NY Bagel Cafe - Shaping the bagel

Bagels come in all flavours, different fillings, toppings, even different sizes, sweet or savoury. But its distinctiveness is attributed to its unmistakable shape. There are discrepancies on how the rounded shape with the hole in the middle came to be. One theory goes that it was created by Polish bakers apparently to resemble a stirrup. Another is that it was designed as a revolt in small Jewish villages in Russia against Tsarist taxation, which demanded the inner tenth of any baked goods be given to the authorities, i.e. the best part of the bread. The bagel, having a hole in the middle, was thus exempt from taxation. Neither origin seems very likely, it was probably designed as such for easy transport for sellers to carry on a stick.

Whatever the reason, the distinct shape of a delicious bagel is now identifiable world over. It is, however, a little difficult to replicate the perfect bagel at home and it is increasingly a good that we are spending food dollars on away from home. Shaping the bagel across the States is the success of franchise NY Bagel Cafe. NY Bagel Cafe supplies its growing number of locations with artisan bagels made of the best quality ingredients. They are shaped before being allowed to rest for 12 hours on fermentation boards to allow development of flavor before then being kettle boiled briefly and hearth baked to preserve the best shape and texture.

While possible to bake your own at home it proves surprisingly difficult to produce that perfected round shape. There are a few techniques: either forming the dough into a rope and then looping it around your hand, or shaping it into a circular size and then poking the hole through with your finger. Unfortunately both methods prove easier said than done, and you can end up tying yourself in knots, with the result being more akin to a pretzel.

If this seems a bit of an effort, it is easy to buy them premade from supermarkets, or frozen to bake at home. But nothing quite matches up to an authentic fresh bake. Likely why the average consumer prefers to source their bagel from outside the comforts of their own kitchen. Stores such as NY Bagel Cafe bakes theirs fresh daily in each other locations, for the best taste and texture of this delicacy..