We grew up on bagels, and taking a bite of that warm, ultra-chewy bread is still one of our favorite food experiences. Ask any good bagel baker and they'll tell you that the key to that chewy crust and slightly dense interior is boiling the bagels before baking. The question is, why?
Food Science: Why Bagels are Boiled
It feels very counter-intuitive to most of us to throw bread in boiling water. The point of most bread baking, after all, is to let water evaporate and dry out the interior to a certain extent.
Boiling breads like bagels and pretzels effectively sets the crust before it goes in the oven. The water doesn't actually penetrate very far into the bread because the starch on the exterior quickly gels and forms a barrier. Bagels are typically boiled for 30-60 seconds on each side. The longer the boil, the thicker and chewier crust.
In the oven, the fact that the crust is already set means that the bagels don't rise nearly as much. This is partly what gives bagels their signature dense, chewy interiors. (The other part is using high-protein flour.)
Again, how long the bagel was boiled will affect the interior texture. A brief boil gives bagels a thin and fairly elastic crust that will still allow the bagels rise quite a bit in the oven, resulting in a softer texture. A longer boil and a thicker crust prevents the bagel from rising very much at all, giving you a very dense interior.
Sometimes lye or barley malt extract are added to the boiling water. Both of these additions help the crust brown in the oven and also give the crust a distinct flavor. These days, baking soda is often substituted for lye.
How do you like your bagels: chewy and dense, or soft and tender?
Related: Cinnamon-Raising Bagel Ice Cream
(Image: Flickr member roland licensed under Creative Commons)
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Do you guys have any surefire bagel recipes?
view ktoth04's profile
http://smittenkitchen.com/2007/09/bronx-worthy-bagels/
view katiewalker's profile
I like my bagels Montreal-style (specifically, from the Fairmount Bakery). The fat over-sized bagels in the picture are the antithesis of the Montreal bagel:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montreal-style_bagel
Bagels should be thinner, sweet, chewy, and redolent of wood fire. Mmmm.
view mschatelaine's profile
I just went to visit my family in Long Island, NY, and brought back a dozen (14) of those wonderful NY bagels that I can't get anywhere around here (virginia).
view jumpyfroggy's profile
I've heard that the method of cooking bagels has its origins in a tax on ovens. By making it more expensive to have ovens, people wanted fewer of them. Because boiling decreases the amount of time you need to bake an equivalent amount of dough from its raw state, you can good more bread in fewer ovens.
No idea if this is true.
view OneEyedMan's profile
I also prefer Montreal bagels (from the St-Viateur bakery). One defining characteristic of Montreal bagels is that they are boiled in honey-sweetened water.
view angorian's profile
I tried, on a lark, to steam my bagels in a farberware kettle before baking them and created a fantastic bagel. The hot, steam puffs up the dough into huge, pillowy, soft rolls and a quick browning in the oven finishes the baking process. Oh my, these are my favorites, especially the soft interior.
view lona's profile
I like the bagel recipe in the classic vegetarian cookbook Laurel's Kitchen. It requires practically no kneading, and though it is 100% whole wheat and therefore seems inauthentic to some, it does produce delicious bagels.
view RubyJane's profile
http://tastyplanner.com/recipes/11416-jo-goldenbergs-parisian-bagels
view canneberra's profile
iona, can you post a recipe for your bagels? My grandkids don't like traditional bagels, but would love yours!
view dksbook's profile
I like mine dense and chewy; but they have to be of good quality! I'm rather picky about bread in general, though!
This is the recipe I have used with great success: http://www.abreadaday.com/?p=93
http://www.abreadaday.com
view eprewitt's profile