Stuff On Bagels

Five ingredients, 21 posts and too many bagels to count.  It's been an obsessive quest to find an "old-school" bagel.  

I'm happy to report that the bagel lives. It was once a regional food, in the US limited to the NYC area.  Now they're everywhere, from sea to shining sea - and beyond!  

Paris:

Montreal:

London:

Japan:

It's a good thing, even if I still believe that modern NYC bagels have become toothless imitations of their smaller, crisper, heartier ancestors.  (If you want something close to the NYC original, try mini bagels, flagels and Montreal-style bagels - all are smaller, denser and heartier to chew.)

I'm still hunting that perfect bagel - I'm just done writing about them.  After all, it's only 5 ingredients; the rest is up to the skill, patience & preferences of the baker.  We like what we like, and I'm not one to bash anyone's favorite bagel (okay, except the supermarket bagel mutations).  Rest assured, the reporting may stop, but the quest will never end.  

Signing off,

I'm a purist: I don't think calling a thick hunk of bread a "bagel" makes it one.  

These don't resemble bagels at all.  Yes, they appear to be thick bread (but so is a hot dog bun or a soft pretzel); they have a shiny crust (or is that airbrushing); and they claim to involve cream cheese (though the results of my own experiments freezing cream cheese looked decidedly less attractive).

Nor are products called "bagel holes" any part of an actual bagel.  I remember my departed grandmother had a donut cutter: it was similar to a biscuit cutter but had a hole for cutting out dough from the middle of the doughnut.  But one doesn't cut the center out of a bagel to form a hole: the hole is formed by rolling the dough around your hand, or by poking your finger through a dough round and stretching the hole.  So can "bagel holes" even exist?  Defenders will claim that "bagel holes" are the same dough used to make bagels, just in another shape.  But is it a bagel "hole"?  Or is it a round lump of bagel dough?

As for the picture below, at least they look like bagels.  But they don't feel like bagels - just squeeze any prepacked plastic bag o' bagels in the supermarket.  Personally, If I wanted soft & spongy, I'd have a roll.  

So if you claim to love such "bagel" products, get yourself some real bagels.  There's likely one or more bagel shops in your town; if not, you can order online from some of NYC's favorites.  Either way, freezing a REAL bagel & defrosting or toasting it on demand will be alot better than weak imitations.  Hint - slice them before freezing.  

Just in case you don't have access to a bagel shop, here are a few of NYC's favorites, who also happen to ship nationwide:

http://www.russanddaughters.com/

http://www.barneygreengrass.com/

http://www.zabars.com/

Dear Hubby was a devotee of the NYC bagel institution H&H  on the Upper West Side ("UWS H&H").  I was not a great fan, finding UWS H&H bagels too sweet for my taste.  But tiring of Dear Hubby's wailing remorse about the loss of UWS H&H - which was years ago mind you - I visited H&H Bagels East (H&H East) on 2nd Ave. between 80 & 81 streets.  (Ironically, UWS H&H and H&H East were in no way connected; in fact the two independent operations carried on a name/brand dispute for several years before UWS H&H closed.)

In search of a bagel that would fill the void left by H&H UWS, I hoofed it 4 avenues and 10 streets outta my way - hoping that sweet bagel lightning might, please, strike twice.  

  The smell of fresh bagels hit me at the door;  I salivated shamelessly like one of Pavlov's conditioned dogs.  Like most current bagel shops, they offered deli, non-bagel baked goods like danish and muffins, and seating: but such is the standard for modern bagel retailing.

To my relief, the bagels weren't nearly as sweet as UWS H&H - but were sweeter than those of many I've encountered on my bagel quest.  H&H East's bagels were also softer than bagels used to be - but so be it, since this is 2014, not 1964.  

Hoping to duplicate the crustier, chewier product of my aging memories, I tried a flat bagel (also known as a "flagel"): a flattened bagel that has less interior but more surface area, which allows more browning, and (to my preference) a more satisfying chew.    

Over a dinner of bagels & lox, the entire family was satisfied.  Dear Hubby got a sweeter bagel than he's had recently.  From my Everything flat bagel, I got more jaw-pleasing chewiness than puffy bagels offer.  And Dear Teen, wolfed it down too fast to taste.  They were good untoasted: the trademark of a good, fresh bagel.

Would I schlep from the outer boroughs to the Upper East Side for H&H East again?  Not likely.  But the neighborhood is quite fortunate to have its own fresh & reliable bagel shop (which my own neighborhood doesn't).  

I made a 45-minute detour to what may be the only bialy baker left in Manhattan: Kossar's Bialys on the Lower East Side - where they're also famous for their bagels!.  

Boy was it worth it.  This bagel was faithful to my recollections of crisp, yeasty, chewiness.  The air holes within the dough were microscopic.  My jaw worked pleasantly hard into the mildly tangy dough.    

And once I got the rest home, they disappeared.  The fam - who are as a lot rather opinionated .... devoured them under piles of lox & cc (far more than a restaurant would allow).  We analyzed Kossar's textural and flavor notes compared to all those who came before.  Finally, we agreed .... no small feat for a family with a teenager.  

Kossar's was our favorite bagel of the many we'd tried since moving back home to NYC.  .Just remember: Kossar's doesn't serve -sandwiches, eggs, coffee, etc. It's not an eat-in; its an old school baker, traditionalist to some and artisinal to others.  Either way the bread is the sole focus.  

The universe has shifted.  

There were these places, once, where bagels were baked and sold and nothing more. There was no cream cheese, no eggs, no tofu, no sandwiches . . . .  Maybe they did coffee in a greek-looking paper cup, if yr lucky.   

In contrast, today's typical bagel-shop works by a  different economic model.  So much commerce is driven by what you can put on the bagel, rather than the bagel itself.  And for those of you, who like me, have been eating in NY for awhile now - the "bagel-only" shop has become an anomoly.  It feels retro, since now few of them remain. 

Well, today I went to a CLASSIC: Kossar's Bialys - which is also well known for its bagels.  

When I crossed the threshold I fell into another time.  The ancient wood, burnished by years of bakery smells, made the place dark despite its giant windows.  A few wire racks and shelves.  Bagels, bialys, bags. And lots of wood cooling racks at the ready (but not in the pic).      

Something about the place touched me, even before trying a bagel (that's dinner tonight with the fam - review to follow).  Personally, I think a shop that can make a living out of "just bagels/bialys" is pretty ballsy and  deserves some respect (unless their bagel sucks).  But also, its in an area full of history and NYC/Jewish history specifically.  Which area is changing fast, and will lose alot of what I loved about it.    

So I've had my first Montreal bagel.  As a native NYer, I didn't want to like it. - but I did.  Just not more than a classic NY bagel.

Size Matters - Now, I love me some fresh chewy bread.  But my tusch (Yiddish for butt) surely doesn't need a mountain of bagel for breakfast. I appreciate the smaller Montreal version because it's heft satisfies - while letting me feel okay about my carb-driven breakfast mania.

Notice how NY's standard is much doughier than Montreals - especially around the hole.     

What's in a Bagel - The MTL recipes I've found differ slightly from NY's - other than the fabled NYC water ....  

The MTL is sweeter - not strongly sweet like the old H&H by Zabar's - but just a little sweetness mixed into the dough, and/or touch of honey mixed into the water bath.  Such sweetness may also be enhanced by the use of egg in the dough - which in NYC we call "Egg" bagels.  (I've since heard the Toronto bagels are not sweet - can anyone confirm?)  

To Tell the Tooth - Based on my not-very-scientific sampling of two (2!!!) bagels, I found MTL's to be less chewy, but not for the reasons you'd expect.  Our northern neighbor's bagel had as tight a crumb as any NY bagel, past or present - meaning that when torn, almost no crumbs fell to the plate.  

You'd think with a mere 5 ingredients (plus toppings and to my distress, add-ins) bagels would be easy to make.  We already know that a real bagel is "water boiled", without which you may as well call your bagel a dense dinner roll.  But way before you get to the boiling step, there are two other simple-but-additional requirements: proofing and retarding.  Yeah, really.  

"Proofing" proves that the bagel has risen enough to move to the next stage of "retarding".   In short, you let your formed bagels rest (while the yeast works inside) - start with you're recipe's time suggestion and adjust to taste with subsequent batches.  To proof the bagels, take just one, and place it in a bowl of water.  If it floats you have your proof: the yeast has created air pockets inside the bagel that will give softer chewiness on the inside, even after they're boiled and baked.  (If it sinks let all the bagels rest more, then try proofing again.)

"Retarding" prevents the bagel from attaining a uniformly chewy texture throughout the bagel.  Once your first bagel is proofed, put all your raw, formed bagels in the refrigerator overnight. This "retards" the dough, preventing the outside of the bagels from rising as much as the inside.  This creates the denser exterior that stands in perfect contrast with the softer interior of a classic bagel.  Only after the appropriate retarding time - usually overnight in the fridge - can you water-boil your bagels.  

BagelQueen is back after a months absence!  I'd like to report of travels and research in the far-flung & exotic birthplaces of our bagel ancestors, like Eastern Europe and Turkey.  But I'm not that lucky: instead I experienced a medical crisis that is resolving.  

When pain, energy and attitude allowed, I contemplated my inner bagel:   What was I made of?  How thick was my skin?  How dense was my fortitude?  Was my Inner Bagel chewy and resilient, or soft and crumbly?

Today, finally, I celebrate the return of my bagel cravings - but not without concern, as alot of favorite foods taste different to me right now.  But DearHubby will bring a few from an old standby to be named later, and we'll see.   

Contemplating my inner bagel, I realized how lucky BagelQueen is.  I get to spend the rest of my life - including years I didn't know were numbered - obsessing about bagels.  

How great is that?  Fuhgeddaboudit!

Bagelry Basics

The Recipe.  Bagel recipes typically list 5 ingredients: flour, yeast, salt, water and either some form of sugar, or, barley malt - whether in dry powder or syrup form.  (Other additions like seeds, raisins, whatever - are options that are added to the dough or placed on top before baking.)

Considering how few ingredients a bagel has, NYC bagels vary considerably in both interior flavor and color.  When I was a kid bagels were slightly grey, like the "cement donuts" they were nicknamed.  Today's bagels, besides being fluffier, are much whiter inside and more blandly flavored (or flavor-neutral in polite company).  

So what's the magic variation?  Older recipes for "NY" bagels require barley malt syrup or malt powder.  Today, many recipes substitute sugar or sugar-based syrup for the malt syrup or powder.  Since these ingredients are both part of the dough, and toughen the bagel's exterior - how could they not affect the bagel's flavor and color?  

What's in a hole?

Meet your neighborhood bagel seller.  Around the turn of the 20th Century he and/or his family walked through the Lower East Side (of NYC) selling the batch they'd made in their tenement "kitchen".  What wasn't sold was dinner, or breakfast.  Nothing was wasted. 

Since the 1970s, US bagels have become larger and puffier than they were and the hole shrunk to a dimple, a frown or a smile - depending on how you look at it.  Several market factors drove this change, but that's a topic for a different post. 

Me, I miss my bagel hole.  I want it like the old days: wide enough to pass a ruler through and as rigid as the exterior.  A generous hole that allowed more even cooking and promoted a dense, jaw-working chewiness.

Old-school bagels didn't accommodate sandwiches well - the bagel's rigidity made the filling shoot out the far side.  But boy did they satisfy, whether naked, or with a plain schmear or just butter.  

Though the bagel is the star - a great accompaniment brings out the best in a bagel.  We must honor the "stuff" we pair with our bagels, like a sommelier pairs fine wines with gourmet cuisine. 

For me, it's a matter of mood.  As a NYer, I do love my lox and nova with a schmear.  But I also like to branch out; woman doesn't live by appetizing alone.  And I hate losing my extra bagels to staleness.  

So - there've been egg sandwiches, deli sandwiches, homemade pizza bagels.  Appetizing favorites like whitefish and chopped liver (the last two, very NY) and fresh cream cheese mixtures that I make at home.   I'm currently working up to trying pb & banana - which I've only seen online.  

So who says bagels aren't exciting?  Fuhggedaboudit!  

NYers - if we're not eating bagels, we're thinking, talking and writing about them.  OCD much?  Fuhgeddaboudit!! 

Bagelry basics.  

Plank baking: after boiling and topping additions (if any) the traditional bake is on a long wood plank.  

But people also use sheet pans (sans plank) whether dusted with flour or cornmeal - or - on parchment paper.  

I myself am fine with either method.  For me, its all about your oven and the tools you have handy - whether pan, pizza board/stone, or plank.

Here's an accurate and fun recap of the origin of bagels.  The Fabulous Foodie blog was appropriately inspired by a past National Bagel & Lox Day.  

Basic Bagelry

Water-boiling - this is the difference between bagels and other breads.  Bagels are boiled in a water solution before being baked.  

By definition, all New York bagels are "water bagels".  And most NYer's agree that bagels made outside of NY can't be as good - because the water is different.