Cinnamon Crunch Sourdough Bagels
by sourdoughjesha on September 14, 2024
These homemade Cinnamon Crunch Sourdough Bagels are soft, chewy, and topped with a delicious cinnamon crunch topping in every bite!
Inspired by Panera’s Cinnamon Crunch Bagels, these homemade cinnamon crunch sourdough bagels are irresistibly soft, chewy, and topped with a sweet, crunchy cinnamon-sugar coating in every bite. Made with simple pantry staples, homemade cinnamon chips, and a touch of brown sugar, these bagels are the perfect weekend bake and stay irresistibly tasty all week long.
Cinnamon Crunch Sourdough Bagels
Growing up, I was obsessed with Panera’s cinnamon crunch bagels. Who doesn’t love the irresistible combination of warm, cozy cinnamon and the perfect sweet crunch in every bite? I’d always order one, toasted (obviously!), topped with their honey-walnut cream cheese. This recipe is my take on the classic, made with simple, wholesome ingredients, homemade cinnamon chips, and naturally fermented sourdough for a gut-healthy twist!
These cinnamon crunch sourdough bagels offer the perfect balance of chewy goodness and satisfying crunch, making them an irresistible treat for breakfast or any time you’re craving something special. Whether you’re a seasoned baker or just starting, this recipe will guide you through creating a batch of bagels that will fill your kitchen with the comforting aroma of cinnamon and leave you with a breakfast treat that’s hard to resist. Get ready to elevate your morning routine with these homemade delights!
This Cinnamon Crunch Sourdough Bagel Is:
- Made with simple pantry staples: Bread flour, cinnamon, sourdough starter, and honey come together to create the ideal bagel base.
- Soft and chewy texture: Each bagel boasts an irresistibly soft and chewy interior, making every bite thoroughly satisfying.
- Luscious cinnamon-sugar crunch topping: Crowned with a buttery, cinnamon-sugar layer that bakes into a perfectly crispy and sweet topping.
- Naturally fermented for deep flavor and nutrition: The slow fermentation process enhances flavor while boosting texture and nutritional benefits.
- The perfect breakfast treat: Whether enjoyed fresh from the oven or toasted to perfection, these bagels offer a satisfying crunch and sweet warmth in every bite.
- Delicious and versatile: Smear with cream cheese, drizzle with honey, or top with your favorite ingredients for a breakfast that’s both indulgent and comforting.
Cinnamon Crunch Sourdough Bagel Ingredients
- Bread Flour: Provides the necessary structure and chew for your bagels, making them perfectly soft and chewy.
- Sourdough Starter: The key to flavor and rise, the starter adds a slightly tangy taste while naturally fermenting the dough for better texture and nutrition.
- Water: Hydrates the dough and helps bind the ingredients together for smooth mixing and rising.
- Honey: Adds a touch of sweetness and helps create a beautifully golden crust.
- Salt: Enhances the flavors and helps regulate the fermentation process, ensuring your bagels have depth without tasting bland.
- Cinnamon: Infuses the dough with warm, fragrant spice, making each bite cozy and flavorful.
- Cinnamon Chips: These homemade chips add little bursts of sweet, spicy flavor throughout the dough, taking the bagels to another level.
- Brown Sugar and Cane Sugar (for topping): Together, they create a crispy, caramelized crunch on top that contrasts perfectly with the soft, chewy bagel.
- Butter: Adds richness and helps bind the cinnamon-sugar topping to the bagels, creating that signature crunchy finish.
Homemade Cinnamon Chips
Homemade cinnamon chips are the secret ingredient that takes these Panera-inspired Cinnamon Crunch Bagels to the next level. Made with just a few simple ingredients like sugar, cinnamon, honey, and coconut oil, these chips add a sweet burst of cinnamon flavor to every bite. By making them from scratch, you get to avoid unnecessary additives and preservatives, giving you full control over the quality. Whether you’re folding them into the bagel dough or topping your baked goods, these homemade cinnamon chips perfectly complement the rich, buttery cinnamon-sugar crunch topping on the bagels. They’re an easy way to elevate your homemade bagels and bring that bakery-fresh taste into your kitchen!
Cinnamon Crunch Bagel Success Tips
- Use active and bubbly sourdough starter: For the best rise and flavor, make sure your sourdough starter is active and bubbly before mixing your dough. Feed your starter 4-6 hours before using it in this recipe to ensure it’s at its peak.
- Perform stretch and folds for better texture: During the first rise, gently stretch and fold the dough every 1-1.5 hours. This technique strengthens the dough and helps achieve the perfect chewy texture in your bagels.
- Chill for better flavor: Allowing the dough to proof overnight in the fridge enhances both the flavor and the texture. The cold fermentation process adds a deeper sourdough flavor and makes the dough easier to handle when shaping.
- Add the cinnamon crunch topping generously: Don’t skimp on the cinnamon-sugar crunch topping! Apply a thick layer before baking to create that perfect sweet, crispy exterior. For extra crunch, you can brush the bagels with an egg wash before adding the topping.
How to Shape Bagels
Shaping bagels is easier than it looks. Start by poking your finger through the center of the dough ball, then use two fingers to gently stretch and widen the hole to about 1.5 to 2 inches. That’s all there is to it!
How to Make Sourdough Cinnamon Crunch Bagels
- Mix the dough: Combine bread flour, sourdough starter, water, honey, cinnamon, and salt. Knead the dough until smooth, then let it rest for 30 minutes.
- First rise: Cover the dough and let it rise at room temperature for 6-8 hours, or until doubled in size.
- Overnight proof: Place the dough in the fridge overnight to enhance flavor and fermentation.
- Shape the bagels: The next day, divide the dough into equal pieces, shape each into a ball, and poke a hole in the center to form the bagels. Widen the hole with your fingers.
- Boil and Top: Boil the bagels for 1 minute on each side, then sprinkle them generously with the cinnamon crunch topping (brown sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter).
- Bake to perfection: Bake the bagels at 425°F for 20-25 minutes, until golden brown and crunchy on top.
Health Benefits of Sourdough Bagels✨
Sourdough bagels undergo a natural fermentation process using sourdough starter, which contains wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria (LAB). This ancient 6,000-year-old method provides remarkable health benefits. The long, slow fermentation makes grains, including wheat, easier to digest by breaking down gluten, removing anti-nutrients, and reducing FODMAPs and starches. As a result, sourdough is gentler on the digestive system. In addition to being easier to digest, sourdough bagels are packed with fiber, prebiotics, vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants, making them a microbiome superfood that supports gut health and overall wellness.
If You Enjoy Cinnamon Crunch Sourdough Bagels, Try These Next:
- Strawberry Sourdough Bagels
- Blueberry Sourdough Bagels
- Chocolate Chip Sourdough Bagels
- Jalapeño Cheddar Sourdough Bagels
If you make this Cinnamon Crunch Sourdough Bagel recipe and love it, be sure to stop back and give it a 5-star rating – it helps others find and enjoy the recipe too! ❤️️
Cinnamon Crunch Sourdough Bagels
Ingredients
Bagel Dough:
- 400 g bread flour
- 220 g water
- 100 g sourdough starter
- 8 g salt
- 15 g honey
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- â…“ cup cinnamon chips
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Cinnamon Crunch Topping:
- â…“ cup brown sugar
- 3 tbsp cane sugar
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 tbsp melted butter
Cinnamon Chips Recipe:
- â…” cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp honey
- 2 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 2 tbsp softened coconut oil
Instructions
Cinnamon Chips Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200°F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly grease or spray it.
- Spread the cinnamon chip mixture on the prepared baking sheet, flattening it into a rectangle about ÂĽ" thick. You can use your hands or a flat spatula, placing another sheet of parchment paper on top to prevent sticking.
- Mix the ingredients: In a medium bowl, mix the sugar, cinnamon, honey, and 1½ tbsp coconut oil until it forms a damp, clumpy mixture. If too dry, add the remaining ½ tbsp of oil.
- Bake the mixture for 35 minutes, or until it melts into a single slab. It will still be soft. Let it cool completely.
- Slice the slab into small square chips, about ÂĽ" wide, once it has cooled.
- Optional: Toss the chips in cinnamon sugar before storing.
Bagel Instructions
- Mix the Dough: In a medium-sized bowl, add all the bagel ingredients (bread flour, water, starter, salt, honey, cinnamon, cinnamon chips, and vanilla extract). Mix by hand for a couple of minutes until a ball forms.
- Rest the Dough: Let the dough rest for 30 minutes in a covered container. Knead: After resting, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes until smooth.
- Knead the Dough: After resting, knead the dough for 2-3 minutes until the dough looks smooth on the outside.
- First Rise: Place the dough back in the container and cover securely. Let it rise at room temperature for 6-8 hours, or until it doubles in size.
- Stretch and Fold (Optional but recommended): Stretch and fold your dough 3 times during the first rise, every 1-1.5 hours. To do this, lift one side of the dough, stretch it up, and fold it under. Rotate the bowl and repeat on all four sides.
- Overnight Rise: Place the dough, covered, in the fridge for an overnight proof. This will develop flavor and allow L.A.B bacteria to enhance the nutrition of the dough. The longer it ferments, the better!
- Divide and Shape the Bagels: The next day, dump out the dough and divide it into 8 pieces. You can eyeball it or weigh out 100g-120g pieces. Shape each piece into a ball by pulling the corners up and over. Then, 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 Rise: Place the shaped bagels on a greased baking tray and let them rise at room temperature for 1-3 hours until puffy.
- Preheat Oven and Boil Bagels: Preheat the oven to 425°F. Fill a large, wide pot with water and bring it to a boil. Drop the bagels in, 1-2 at a time, making sure they have enough room to float. Cook each bagel for 1 minute on each side, then remove with a slotted spoon and drain well.
- Add Cinnamon Crunch Topping: If adding toppings, place the bagels on an unlined tray or plate and brush with egg wash. Sprinkle the cinnamon crunch topping (brown sugar, cane sugar, cinnamon, and melted butter) generously over each bagel.
- Bake the Bagels: Transfer the topped bagels to a clean, parchment-lined baking sheet and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden brown on the outside.
- Cool and Serve: Let the bagels fully cool. Slice them open and spread a layer of cream cheese on both halves. Enjoy!
I would definitely recommend this recipe! Thanks, Jesha!
Need the recipe for the cream cheese !! Looks so good !
Hi. Do you have a recipe for the cinnamon chips? Also, I don’t see the recipe for the cream cheese you made in the video.
Hi Yolanda! Sorry, it is fixed now 🙂
I don’t see the recipe, its only showing cream cheese recipe. I would love to have the cinnamon crunch sourdough recipe.
I am sorry this happened! It’s updated now 🙂
Thank you so much!!
Hi,
Does the bagel dough go through the 6 hour First Rise, plus an overnight rise?
Thanks!
Yes, first a room temp rise for 6-8 hours and then an overnight fermentation in the fridge.
OMG! I had my doubts but wow these are amazing…they taste just like Panera! I used Hershey cin chips and 00 flour (use it for all my sourdough recipes). Also cold fermented 2 days due to time constraints.
Question for you- you suggest stretch and fold with this recipe but not with your Asiago cheese or cinnamon crunch bagels. Is there a reason for that? BTW- you are currently my go-to source for favorite bagel recipes. I haven’t yet tried this one, yet, but plan to make it today.
Correction m: I had my recipes mixed up- I missed the stretch and fold when I made this recipe before. I’m making your blueberry bagels today and noticed that step in the cinnamon crunch but not the other two. I know it’s optional but did you intentionally omit that step with blueberry and asiago cheese?
I follow you recipe by the book. My sourdough is super active, too! Why it doesn’t rise as super and big as yours, specially cookie dough?
I’ve been making all your bagel recipes and they’re so good! Recently my bagels have not been coming out full like yours look they look like bagels but not puffy. Am I doing something wrong?
Hi Brittany, I’m so happy you’ve been enjoying the bagel recipes! Are you giving the bagels enough time to proof for the final rise? This step is essential to ensure they bake up full and puffy. They typically need 2-3 hours at room temp or at least 60 minutes at 90F if you’re using the proof setting in an oven. The bagels should be risen and puffy to the touch before boiling and baking.
These came out so good!! For some reason when I store them the top is no longer crunchy and becomes liquified. Any suggestions to prevent this from happening and keep the nice cinnamon crunch they have when they first come out??
My family loved this!
I would definitely recommend this recipe!
Hi! Do I need to add baking soda or honey to the water bath when boiling the bagels?
Hi Micah! Traditionally bagels are made with baking soda, malt, or honey added to the water but it is not necessary. I typically don’t and don’t notice any difference in the finished bagels. But you can add about 1/4 cup of honey/barley malt syrup, and 1 teaspoon of baking soda to the water. This may give the bagels an extra shine and browned exterior!
Hi! I’ve noticed in other recipes you shape your bagels before the long fridge ferment. I have found this makes my morning bake quicker/easier. Does it matter whether I shape before the fridge step in this recipe?
Hi Grace, it’s totally up to you! I usually prefer to shape them in the morning because I find it’s easier to fit everything in the fridge the night before if it’s still a single dough, and the bagels are much easier to shape when it’s cold. However, traditional bagel shops typically shape before a long cold proof because it helps develop a skin on the bagel (a good thing!) and they have tons of space for cold proofing. If you find it easier then that’s fantastic option for all of my bagel recipes!