In my recent efforts to lose weight and get in better physical shape
generally, I've made a concerted effort to replace the junk food in
my diet with more nutritious stuff.  As a result, I've developed over
a short period of time a fondness -- you could almost say an addiction
-- to bagels as a snack food.

Since I haven't been doing bagels for very long, though, I feel that
I don't really know that much about them and that I could use some
education on the subject.  Like, what kinds of bagels are out there?
Are there different branches of the bagel family, or are all bagels
more or less alike?  What are the best places to get bagels around
Ann Arbor or, for that matter, around the world?  What is the folklore
of bagels?

Please use this item to ask questions or enlighten us about bagels.

168 responses total.

The best bagels are out east of cours but around here you can get ripped off at
a place in Haslett.

 If you want good bagels, ya gots to follow the Jews!   I wouldn't eat at
a Cantonese-food restaurant if there weren't any members of the 
Chinese-American community there!

The best bagels are made in Brooklyn or by someone from Brooklyn (Jewish
of course).  My dad grew up in Brooklyn when it was a nicer place to live.
I love bagels, especially freshly baked.  I'm not jewish, but in the NY
metro area the Jewish bakeries are outstanding.  Makes me hungry thinking
about it.  They also make the best rye and pumpernickle bread.  Loaves like
footballs with a great crust (never sold in a plastic bag!).  What a great
subject!  Time for a snack :-)

I just ate supper and still you're making me hungry  :)

Ahh, Bagels... a subject close to my heart. But I will rely on an expert
to provide information on this subject. And he is Leo Rosten. I quote:

bagel  Pronounced BAY-g'l, to rhyme with "Nagel." From German,
/Beugel/, "a round loaf of bread."

A hard doughnut-shape roll, simmered in hot water for two minutes
before baking, then glazed with egg white.

If you have never tasted a /bagel/, I feel sorry for you.
/Bagels/ are known as doughnuts with a college education--and the
college is probably Yeshiva.

Because Bagels were made of white flour, they were considered great
deicacies in Eastern Europe, where the poor Jews (and most Jews were
very poor, indeed) ate black bread except on the Sabbath, when the
queen of breads, /challah/ was eaten.

A /bagel/ was supposed to be lucky because it is round. Don't laugh at
the Jews: The wise Greeks thought a circle "the perfect" form, because
it had neither beginning nor end; therefore, God, being perfect, chose 
the circle as the basic form in constructing the universe. The orbits
of the stars and planets were assumed to be circular. Even Aristotle
thought so, and so did Ptolemy, and so did Copernicus, who nearly drove 
himself crazy trying to rearrange Ptolemy's elaborate observations into
a new set  of circles with epicenters. (The mystic assumption about
circles plagued and stymied astronomers until Kepler.)

/Bagels/ and hard-boiled eggs were traditionally served in Jewish homes
after a funeral, for they were thought to symbolize the unending "round"
processes of life and the world. The custom may have developed from 
interpretations of the passage in Ecclesiastes: "One generation passeth
away, and another generation cometh; but the earth abideth for ever."

The first printed mention of /bagels/, by the way, is to be found in the
Community Regulations of Cracow, Poland for the year 1610 -- which
stated that /bagels/ would be given as a gift to any woman in childbirth.

I suppose that you, like most people, think that a /bagel/ and lox (smoked 
salmon) is the traditional Sunday morning breakfast for Jews. It is
certainly widespread, but not traditional: it is a triumph of cuisine
invented by American Jews.

Slices of tender lox, topping a layer of sweet butter on which cream cheese
has been lathered, the whole enclosed by a toasted /bagel/, is so
delicious that, to stop the watering in my mouth, I am going out to lunch.

   Wonderful, Steve.

   I've been a bagel person since I first tasted them, sometime
when I was something like 8 years old.  I remember that I was with
a frienda family, and we were in Oak Park; we stopped at a deli
and that was my first taste of bagels.  When the Bagel Factory
opened up in Ann Arbor (in 1969?), I was estatic.  I remember
chewing on a resurrected frozen bagel procured from Krogers and
wondered who put the golf cart tires in a bagel package.  Ugh.

   Since those days I've made it a point to observe smell (and
eat) bagels when I'm somewhere else.  But the Bagel Factory is
still consistently in the top 5% of such places that I have
been to.  If someone thinks they can find me better bagels, I'd
love a sample.

This weekend seems to be the time for one of our (greenops & I)
semi-regular Sunday brunch trips to Barry's Bagels.  (raisin).  The rest
of the week will feature the occasional treat of toasted Barry's with peanut
butter.

  The strangest bagel I ever tasted (excluding the odd Kroger teething
ring), was from a place in downtown Oreno, Me.  Greenops has told me
several times about the strange bagels she grew to like after her initial
"what's that?" bite, back when she was mastering at some other U-M up that
way.  We visited Maine this past summer and stopped at the bagel place of
her memory.  Yes, the bagel served was a perfect taste-cross between
croissant and bagel.  Uck.  Yum.  Maybe it's a Stephen King recipe. 

In Ann Arbor, I don't think you can top them. The main competition is
Barry Bagels and Zingermans. Barry's is not quite as good. Zingerman's
in my opinion is selling something else. They have two products: Their
own bagels and Bagels from the Manhattan Bagel Company.

These are good products, but they are not traditional bagels.
They're much too large, and have a consistency more like bread.

Anyway, I'm sure some will disagree, but I much prefer the Bagel Factory, too.
Sometimes, when I'm in Oak Park (MI), I go to the Bagel Store next to the
Farmer Jack's at the SE corner of Coolidge and 10 Mile Road.
It reminds me of the bagel factories* of New York when I was a kid,
and so do the bagels. Very traditional. In those days, of course, there
was only one flavor of bagel. Somehow, that was quite enough for us then.

*We called all bagel stores "factories". Do not confuse this with the
Bagel Factory (a trade name). We called them that not because they were
big - they were small storefronts, but because they made everything they
sold right in the store, and they could make an awful lot in their
big ovens. It is a bygone era, but I remember 5 cent bagels.

8 was a response to 6 as 7 slipped in.

I see the Bagel Factory mentioned - is it still on South U. close to Washtenaw?
That used to be a Sunday evening staple (dorms didn't [still don't?] serve
a Sunday evening meal).  I *really* liked the fragels!  :-)

Yes it is. The remodeled it a few years ago, but it didn't move.

The Bagel Factory and Barry Bagels are related, kinda.  Two guys
originally owed The Bagel Factory, but when they decided to no 
longer be partners, one was bought out and opened what is now
Barry Bagels in the Westgate shopping center.  Both kept the
bagel recipe as part of the agreement but only the Bagel Factory
can use the Fragel name or recipe.  

I've been getting my bagels mostly from Barry's, since it's close to
where I live.  Their bagels are quite good, to my (admittedly untutored)
taste.  I'll have to check out The Bagel Factory -- the only thing I've
ever tried there are fragels, which are now off-limits due to my weight
loss goals.

   Interesting to hear about the two stores.  If Barry's has the
same recipe as the BF, they aren't using it correctly.  For example,
try an onion bagel at each place.  I think the BF is distinctly
better.  I'm interested to hear the response of the author of this
item, a bagel newcommer...  ;-)

I'll let you know, when I've tried some BF products.

re #8:  Bagel Factory bagels always remind me of wonderbread in their
        consistency.  Light and airy -- a "bagel for the masses" -- not
        the real thing.

        Zingerman's doesn't make its own bagels -- it buys them out of
        Detroit.

re #12: Let's rewrite that history a little bit.  Barry, owner of The
        Bagel Place of Ohio, d/b/a Barry Bagel's Place (or The Bagel
        Place), was a manager at The Bagel Factory when he was attending
        college (sort of) at EMU.  It was Barry who found a use for the
        deep friers, when The Bagel Factory discovered that nobody wanted
        to eat french fries, by making himself a creative dessert from
        raisin bagel dough.  One day the owner overheard Barry telling
        another employee how easy it would be to open a new bagel store,
        and fired him.  Barry, who had no money, found a partner and opened
        a store in Toledo.  He gradually expanded to have a number of
        stores in Toledo, over almost twenty years, then opened up a store
        in Ann Arbor.  His dough recipe has always been distinct from
        that of the Bagel Factory.  He used to make "fragels" at some of
        his Toledo stores, but didn't care for the after-effects of deep
        frying (it is messy) and the fact that they were really only good
        when served hot (which meant the friers had to be on constantly),
        so he stopped.  The name "Fragel" is a registered trademark of The
        Bagel Factory.

        Barry Bagel's changed its cooking techniques a couple of years
        ago.  As a result its bagels are somewhat larger and softer, and
        have a longer shelf-life, but the searing effect that brings out
        the flavor of an onion bagel is lost.  Toasting helps a lot.
        On the other hand, the garlic bagels are quite flavorful due to
        the use of kosher garlic particles as a topping as opposed to
        garlic powder or garlic salt.

Listen, I don't claim to know everything about anything. . .but BAGELS, I know!
The very best bagels in this woman's world can be gotten from H&H Bagels in 
New York. (Like no other bagel in the world.)  You may order by calling:
1-800NY Bagel or fax 212 799-6765.  Minimu order is 2 dozen bagels (and believe
it or not, they come warm.)  Each dozen costs $7.20.  If anyone wants to order
a batch I'll split an order with them.  They have:Plain, onion, sesame, poppy,
salt, garlic, whole wheat, cin-raisin, sourdough, oat bran and bialys.  You can
charge to Amex, Visa or Mastercard, and I promise, these bagels will render all
others obsolete.  (the author is in no way related to, or receives any kicj
backs from H&H.)

Born in Brooklyn I can tell you that it is the only place to get a real bagel.
But where you get it isn't as important as how you get it and how you eat it.
The most important thing is to get them HOT (frozen is a joke.) After a half
a day it's just not a bagel anymore. Next, don't rush eating it. Sit down a
newspaper (the New York Sunday Times is recommended) and just forget about
everything.  Enjoy

If others prefer Barry's, that's fine with me.  I really don't care for
Barry's bagles and much prefer the Bagel Factory.

I just eat.

Audrey said what I was going to say.  I learned at my mother's knee
that the best bagels in the universe come from H&H's.  Mom lives a block
away from H&H.  She visited Ann Arbor a few weeks ago and brought us
some H&H bagels.  They're in the freezer.  I'm content to eat bagels
that have been frozen and thawed, as long as they're not *over*thawed in
the microwave, which turns them into rocks.

To be honest, while NYC really does have the best pizza in the
universe, I'd say Bagel Factory bagels from right here in Ann Arbor
are just as good.

I made bagels, twice, with my breadmaker, a pot of water, and an oven.
They came out pretty good, but I haven't made any in two years.

I had some strange bagels in California.  They were good, but they
tasted kind of like little round wonder bread loaves.  Someone told me
this store didn't boil their bagels, but rather they baked them
straight up.  They had some special technique they used to get more
sesame/poppy/whatever seeds to stick to the bagel.  It worked, but
something was lost in the translation.

Lenders frozen bagels should be used as hockey pucks, not eaten.

The weirdest bagel experience I've ever had was when I visited my cousin
Frank in Australia.  When I arrived, his roommate asked me if I'd like
a bagel.  I said sure.  The roommate laughed his head off.  I asked what
I'd said that was so funny.  Frank explained that they don't have bagels
in Australia but they'd heard of them in the movies.  Some shopping malls
were starting to carry them.  What was so funny was that I'd reacted to
this mythical food as if it were something ordinary people eat everyday.

 Sounds like they were picking on you for being a Jew!

Where I live we have Bruegger's Bagel bakeries.  Walk in anytime of day
and the dozen or so bins with the different bagel flavors have "HOT" signs
to show which ones are literally still hot from the oven.  I hate to
seem to be approving of a franchise that seems hellbent on world bagel
domination (three new stores here in the past year ala Espresso Royale
or Barnes & Noble), but it's hard to resist.

In AA I had problems with Barry bagels, which always seemed stale by the time I
got  them.  I often fell back on Meijer's frozen ACME bagels, which were pretty
good for frozen, and hard to beat at about a dime apiece.

I remember when Barry changed the recipe. They are now too soft to satisfy
as bagels, in my opinion. Re: Zingermans, I know they used to buy them
out of Detroit, but I thought they started baking their own when they 
opened their bakery and began baking their own bread.  They haven't
improved, though, so I may be mistaken.

I'll stick with BF bagels in Ann Arbor, but there were many places in NY
that made better bagels when I used to live there. I completely agree
with moti that the bagel is best when still warm, and eaten slowly.
I have also found that the Sunday Times brings out the flavor.

Here is some more from Leo Rosten on Bagels:

-

A Yiddish expression: "Er ligt in drerd und bakt bagel." is readily
translated as "He lies in the ground and bakes bagels." But what does
that mean? "He's not doing so well, poor chap."

-

A man from Mars landed on Second Avenue and looked into a store window,
fascinated. Finally, he entered the shop and asked the owner: "What are
those little wheels in the window?"
  "Wheels? What Wheels?"
   The Martian pointed.
   "But those aren't wheels," smiled the baleboss [owner] "They're called
/bagels/. We eat them . . . Here, Try one."
   The Martian bit into a bagel and smacked his lips. "Man! This would
go great with cream cheese and lox."

-

On St. Patrick's day, 1968, Macy's ran an advertisement in the New York
papers such as I had never thought I'd see:

                             BAGELS
                            BEGORRAH!
                        (green ones, yet)

The ad ended: "Cream cheese and lox . . . eighth floor."
  Of such is the history of human culture compounded. Begorrah.

Hey Steve?  How come you keep putting /slashes/ around the word bagel?

Re 22: I doubt it.  For being an American is more like it.

Two bagel shops are a block away...  I think I'm taking a walk this
morning!

There is a sign near the cash register at Zing's announcing an upcoming
bagel symposium and tasting.  It's sounds like their bakery will be using
the preferences from this event in deciding which bagel they'll be baking. 

The current issue of the King Arthur Flour Baker's Catalog has a page
devoted to bagels, including a book called _The Bagel Bible_, two
types of bagel slicer, an Italian bagel skimmer, a bagel dough cutter,
and malt powder (which is supposed to be the key ingredient in NY bagels).
If you want a catalog, call 1-800-827-6836.  Disclaimer: I've never
ordered from them.  People on the Bread Maker Digest mailing list seem
very happy with this company.

This is linked from Agora item 10 to Kitchen item 87.

The slashes are my feeble attempt to represent the italics that were in
the original that I was quoting. Sorry I didn't make that clear.
Now that I think about it, they were only italicized, because they appeared
in the alphabetic entry for "bagel".

You people are so boring. Like we needed all that about bagels.

Although I am from the Midwest, I know a thing or two about bagels.  One
thing not mentioned to our weight-watching comrade is that the damage to
one's waistline is directly proportional to the toppings applied.  I.e.
a toasted bagel with melted butter (MUCH better than toast) IS fattening.
Most cream cheese is fattening.  Etc.  Most self-respecting bagels in 
themselves are low-fat and healthy.  The best bagels are fresh, warm, 
and without preservatives.  I am new in town, so I cannot help you here,
but you can get a pretty decent bagel at Marx bagel factory in Cincinnati
(if you are ever down that way.

   Whats wrong with talking about bagels?  Or brick laying,
for that matter?  There are few boring subjects...

 I got my introduction to bagels in HS. Been hooked on em ever since.

Can we talk about bagel laying, then?

Is boredom a boring subject?

What's boring about bagels is the holes.

I don't think the holes are bored.

One of my favorite things to eat from the Bagel Factory is their Veggie
Pesto bagel, which consists of tomato, onion, pesto, and smoked 
mozzarella on a sesame bagel. It smells and tastes delicious!

You're right Carson, they aren't bored. Boring holes in bagels is unnecessary, 
because they are made with a hole in them already. Actually they are formed by 
rolling the dough into a cylinder, and then winding the cylinder around your 
finger to form a bagel-shape (torus).

yet another reason why I fail to understand the Bagel Factory's "help needed
for punching holes in bagels" sign...

- Backtalk version 1.3.30 - Copyright 1996-2006, Jan Wolter and Steve Weiss