Sourdough Spelt Einkorn Bagels

These sourdough bagels are pure awesomeness, soft and chewy inside, with a smooth shiny top, and the best part – they are easy to digest and high in important nutrients, compliment of long fermentation. I add a touch of oat flour because I think it adds extra softness to the bagels, and provides more goodness than wheat alone. I boil them in water mixed with brown sugar or barley malt extract, and find that it’s a lot easier to do than making pretzels using baking soda. The bagels come to float flat on top of the water and are very easy to handle. This recipe would fall into category of New York style bagels that are fermented overnight and require high protein flour. That’s why using einkorn and spelt works so well – both those grains are very high in protein. Real bagel purists use barley malt extract that you can find at beer brewing supplies stores, or on Amazon. Measuring with a kitchen scale is very important since flour can take on different volumes depending on the conditions around it – humidity, length of storage, aeration, etc.

HOW TO MAKE SOURDOUGH SPELT EINKORN BAGELS

Ingredients
To make leaven:
2 tablespoons active starter
200 g warm water
100 g all-purpose spelt flour (I use VitaSpelt, I get 5lb bag for $13.99 at Whole Foods)
100 g all-purpose einkorn (I use Jovial, here is the best deal)

To make dough:
420 g leaven, just what you made earlier
150 g warm water
30 g brown sugar, plus 3 more tablespoons for boiling (or barley malt extract)
300 g all-purpose spelt flour
50 g oat flour
200 g einkorn flour
40 g olive oil
15 g salt

Instructions
To make leaven (8-12 hours)
Whisk starter in warm water to dissolve.
Add sifted spelt and einkorn flours, mix.
Allow to rest at room temperature until very bubbly. Depending on your house, it can take from 8 to 12 hours.

To make dough (15 minutes)
Whisk leaven with warm water and brown sugar or malt extract until dissolved.
Add sifted flours, olive oil and salt. Mix with a spoon, then knead by hand. Or use a KitchenAid with dough hook (I didn’t). Knead until you have a firm ball of dough.

To ferment (18-20 hours)
Leave to rest at room temperature for one hour (to hydrate the flours).
Perform three series of gentle kneading, stretching and folding. 1-2 minutes of kneading every 10 minutes.
Cover tightly, and leave again at room temperature for 3-4 hours.
Transfer to refrigerator for 8-10 hours or overnight.
Remove from refrigerator, allow to come to room temperature, about 1 hour.
Divide dough into 10-12 pieces. The pieces will seem smaller than regular bagels should be. It’s okay, they will rise quite a bit more.
Knead them into rolls. Poke a hole in the middle with your finger and stretch a bit.
Place bagels on flat surface, cover with plastic, and allow to rise at room temperature for 3 hours. You will see a good rise at the end of that time.

To cook (40 minutes)
To get crispier crust, place a pan of very hot water on the bottom rack of your oven and preheat it to 400ºF (200ºC). Skip the water if you are looking for softer bagels.
Bring a large pot of water to boil. Add a handful of brown sugar or malt extract, 2-3 tablespoons.
Place bagels, one at a time, into the boiling water, top side down. The bagels might fall to the bottom for a few seconds but will quickly come to float (my pot fits three next to each other). If they don’t float, they didn’t get enough rise; no worries though – they will still be delicious!
Boil each batch for 1 minute, then flip onto the other side with a spatula and boil 1 more minute.
Remove each bagel with a slotted spatula, you should have the top side facing up.
Place boiled bagels on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper, sprinkle with your favorite toppings. Press the toppings in. Alternately, and perhaps more by the rules, you should have a small dish of your toppings and dip each bagel in them. This method seems like it’d produce a lot of waste though.
Cook for 20-30 minutes, or until they turn golden color you like.
Cool on a wire rack before serving.

SOURDOUGH SPELT EINKORN BAGELS