Everything Bagel Sourdough Recipe
Everything bagel seasoning is a simple way to add flavor to your sourdough bread. This bread is served perfectly as avocado toast or as a breakfast sandwich.
This bread uses the basic artisan sourdough recipe and adds everything bagel seasoning.
Ingredients
Flour - All purpose flour is the most standard type of flour and should be able to be purchased in any grocery store. Be sure that this flour is unbleached! This will make a big difference in the rise you see in your bread. I highly recommend King Arthur Flour. It is what I use and I have found it very nutritious for my starter.
Water - I use tap water. However, if you are concerned about your tap water being hard or having chemicals in it, use bottled water.
Salt - I have used sea salt, table salt, and kosher salt interchangeably with this recipe and have found no differences with the bread.
Sourdough Starter - An active starter that has lots of bubbles and close to double in size. If you do not have a starter click here for information to learn about to make one.
Everything Bagel Seasoning - I use Trader Joes brand seasoning, but they should have it at most grocery stores. You can also make your own at the link here.
Tools
Large Bowl
Digital scale - I highly recommend getting a digital scale. It makes baking much easier!! Definitely worth the investment. Click here for a link to the one I have.
Dutch Oven - I am a strong advocator for using a dutch oven, however if you don’t have one you can open bake. Click here for a link to explain how to open bake sourdough bread. You must add moisture to the air in the oven to keep the bread from drying out. I find it much easier to just use a dutch oven.
Banneton - I used a towel lined bowl, others swear by a Banneton, but I have yet to invest in one. With a towel lined bowl, be sure to use a towel with low or no pile. I use a linen hand towel that is well floured.
Parchment paper/foil - I use aluminum foil instead of parchment paper. I get nervous that the parchment paper will burn (most say not to cook them over 450 degrees). I have found aluminum foil to work great and I can allow it to mold to the dutch oven and pull the foil up to get my bread out without burning my hands.
Lame - A bread lame is great. It definitely works better to score than a kitchen knife. I use an X-Acto blade instead. It works that same as a bread lame and I already had one.
Steps for making Basic Artisan Sourdough Bread
Preparation
I complete this step at 6 am or 12:30 pm depending on my schedule that day.
Feed starter (1:1:1) 4-6 hours or (1:2:2) 8-10 hours before combining ingredients.
Making Dough
I make the dough around 6 pm.
Combine 100g (1/2 cup) of active starter and 325g (1 1/3 cup) of warm water in a large bowl until starter dissolves in water.
Add 475g (3 1/2 cups) of unbleached all-purpose flour, 7g (2 tsp) of salt, and 3tbsp of Everything Bagel Seasoning to the bowl. Mix until combine and dough begins to form. Do not worry about kneading the dough!
Cover with a lid or plastic wrap and let rest for 30 min.
Stretch and Folds (optional)
I start this process around 6:45 pm and complete my last fold around 8:15 pm. I have made bread and never done any stretch and folds and the bread tastes great. If you want to ensure that the bread will have a better structure and more even air pockets, I would recommend completing at least 2, ideally 4 stretch and folds every 30 min.
Grab the edge of the dough and pull upward. Then flip it across the dough. Turn bowl 90 degrees and complete until you do a full circle (4 stretch and folds).
Cover and let sit for 30 min. This equals 1 round of stretch and folds.
After last round of stretch and fold, let the dough bulk rise. This means you leave the dough covered and in a mild temperature room until it has doubled in size. Typically takes 4-6 hours from the time you combined the ingredients.
note: If I’m in a time crunch, I’ll place the bowl in a warmer location than my kitchen counter (near a window in the summer, in the oven with the light on, etc.) but be careful not to let the dough over ferment! The warmer the location, the faster the fermentation will occur. I may shape the dough as early as 9 pm.
Shaping
I typically do not like to stay up super late, so I try to shape my bread between 10:30 pm - 11 pm. If it has not risen well, I will wait longer but never past midnight. I’d rather cut my fermentation short and go ahead and shape my bread.
Place dough on a clean, slightly damp surface (weird, but just try it!).
Form dough into a ball and use the hook method to shape it. This creates tension in the dough, the more tension, the better shape the bread will have.
Hook method: Push the dough away from you using your right hand on the side of the ball, then hook your hand around the dough and pull it towards you. Do this 3-6 times until a fair amount of surface tension has been formed and the dough is round.
Lightly flour the banneton or tea towel lined bowl.
Add around 1 Tbsp of seasoning spread evenly to the bottom of the bowl.
Transfer dough with seam side up.
Cover and place in the refrigerator for at least 15 hours. I can’t bake until after work, so I wait 17-18 hours.
Baking
I start baking the following day around 6pm.
Preheat oven with dutch oven in it for 1 hour at 500 degrees.
Right before baking, remove dough from the fridge and place on aluminum foil/parchment paper.
Score dough with lame/blade about 1/2” deep. Most people do one long score (an expansion score) followed by a design cut.
Remove dutch oven from the oven and place dough and foil/paper inside.
With the lid on bake for 20 min.
Remove lid, and bake for another 20-25min, or until golden brown.
Don’t be afraid to adjust this time table. Everyone’s start behaves differently and there are so many factors that can affect the outcome of your bread. If you are having problems, please visit my post about sourdough FAQs. It compiles information from many sourdough bloggers who are much more experienced that I am, but brings all the resources to one place.
How to Serve
Do not cut into the bread until it is room temperature. I know it is hard, but this will take around 1 hour. If you cut into it early it may effect the texture of the bread.
This bread is wonderful served as avocado toast, as a breakfast sandwich, made into croutons, or simply with butter.
Hopefully you can make a loaf you are satisfied with, even if it does look “perfect”! The ugly ones still taste good, or at least make good croutons :)