Bagels

This Christmastide I have consumed three bagels - or maybe the correct spelling is "beigels". On Christmas Day  morning, my toasted bagel was then buttered and smothered with cream cheese before being layered with torn strips of smoked salmon. Delicious.

My two other toasted breakfast bagels were buttered before having peanut butter and strawberry jam applied - not so easy when there is a hole in the middle. But why do bagels have holes?

I discovered it is to do with maximising the surface area of the bagel to increase the density and chewiness of the bread. By the way - there are such things as bagels without  holes - they are  called  bialies or  flagels but much less well known than bagels which were popularised in New York City in the late nineteenth century.

Here's slightly quirky Stella Parks (a.k.a. Bravetart) making her own homemade bagels and guiding us through the process. And yes, some boiling of the dough is  included:-

from Yorkshire Pudding https://ift.tt/5duGVgm