Today’s Spotlight in on Bagels.

National Bagelfest Day is celebrated on July 26th each year to recognize the tasty and light bread that is the bagel. The holiday was started in 1986 by Murray Lender, the owner of Lender’s Bagels. The first festival was held in Mattoon, Illinois to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Lender’s Bagels, a popular brand that has been produced in Mattoon since 1960. The festival became a multi-day event with music, rides, a parade, and a bagel breakfast.

A bagel is a round bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. It is traditionally shaped by hand into a roughly hand-sized ring from yeasted wheat dough that is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior.

The earliest known mention of a boiled-then-baked ring-shaped bread can be found in a 13th-century Syrian cookbook, where they are referred to as ka’ak. Bagel-like bread known as obwarzanek was common earlier in Poland as seen in royal family accounts from 1394. Bagels have been widely associated with Ashkenazi Jews since the 17th century; they were first mentioned in 1610 in Jewish community ordinances in Kraków, Poland.

The bagel is the only bread that is boiled before being baked. It is reported that Jewish immigrants introduced the bagel to the United States.

Bagels didn’t make their way to New York until the 1800s, when many European Jewish immigrants brought their bagel recipes with them. As time went on, bagels became more popular as more people from different cultures came across them.

Here’s some information about the history of bagels:

• The first written mention of bagels appears in the city regulations of Krakow, Poland in 1610. These regulations specified that women were to be given gifts of bagels after childbirth.
• The earliest origin story for the bagel dates back to the 14th century when Germans migrated to Poland and brought their pretzels. The pretzel evolved into obwarzanek, a circular roll with a hole in the middle.
• Bagels have been widely associated with Ashkenazi Jews since the 17th century.
• The bagel became largely associated with Jewish culture because boiling bread before toasting it served as a loophole to get around the laws that banned Jews in Poland from baking bread.
• Bagels are now a popular bread product in North America and Poland, especially in cities with a large Jewish population.
• Bagels are boiled first to create a crunchy exterior. This boiling causes the starch on the exterior of the bread to gel and create a barrier from the interior dough.

Bagels have a hole in the middle to allow for a larger surface area, which helps the bagel cook more evenly and consistently. The hole also makes it easier for bakers to confirm that the bagel is cooked all the way through.

The hole in the bagel is called a “bialy”. The hole also allows bagels to be stacked or threaded on a dowel, making them easier to transport and display.

Making bagel dough is easier than pie. A few pantry basics are all it takes: real flour (never low gluten or gluten free), yeast, malt, salt, and water. Prep is equally simple: The dough is hand rolled, boiled, and then baked, not fried or put straight in the oven, like donuts or standard bread.

Here are some tips for making homemade bagels:

• Combine water, flour, sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and yeast in a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook.
• Mix on low speed until the dough is well-developed, about 8 minutes.
• Cut off a walnut-sized piece of dough to ensure the gluten has developed fully.
• Boil the bagels before baking to get a firm, crisp crust and a chewy interior.
• Gently place the bagels in simmering water for twenty seconds and remove to a lightly oiled sheet pan.
• Bagels are usually made from a stiff, dry dough, with hydrations in the range of 55 to 65%
• Bread flour is the essential ingredient to creating that distinct chewy bite.
• Lye/baking soda will produce a bagel closer to a pretzel while honey/barley malt syrup/sugars will help the bagel caramelize in the oven.
• If the bagels proof too much, they’ll deflate in the water bath.
• It’s better to be under proofed, so you can pull the dough a little too early rather than a little too late.

You can boil bagels in honey or baking soda, depending on your preference. Baking soda makes the water more alkaline, which gives the bagels a pretzel-like quality and contributes to their chewiness. Honey, barley malt syrup, or other sugars can help the bagel caramelize in the oven.

 

Here are some statistics about bagel consumption:

• 648 million bagels were eaten at restaurants in the past year.
• 07 million Americans consumed bagels in 2020.
• The average American consumes 38.73 bagels each year.
• 61% of American adults eat bagels at least twice a week for breakfast.
• 2 – 10 million bagels are sold in the US each day
• Bagels became mainstream in the United States in the ’70s.
• Bagels are eaten by people of all walks of life.

 

Here are some states that eat a lot of bagels:

Maine – The most bagel-obsessed state with an average annual consumption of 73.37 bagels

New York – The nation’s bagel empire, with locals and tourists seeking out the city’s iconic breakfast food

New Jersey, Maryland, Rhode Island, Florida, and Oregon – The five states with the highest percentage of bagel orders out of all orders

 

Here are some reasons why bagels are popular:

• Bagels are a quick option for breakfast.
• They’re filling and low cost.
• They’re easy to hold and can be enjoyed as a snack.
• They became a staple of New York Street food.
• They’re favored over other bread products.
• They’re associated with Ashkenazi Jews
• They’re considered an elite food, consumed by higher income households.
• They have more calories than a slice of bread, but bagels with more fiber may help you feel fuller for longer.

Bagelfest Day is celebrated annually to pay homage to the dense and chewy bread that dates back to the 13th century. Let us know in the comments, your favorite bagel and your favorite topping.