Bagels

I know the last post is about bagels but I'm eating one right now and all I can think is This is AMAZING. I asked someone at work who invented the bagel and they said 'Mr.Bagel.' Good enough for me. Here are some fun facts cut and paste directly from Wikipedia.

The bagel was invented in Central Europe, possibly in Kraków as a 1610 document beygls given as a gift to women in childbirth. This is cited as the earliest known reference, but the document is not absolutely clear about what a beygl is. Also uncertain is the relationship, if any, to the sweet Hungarian pastry, bejgli.

That the name originated from beugal (old spelling of Bügel, meaning bail/bow or bale) is considered plausible by many, both from the similarities of the word and due to the fact that traditional handmade bagels are not perfectly circular but rather slightly stirrup-shaped.

In the East End of London, bagels were traditionally sold in groups of three, which were referred to as a "prial" , a "prangle" or (less commonly) a "frackle" of bagels.

Bagels are traditionally made by:

• mixing and kneading the ingredients to form the dough
• shaping the dough into the traditional bagel shape, round with a hole in the middle
• proofing the bagels for at least 12 hours at low temperature (40-50 degrees F = 4.5-10 ℃)
• boiling each bagel in water that may or may not contain additives such as lye, baking soda, barley malt syrup, or honey
• baking at between 175 ℃ and 315 ℃ (about 350 to 600 degrees F)

I think this is my favorite part of the article.

Bagels are sometimes presliced, but other times they must be cut by the consumer. Improper cutting technique has led to many bagel-related lacerations. Mark Smith, head of George Washington University's Department of Emergency Medicine noted, "The bagel is inherently unstable because it's round. In fact there are two unstable surfaces: the knife against the bagel and the bagel against the table...I theorize that it's difficult to modulate the force needed to get through the exterior once you hit the doughy part, and you cut your finger."^[2]

Enjoy your Bagel Friday.