Sourdough Bagels & Cream Cheese

In this immersive, hands-on class, we’ll take one of the most familiar food pairings—bagels and cream cheese—and apply traditional methods to transform it into its safest, most nourishing, and most delicious form.

Bagels and cream cheese are often written off as “unhealthy,” but the problem isn’t the foods themselves—it’s how they’re made. In this class, we’ll return to time-tested techniques that honor fermentation, quality ingredients, and proper processing to create versions that truly support human health.

We will begin by making sourdough bagels completely from scratch, covering every step of the process:

• Refreshing and understanding sourdough mother

• Mixing and developing bagel dough

• Proper fermentation to transform modern flour into a more nourishing, digestible food

• Pre-shaping and shaping traditional bagels

• Using a lye bath for authentic texture and flavor

• Cooking and finishing bagels with the chew, crust, and depth that define a true bagel

From there, we’ll make cream cheese entirely from scratch using local milk and traditional methods. This portion of the class will include:

• Choosing the right milk for culturing

• Adding bacteria and rennet

• Fermenting and gently setting the curd

• Straining to achieve the proper texture

• Salting and finishing for flavor and balance

By the end of the class, you’ll leave with the recipes, techniques, and confidence to make sourdough bagels and cream cheese at home—fully understanding not just how to do it, but why these traditional methods matter.

This class is about slowing down, reconnecting with process, and reclaiming a beloved food combination by making it the way it was meant to be made: with time, intention, and respect for the ingredients.

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