I’d wanted to bake a bagel for a long time because the process of boiling and baking bread sounded so interesting to me!
We’re continuing our “Breads Around the World” series with a bread with a lengthy and relatively forgotten history. I cannot say that I was raised on bagels. Coming from a Jewish family, most people, particularly in the United States, would assume that bagels, pastrami, latkes, and brisket are part of my history, because they are associated with Jewish cuisine. Sorry to break it to you, but I was born and reared in France by Sephardic parents, therefore I do not identify with any of the “Jewish” foods that have become so famous in the United States over the last century.
Indeed, bagel arrived in the United States alongside hundreds of Jewish bakers who participated in the great wave of immigration between 1881 and 1914.
In the early 1900s, the Bagel Bakers Local 338 trade union was established in New York. Its members controlled bagel manufacture in America until the late 1960s, when the first bagel machine was developed.
Harry Lender and his son Murray Lender were the first bakers to automate and distribute frozen bagels. They also invented pre-sliced bagels and became the country’s first bagel millionaires. Today, millions of bagels are devoured every day across the United States, with annual sales nearing $1 billion.
But where did this ring-shaped bread Bagel actually come from?
According to folklore, the bagel was developed in the shape of a stirrup to honor Poland’s King John III Sobieski’s victory over the Ottoman Turks in the Battle of Vienna in 1683. However, this myth, which has been told several times over the years, is false because evidence shows that bagels existed prior to the conflict.
Indeed, the earliest mention of bajgiel (in Polish) was in the “Community Regulations” (Jewish community ordinances) of Kraków in 1610. It reported that the bread was presented as a gift to mothers who had recently given birth. In truth, round objects have long been connected with good luck and prosperity in most cultures, as illustrated by the round challah cooked for Rosh Hashanah (the Jewish New Year).
However, to understand the origins of bagel, you must travel back even earlier in time. Since at least the thirteenth century, the Polish had been creating a bread known as obwarzanek (from Polish obwarzyc, meaning parboil).
Obwarzanek appears in the books of the Polish royal household for the first time in 1394. This bread was baked specifically for Queen Jadwiga, who has been elevated to sainthood in Poland.
But what if we went a bit further back?
In the early twelfth century, Poland began concerted efforts to attract talented workers from the West, primarily from Germany. And it was in Germany that ring-shaped communion breads gained popularity outside of monasteries, giving rise to the modern pretzel. Pretzels were initially ring-shaped before becoming the three-holed oblong shape that depicts a monk’s arms in prayer.
At the same period, Jewish immigrants arrived, and they, too, had ring-shaped bread in their repertory. Some claim that the word bagel is derived from Yiddish beigen (to bend).
Several versions confirm that the bagel was invented by Jews, who were not permitted to prepare or purchase bread due to its association with Jesus. They chose to boil it and lightly toast it instead.
Maria Balinska’s fantastic book “The Bagel: The Surprising History of a Modest Bread” provides a number of different accounts to assist trace bagels’ origins. She provides examples of comparable ring-shaped boiled and baked delicacies, such as tarallo from Puglia, Italy, or brazatelle (ring-shaped cookies) and ciambelle (more akin to a doughnut), which were popular during the Renaissance in Tuscany.
She also mentions the Uyghurs, a Turkish ethnic group in Xinjiang, China, who make a type of bagel called girde or girdeh nan. This bagel relative features an indentation rather than a hole in the center, and the dough is steamed rather than boiled prior to baking.
There are numerous baked foods that mimic bagel all around the world. Bublik in Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus are simply larger bagels with a wider hole. The baranki and sushki, both from Eastern Europe, are smaller and drier. Similar variations known as riestainiai or baronkos are popular in Lithuania.
Vesirinkeli (water ring) are little rings of yeast-leavened wheat bread that look similar to bagels.
In Romania, covrigi resemble pretzels. They are salted cakes decorated with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or huge salt grains.
In some parts of Austria, beugel, a ring-shaped pastry flavored with caraway, is sold in the weeks leading up to Easter.
Simit or gevrek is a circular bread made in the Balkans and Turkey that is frequently covered with sesame seeds.
But let’s get back to present times!
A bagel, according to Merriam Webster, is a “firm doughnut-shaped roll traditionally made by boiling and then baking”. But there must be more to it than that!
First, bagels require wheat flour that is high in gluten, preferably even higher than standard bread flour sold in the United States, which has anywhere between 11% and 14% of gluten.
Then, add a small amount of water to this gluten-rich flour. This is why bagels stale so rapidly, usually within a few hours.
The original bagel recipe calls for a sweetener in the dough itself. Barley malt syrup is commonly used, however you can instead use honey, high fructose corn syrup, or sugar for less traditional bagels.
The retardation is an optional technique, but it should contribute to the bagel’s slightly sour flavor and chewiness. The formed bagels are proofed in a cool area for at least 12 hours before being boiled and baked. It slows down the fermentation process and promotes the growth of lactic acid bacteria, which are found in yeast but not in warm dough. I tested both the retardation method and a standard shorter proofing in a warm environment, and I didn’t see a difference in the end outcome, at least with the materials that are widely available in stores. I am confident that the process is more important if you have the proper materials and expert equipment.
Then comes the boiling stage! This is what gives the bagel its rich flavor and thick, glistening crust. The solution used may be pure water, but it usually includes an addition such as lye (for pretzels), baking soda, barley malt syrup, or honey. I personally used barley malt syrup, and the results were fantastic! To me, that is what distinguishes a bagel! The boiling also helps the bagel keep its shape when baking. It should be boiled for at least 1 minute and no more than 2 minutes. Please provide all sides!
Most people prefer bagels for breakfast or brunch, but you can have them whenever you want!
Another important question in life is the type of bagel to choose. Do you prefer plain, poppy seed, sesame seed, sunflower seed, onion, or unique flavors like jalapeño, cheddar, blueberry, or chocolate chip bagels? Personally, I like the “everything bagel,” despite the fact that bakers may dip such bagels in whatever remains of the seeds used to produce the other varieties!
Bagels are most commonly eaten with cream cheese, but they are also becoming increasingly popular as sandwich bread. The typical “bagel brunch” became popular in New York around 1900. The bagel is topped with lox, cream cheese, capers, tomato, and red onion. This is arguably the most famous bagel sandwich known today, and this is how I enjoyed my bagel when I prepared them on this gorgeous Sunday morning to prepare for my “Breads Around the World Class”.
This was the second culinary class I hosted in Santa Monica. That day, we made baguettes, naan, corn tortillas, and bagels. We had a lot of fun, consumed a lot of gluten, and likely gained a lot of weight. But who is counting anyway?
