"Mike Avery" > writes:

>From: "Mike Avery" >
>To:
>Date: Sat, 08 Nov 2003 11:08:11 -0700
>Subject: flour choice for bagels?
>Newsgroups: rec.food.baking
>
>On 8 Nov 2003 at 16:30, Cindy Fuller wrote:
>>
>> "H. W. Hans Kuntze" > wrote:
>> >
>> > But in other parts of the country, they forget to boil the bagels
>> > before baking too.
>
>> It's not forgetting, Hans, they don't know to do it. We walked into a
>> bagel place here in Seattle a few months ago and noticed the bagels
>> looked a little puffy. When we asked the kid behind the counter
>> whether the bagels were boiled before baking he looked at us as if we
>> were from Mars.
>
>No, it's worse than that. They don't want to boil the bagels. Many
>people don't like things they have to chew, to struggle to eat. The
>found that if they don't boil the bagels, they rise up more, they are
>lighter, and they aren't chewy.
>
>Of course, at this point the also aren't really bagels. At least, not
>authentic bagels. But they may be more popular bagels.

Unfortunately, this is true. Bread-like bagels have become part of the
American scene. Fifteen years ago, if you were not in a major urban
area, you might -- if you were lucky -- find some pre-packaged frozen
bagels at the supermarket. Today, the product is ubiquitous and has
become something of a sandwich bun with a hole in the middle.

The national chains and franchises have perfected the bready bagel and
the average consumer has been fooled into believing that this is what
a bagel should feel like. I have nothing against this mass-market
product but, just because it has a hole in the middle, does not make
it a bagel.

I recall bagels from my childhood which were so chewy that you could
hardly bite them. And they would go stale very, very fast because
they were made without shortening or preservatives.

When my son was a baby, he used to go with me to the House of Bagels
in San Francisco and the woman behind the counter would always give
him a tiny "cocktail bagel" to teethe on.

(BTW, vis-a-vis that other thread about bakery naming, the House of
Bagels' name wasn't that unusual, but it had a slogan on its sign:
"When is a seagull not a seagull... When it's a bay gull!" Oy!)

As my son got older, he used to enjoy peering in through the side
door and watching the bakers taking trays of uncooked bagels from
racks where they had been rising and sliding the bagels into vats
of boiling water. They'd rise to the surface of the water, be
lifted out with a skimmer, and placed on baking sheets to go into
the ovens.

Over the years, I've seen many gadgets for slicing bagels. My
grandmother had this plastic thing which could be screwed down
to a counter or bread board -- but more likely was just kept in
a kitchen drawer. It opened like a vertical clamshell, the bagel
was held inside by pressing on the sides of the clamshell, and
a sharp kitchen knife was used to cut the bagel in half.

New materials technology has blessed humankind with today's simple
and functional "Bagel Biter" which uses structural plastics and
a stiff coated-steel scalloped edge blade to guillotine bagels
in a single motion. http://www.larien.com/biter.html

I've only made bagels on a couple of occassions. It's hard to
justify the effort when one lives close to a first-class
commerical bagel bakery (which I do here in the Boston area.)
I recall, however, that adding malt to the boiling water was
important for developing an authentic bagel crust. And, I had
good luck with bread flour to which some additional gluten
had been added.

And, Mike, we're frequent visitors to Colorado and I recall
buying commercial packages of bagels from the Rocky Mountain
Bagel Company at Costco in Denver a couple of years ago -- and
thinking that these ranked among the best commercial bagels. I
think they were properly made with malted water. Unfortunately,
last time I was in Denver, I could not find these and I suspect
that the baking company has not survived.

Finally, just for fun, check out the Boston bagel FAQ at:
http://www.boston-online.com/bagels.html

Cheers,
The Old Bear