While I love many different breakfast foods and snacks not one of them compares to the bagel. I mean I really love bagels, so much that I eat them almost every day for breakfast. I love bagels in all forms, everything, onion, salt, pizza...well that might not be a flavor but who doesn’t love a pizza bagel?!

I often wish that I was born a few decades earlier, but I am for once happy I wasn’t because then I wouldn’t have gotten to experience bagels until recent decades. Unbelievably, bagels didn’t make it into mainstream America until the 1970s!! In the 1970s it was fashionable to be eating “ethnic” foods. Menus at that time spelled words like guacamole out phonetically and described it so customers knew how to say it and what it tasted like.
Bagels were not invented in the ‘70s however, they had long been a part of the Jewish community. Bagels came to the United States during the late 19th century and were strictly sold in Jewish markets. It was a Jewish family, The Lenders, who helped popularize the bagel in the 70s. They sold frozen bagels throughout the country and became so popular that Kraft purchased them. This was especially good because they also own the Philadelphia cream cheese company, and the pair were considered “the wedding of the century.”

Some true bagel lovers were unhappy about the bagel being sold frozen. They felt that it was not a true bagel and the consistency was all wrong. Despite this, by the ‘90s, when I was a kid, bagels were a multi-billion dollar industry.

I personally love a freshly baked deli bagel with everything butter or cream cheese. Which do you prefer, frozen or traditional? What’s your favorite bagel flavor? How do you feel about the trendy rainbow bagels you see all over Pinterest? Share your thoughts and follow me on here and Instagram!

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New York Style Bagel

Ingredients

  • 2 tsp. active dry yeast
  • 1 1/2 tbsp. granulated sugar
  • 1 1/4 cups warm water (you may need more depending on where you live.
  • 3 1/2 cups bread flour
  • 1 1/2 tsp. salt

Directions

  1. Pour 1/2 cup of warm water, yeast, and sugar into the bowl of a stand mixer, I use one like this KitchenAid KSM150PSGU Artisan Series 5-Qt. Tilt-Head Stand Mixer, 14.3 x 9.3 x 14, Guava Glaze and let it sit 5 minutes.
  2. Add in flour, salt, and most of the remaining warm water. Depending on where you live, you may need all the water. You want the dough firm but not too sticky. Knead the dough with a hook attachment for 10 minutes on low speed. When it's done the dough shouldn't stick to the bowl and should be smooth.
  3. Remove the dough hook and cover the bowl for 1 hour to rise.
  4. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees and put a large pot of water on the stove to boil. Add 2 tbsp. of water.
  5. Punch down dough and let it rise for 10 minutes.
  6. Divide the dough in half, then cut each half into quarters. You'll have 8 dough balls.
  7. Roll each into a tight ball and then push your thumb through the middle of each ball and stretch the dough until the hole is about twice the width of the thickness of the bagel. Shape the bagels and then add as many of them as you can to the pot. Boil each bagel for 2-3 minutes on each side.
  8. Remove the bagels from the water and place on a silpat. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until golden. Cool before slicing, toasting and inhaling.

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