While I wait for the starter to ferment for making English Muffins (tonight I fed my “liquid levain” more four and water), I was curious about another breakfast bread, bagels. As I didn’t see anything in Bouchon Bakery, I started a little Google search to find what made a bagel a bagel. Boiling? Really?
I’ve never cared for bagels, but a couple summers ago our summer family vacation ended up in Bandon, Oregon where we went to the Bandon Baking Company and had the most amazing bagels which they made into breakfast sandwiches.
Little did I know, as I combed the internet for my bagel research reading, (if this is indeed true) that bagels should be fresh and hot. They are shaped, boiled in a pot of water that has often been sweetened with honey, brown sugar or malt, then baked. They are supposedly considered to have a very short shelf life and ought to be eaten fresh out of he oven. Maybe I don’t like the supermarket bagged bagels because their not fresh from the oven.
Perhaps the store bought bagel has its limits and I need to experience hot fresh bagels. Adding it to my to-do list of things to explore.
Until next time…
Culinarily Yours,
Mrs. Chef (Christa)
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