I didn't know this:

http://www.thekitchn.com/food-...-bagels-are-bo-86711

http://www.seriouseats.com/201...inion-untoasted.html

These days mostly bagels are steamed, then baked.

I was, at one point, a certified baker (by Panera.)

Never knew baked goods can be boiled prior to baking.

quote:

Originally posted by Pipe Smoker:
I didn't know this:

http://www.thekitchn.com/food-...-bagels-are-bo-86711

http://www.seriouseats.com/201...inion-untoasted.html

The lye is important, too.

Every good bagel can trace its ancestry, as it were, back, somewhere, to a Yiddish speaker. (Where I grew up that meant old Polish Jews.) You grow up in a neighborhood with old Yids, (you know what an alter kaker is) you know what true bagels are.

The legacy of how to make them can be handed down and taught, but it always traces back to quaint Central European folkways.

That second article has got it mostly right. But a few clarifications and corrections:

A good bagel has a life of a few hours at most (like 2, not 6) from the oven before it's no longer fresh. A good bagel bakery will *throw away* bagels that get that old. Or quietly sell them to a nearby hotel or something. So if the bagel is more than 2 hours old, toasting becomes acceptable.

Pumpernickel bagels, and the inclusion of caraway seeds, are questionable, like fusion cuisine. So don't do it.

He only ok'ed cinnamon raisin bagels because he wishes to continue engaging in marital congress. They're not OK.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
These days mostly bagels are steamed, then baked.

I was, at one point, a certified baker (by Panera.)

True indeed. As if says in the second article I linked, you have to search for a one-store bakery that utilizes the boiling method.

A lot of truth in that second article. I miss being able to get a decent bagel down here vs in NJ.

quote:

Originally posted by Fredward:
These days mostly bagels are steamed, then baked.

I was, at one point, a certified baker (by Panera.)

These days, most bagels suck. I guess this explain why. Boiling them in lye is a crucial step.

quote:

Originally posted by fvyellowbird:
A lot of truth in that second article. I miss being able to get a decent bagel down here vs in NJ.

My wife is a non practicing Jew. She claims she has had a real bagel since moving from Brooklyn. Nothing beats a Jewish deli in NYC.

If ever in Vegas, the Bagel Cafe is the only game in town for a "real bagel".

Bruce

I worked (briefly) in a busy bagel shop/deli when I was in high school. I spent time in Florida when I was a kid, but I never truly knew heat or humidity until I spent a few months helping to make bagels over a Dallas summer.

Same process for soft pretzels too.

I don't know if it is something about the water or what, but there is nothing like a NY or NJ bagel from a Jewish bakery/deli,seriously. In Fl. it is hard to find a good bagel shop, especially when I hear people rant and rave about Dunkin Donuts bagels.

There aren't many good bagels in Houston.

For those of you in southeast MI, New York Bagel in Royal Oak is the real deal. My Miami native wife (where half of New York's Jews spend the winter) says they are as good as any she has had back home.

We have sold them at our farm market stand for the past several years. I pick them up right out of the oven (right next to the boiling water bath) at 02:00 and have them back and ready for my wife ot leave for the market at 04:00. Spend 2 hours driving back from the Detroit burbs with 30 dozen hot from the oven bagels sometime . Of course I do some quality control on the way back.

Only do that once a month as it's a 4 hour round trip.

quote:

Originally posted by fvyellowbird:
A lot of truth in that second article. I miss being able to get a decent bagel down here vs in NJ.

Never was there a greater truth about food,

Some How It's Made type show I saw said the water in Brooklyn has a lot to do with what it takes to make a legit Bagel. They do seem to taste different there.

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
Some How It's Made type show I saw said the water in Brooklyn has a lot to do with what it takes to make a legit Bagel. They do seem to taste different there.

Get outa town

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
Some How It's Made type show I saw said the water in Brooklyn has a lot to do with what it takes to make a legit Bagel. They do seem to taste different there.

Same with pizza crust.

I don't remember what it is exactly, but this has been looked at and, supposedly, corroborated.

Word for word in agreement with him. Until I came across his bagel hierarchy •Cinnamon Raisin•. Get the fuck out of here, losses half his credibility points there.

We have a decent place near us, not excellent but decent. Bagel Café in Herndon VA, we go there at least once a month, some periods every weekend. I know of no excellent place around here to get a bagel sadly.

If you want to be cheap you go in the afternoon and all the bagels are half price if you buy a dozen. Also half quality, but you can freeze them and have them for breakfast if you want something better than a Lender's during the week.

quote:

Originally posted by mrmn50:

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
Some How It's Made type show I saw said the water in Brooklyn has a lot to do with what it takes to make a legit Bagel. They do seem to taste different there.

Get outa town

Water is piped to Brooklyn from Breikhat Hashiloah, just outside of the old city, and the water originates from Mayan ha'Gihon.

Pretty sure it's a true story...