Cold proof shaped bagels or cold bulk ferment batch Dough

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Hello when making sourdough bagels which method do you prefer yields the best tall puffy sourdough bagels?

A longer bulk fermentation of un-shaped dough or short 3 hour bulk then shape and proof shaped bagels in fridge?

Truth be told I never fiddled with the formula. (Commercial yeast) I am also in the camp of, if it works don't fix it. I knew this in my working life. However, it took too long to transfer that pearl to baking. I spent too much time trying to build a better wheel. 

Smile...

i make sourdough bagels and also cold proof the shaped bagels, not the dough. the yeasted recipe i was working off of did the same, so that’s what i do. i give the dough ~1h of room temp rest/proof after mixing/kneading before shaping. that’s for 20% pre-fermented flour. less starter would need a longer room temp bulk, i assume.

that said, people’s bagel preferences seem to vary widely. i wouldn’t say i’m aiming for a puffy bagel. i’m aiming for bagels like i used to get in nyc, or skokie, IL, before i moved to a place that mostly has bagel-shaped rolls, lol. i like a bagel with some chew. 

just my $0.02!

-c