Sourdough Sun Dried Tomato Bagels with Italian Herbs

If you love bagels & pizza, you will love these sourdough sun dried tomato bagels. These “pizza bagels” are a perfect savory breakfast. This recipe requires a few simple ingredients and an active sourdough starter.

Ingredients for Sourdough Sun Dried Tomato Bagels

All of our bagel recipes start the same. You need the following to make bagel dough. Bread flour works best for sourdough bagels since bread flour has a higher gluten content. You can use all-purpose flour, but bread flour provides that characteristic chewy bagel texture.

• Bread flour (all-purpose works too, but if you want a true bagel texture, you must use bread flour)
• Water
• Salt
• Sourdough Starter
• Maple syrup

For the boiling water bath, you will also need baking soda and maple syrup (or sugar). Before baking the bagels, they must be boiled in this water mixture to get the right chewy bagels with a beautiful, smooth outside crust.

Sourdough Sun Dried Tomato Bagels

Formally, I call these beautiful bagels sun-dried tomato bagels with herbs. They taste like pizza, especially when I top them with artichokes for breakfast (you should try this, it’s delicious).

So I also call these pizza bagels. Call these bagels whatever you’d like, maybe even throw some cheese on them for extra pizza-y flavor.

Learn How to Make Sourdough Sun dried Tomato Bagels

Okay, we talked about the basic necessary ingredients for bagels. So how do we pack delicious flavor into these bagels? During the stretch and fold steps, simply add the following ingredients and fold into the dough:

• Minced onion
• Minced garlic
• thyme
• basil
• sun-dried tomatoes
• cheese or vegan cheese

How to Shape a Sun Dried Tomato Bagel (with pictures)

The hardest part of making bagels is the shaping step. Follow these step-by-step pictures to help with the bagel shaping directions. I think bagels are easier to make than sourdough boules.

Once you get the shaping down, you can easily make homemade sourdough bagels all the time! You can also try different ingredients and toppings.

First, you need to evenly divide the dough into 10-12 pieces and shape each piece of dough into a ball.

Simple fold in the corners of each piece of dough and form a ball.

Next, flour your hands and pick up a dough ball. Place it in your right hand. Using your thumb on the top of the dough ball and middle finger on the bottom, squeeze a hole through the center of the dough ball.

Bring your index finger and ring finger through the hole in the dough to touch your thumb. Use your other hand to guide the donut-shaped dough through your right-hand palm and fingers that are held in a circular shape. This is how you create a nice bagel shape. 

Other Bagel Recipes to Try

• The Best Blueberry Sourdough Bagels
• How to Bake Vegan Parmesan Sourdough Bagels
• Sourdough Bagels New York Style

Sourdough Sun-Dried Tomato Bagels with Italian Herbs

Print Recipe

Save Recipe Recipe Saved

5 Stars 4 Stars 3 Stars 2 Stars 1 Star

5 from 1 review

If you love bagels & pizza, you will love these sourdough sun dried tomato bagels. These “pizza bagels” are a perfect savory breakfast. This recipe requires a few simple ingredients and an active sourdough starter.

• Author: Kaitlynn Fenley
• Prep Time: 6 hours
• Cook Time: 25 minutes
• Total Time: 6 hours 25 minutes
• Yield: 8 bagels
• Category: sourdough
• Method: baking
• Cuisine: american
• Diet: Vegan

Ingredients

Dough

• 6 Cups Bread Flour
• 1 Cup Sourdough Starter
• 1 1/4 Cups Water, Cold
• 2 Teaspoons Salt
• 2 Tablespoons Maple Syrup
• 1/4 Cup Water, Set Aside

Filling Ingredients

• 1/2 cup sun-dried tomatoes
• 1 tablespoon minced garlic
• 1 tablespoon minced onion
• 2 teaspoons dried basil
• 2 teaspoons dried thyme
• 1/2 cup cheese (vegan or regular)

For the Boiling Water Bath

• 1 Tablespoon Baking soda
• 1 Tablespoon Maple Syrup

Cook Mode Prevent your screen from going dark

Instructions

1. In a large bowl, combine the starter, flour, salt, maple syrup, and cold water. 
2. Knead the dough ingredients together until a uniform dough ball forms. Use the extra 1/4 cup of water if necessary. 
3. Cover the bowl with a towel and rest the dough for 30 minutes.
4. Fold in all of the filling ingredients, and knead until fully incorporated. Let the dough rest for 1-2 hours, until it relaxes and puffs up a bit.  
5. Using a spray bottle filled with water, mist your clean countertop. Wet your hands and wet the top of the dough ball with the spray bottle. Turn the dough out onto the wet counter surface. Scrape out the bowl and rinse the inside of the bowl really well. Leave the bowl wet. 
6. Stretch and fold the dough. Stretch the top of the dough over the bottom, side over side, and bottom over top. Place the dough back in the bowl with the seam side down. Let the dough rest for 1 to 2 hours.
7. Do another wet stretch and fold at this point and let the dough rest for another 1 to 2 hours. 
8. Next, lightly sprinkle some flour on the surface of your counter. Remove the dough from the bowl and place it on the floured surface.  
9. Stretch the dough into a rectangle that’s a little bigger than a sheet of paper. Be gentle with the dough!! You don’t want to flatten it. Just lightly pull the sides until it’s a rectangle about the size of a sheet of paper. 
10. Using a knife or a pizza cutter, cut the dough into 8 even squares. 
11. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and sprinkle flour on top of the parchment paper. 
12. Grab a single square, and fold in the corners of the dough over each other, forming a small round dough ball. Place the dough ball on the floured parchment paper. Repeat for the other squares. 
13. Lightly sprinkle the top of the dough balls with flour. Cover the dough balls with a towel and let them rise for 1 to 2 hours.
14. Flour your hands and pick up a dough ball. Place it in your right hand. Using your thumb on the top of the dough ball and middle finger on the bottom, squeeze a hole through the center of the dough ball. Bring your index finger and ring finger through the hole in the dough to touch your thumb. 
15. Use your other hand to guide the donut-shaped dough through your right-hand palm and fingers that are held in a circular shape. This is how you create a nice bagel shape. 
16. Place the shaped bagels back on the floured parchment paper. (lightly sprinkle more flour if you need to)
17. Let the shaped bagels proof at room temperature for 2 hours.
18. Place the bagel dough in the refrigerator for a final proof of 12 hours. 
19. After 12 hours, preheat your oven to 450° F. 
20. Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Add in the baking soda and the maple syrup. 
21. Using a slotted spoon, place each bagel in the boiling water for about a minute, flipping after 30 seconds. (the longer you boil, the harder and chewier the bagel will be)
22. Remove the bagel from the water, place it back on the parchment paper, and sprinkle on the vegan parm topping. 
23. Repeat for the remaining bagels. Once they all have toppings, place the bagels in the oven. 
24. Bake for approximately 20 minutes until golden brown. Rotate the bagels at 10 minutes for even baking. 
25. Remove and allow to cool for 30 minutes. 

Notes

*While kneading, you can add 1/4 to 1/2  cup more water to the dough to help it come together. 

*Rest and rise times for the dough can vary depending on the temperature in your home. The warmer the temperature, the faster the rise. 

*Bake time may vary. I usually end up baking for 35 minutes total. You can check the bagels every 5 minutes to ensure you do not overcook them. 

Kaitlynn Fenley Author, Educator, Food Microbiologist

Kaitlynn is a food microbiologist and fermentation expert teaching people how to ferment foods and drinks at home.

See Full Bio

fermentation food microbiology sourdough sauerkraut fermenting at home fermented foods fermented drinks