! All blueberry bagels in stores or at bagel shops contain natural or artificial blueberry flavoring. Bagels with real blueberries will have a more subtle flavor! You can try add 30g crushed, freeze-dried blueberries to enhance the flavor though! Thank you so much for reviewing! And please stay in touch.
My first time making sourdough bagels and overall they turned out really great I love how soft the inside turns out while the outside has a nice crust. I agree with the other reviews that state there isn’t a strong blueberry flavor (which may be hard to achieve without artificial flavoring). Regardless, I love the way they turned out and they are guuut healthy 😉 Thanks Jesha! I’ll definitely be trying your other sourdough recipes.
Hi Jesha. I made the everything bagels and have read through quite a few of your other recipes and instructions of other bagels. I’m wondering why in some of the instructions you have the bagels formed and then put in fridge for overnight fermentation & others are not and formed in the morning. Could you clarify as I can’t see a different recipe changing the timing of formation. Excellent results by the way when I made the everything bagels. Thank you very much for your hard work and amazing education and recipes. It’s appreciated.
I LOVE bagels!🥯
These turned out delicious! My bagels ended up being very small though. Would you consider them full sized bagels? I’m wondering if I proofed long enough
Mine came out pretty small too. I’m wondering if I either didn’t let it proof enough, or if she’s doubling the recipe to make larger bagels. They turned out well tho – just smaller than in the video!
Hi Madison and Katie! For bagels the size in my videos, divide dough into 180g pieces before shaping 🙂 They are big!!
So are you doubling the recipe to make your dough overflow out of the bowl like that?
Your not doing anything wrong if your dough doesn’t look like hers She is definitely doubling the recipe to make it look that big and overflow the bowl. And doubling her bagel size. I wish she would just state that and avoid confusion.
Have you made each bagel 73 grams before and was it too small?
Hi, I made dough for the Jalepeno cheddar bagels and the blueberry, I see that the blueberry oven heat is 450 and the jalepeno is 400. Can I put both in at the same time or should I wait to do it at separate heats
Your recipes are amazing! My husband and I have never been bagel people (English muffins all the way) until he decided to make this recipe one day out of the blue and now he makes it weekly. We are going to swap the fruit this weekend for peaches (ultimate goal is peaches and cream bagels). I’m excited to try your strawberry recipe as well.
Hi confused about the Everything Bagel Seasoning on the blueberry bagels ? This is my first time making them, Can’t wait to taste M
Is this recipe supposed to have sugar? The bagels tasted super plain without any blueberry flavor. I’ll try adjusting the blueberry amount next time but thinking I should be adding some 10-15 g sugar in the dough. Thank you!
Jesha, thanks so much for sharing this recipe! After reading other reviews, that stated it did not have as much blueberry taste as they desired, I ordered a bottle of pure extract, blueberry, brand Native Vanilla. I added 1 teaspoon when I combined all of the ingredients and it was fantastic. My husband, lettuce, blueberries, and this will definitely be my go to blueberry bagel recipe!
Do you have to boil and bake after you form the bagels and let rise?
I didn’t time it right- it’s 5:30pm and they are ready to be boiled and baked!
I am making these for the first time after trying other recipes and was surprised to see no honey or sugar in the recipe. If we wanted to add sweetener, how much would you recommend?
Also how long can the dough stay in the fridge if not able to bake the day after mixing the dough?
Thanks!
Hey, I love the way you explore everything!
What does the 37.5% next to frozen blueberries mean?
Why did this website get redone? Ingredients list no longer has the 1x 2x and 3x which made it super easy and fast to double and triple the recipe. Also there are now ads literally everywhere which makes the website so laggy to the point where it’s not even worth staying on
These were fantastic!! Pretty and delicious. I would make these again. Mine came out to 91 grams each for 8 bagels. They’re small, compared to bakery bagels and the video- however, I eat bagels more as random snack or as part of a breakfast for dinner moment with a side of eggs, bacon, etc so I’m okay with the smaller size.
I’m making these again this weekend- I do plan on increasing the size and maybe making 6, instead of 8. Does this increase the bake time? Thanks!! Also I brought the last batch to share at work and EVERYONE loved them!!
Thank you so much for being creative and sharing this recipe. I really enjoyed making them. They were absolutely delicious. Best bagel recipe that I have used to date!
I started my sourdough journey Oct. 2023, and the hobby just took off. I have made many different bagel recipes over this past year, and none of them have come close to how soft and delicious this recipe is. I see the dedication and passion you have. Thank you for sharing these recipes with us, i am truly grateful and I’m looking forward for more. Next recipe I will be making; sourdough snickerdoodle cookies, because who doesn’t love a warm, spiced cookie in the winter?!
I would definitely recommend this recipe! So yummy!
Absolutely loved this recipe!
Lovely texture and straight forward (if you’re into sourdough) process. There was absolutely no blueberry taste/sweetness In this bagel though. Still yummy , but not what I expected!
I tried this recipe and it was a hit! Thank you so much for sharing! I read a few different bagel recipes before choosing to make this one. But I did find that lack of blueberry flavor was a common theme for most recipes. I added about 50g of soaked dried blueberries and it did the trick. Great texture and great blueberry flavor. Thanks again!
My family loved this!
Great sourdough flavor, not super sweet, my first time making bagels and the recipe worked out perfectly!
Very easy recipe to follow. Turned out soft and chewy. Not a strong blueberry flavor but still yummy.
Absolutely loved this recipe!