sourdoughy

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Bagel size?

Flour type?

How much starter do you have?

Boiling liquid?

Room temperature?

Affects how long fermentation takes.

Your recipe

Sourdough bagels

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    Baker's percentages—adjust to taste. Values update live.

    Hydration
    Salt
    Malt or sugar
    Quick salt

    Boiling-water bath

    Add 1 tbsp barley malt syrup (or honey) and 1 tsp baking soda per 2 L water. Boil each bagel 30–45 s per side for a glossy, chewy crust.

    Barley malt syrup is traditional; honey, molasses or brown sugar substitute well.

    56% hydration is intentionally low to create the dense, chewy crumb that defines a bagel. Malt syrup adds a slight sweetness and helps the glossy crust. Salt at 1.8% works because bagels are boiled in seasoned water.
    Boiling gelatinises the starch on the outside before baking, which creates the chewy crust and shine. What you add to the water (baking soda, malt, etc.) changes the final result.

    Bulk fermentation timer

    The dough should feel noticeably lighter and have grown by around 50% before shaping.

    What you'll need

    Kitchen scale for precise weights Wide pot for boiling Slotted spatula

    Also try our other calculators: Bread Calculator, Pizza, Focaccia

    Other dough calculators

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    How baker’s percentage works

    Every weight in your recipe is expressed as a percentage of the total flour. Flour is always 100%.

    Hydration is the water-to-flour ratio. 72% hydration means 720 g water for every 1,000 g flour. Higher hydration produces an open, holey crumb; lower hydration is easier to shape.

    Salt and levain are also percentages of flour. 2.1% salt and 20% levain are common starting points for sourdough. The numbers stay constant whether you bake one loaf or ten — just scale the total.