Food Science: Why Bagels are Boiled (2024)

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Food Science: Why Bagels are Boiled? ›

It sets the outer layer of the dough, giving the bagel its distinctive chewiness. The boiling process gelatinizes the starches on the surface, creating a glossy, crackly crust during baking. Additionally, boiling gives the bagel its characteristic dense interior while maintaining a tender crumb.

It is believed that bagels stemmed from anti-Semitic laws preventing Polish Jews from baking bread. To circumvent these edicts, Jewish bakers would boil the dough before baking it, a loophole that allowed them to bake.

No boil is No bagel

This prevents the bagel from expanding as much in the oven, making for a firmer, tighter product. It stops the proofing process. Boiling also gelatinizes the starch in the flour.

Boiling bagels gives the finished bagel their signature shine. By adding sugar and baking soda into the water it helps develop more flavour and deeper colour. The boiling cooks the outer layer of the bagel and helps it maintain its shape during the baking process.

The boiling also thickens the crust — Coppedge says it "is essential to produce a more 'chewy' bagel."

You will also need some brown sugar to add to the water for boiling the bagels. This helps give these bagels their characteristic crust and flavor. Honey or barley malt syrup may be substituted in equal amounts.

Traditional New York style bagels are submerged in boiling water for a couple of minutes before they're baked. Sometimes called "water bagels," boiling the dough sets the outside to give them a crispy exterior and chewy texture.

BOILING. Add honey and baking soda to boiling water in a large pot. This will help give the bagels a nice sheen and golden brown color when out of the oven.

The longer the boiling time, the harder the crust and the denser the bagels become. However, Panera went a different route with its bagels, opting to steam them with a steam-injection oven rather than boil them. Steaming is an easier option in Panera's kitchen.

Unlike the traditional boiling method, Janelle says Einstein has steam injection ovens that simulate the boiling process. “They're steamed for, I'd say, about 30 seconds,” Janelle said.

Why add baking soda to water when boiling bagels? ›

Baking soda makes the water more alkaline, giving the bagels a pretzel-like quality that contributes to their chewiness. Just one teaspoon helps the bagels develop a shiny, dark-brown exterior as they bake. One thing to keep in mind: Keep the water bath at a constant simmer.

Over proofed dough will lose its strength too early and cause the bagels to deflate either during the second rise or while cooking. To correct this, try to find a warm, — not hot — spot to rise your dough.

Popular mythology tells us that the soft water that trickles down from the Catskills in upstate New York has a profound effect on the softness of the bagels. Since there are less minerals (magnesium and calcium, for example) in this water, the gluten proteins don't tense up and make the bagels too tough to chew.

It sets the outer layer of the dough, giving the bagel its distinctive chewiness. The boiling process gelatinizes the starches on the surface, creating a glossy, crackly crust during baking. Additionally, boiling gives the bagel its characteristic dense interior while maintaining a tender crumb.

When it sinks like a rock, your dough is too dense, and it needs to rise a bit more before you boil.

The difference is not taste; it's texture. Boiled make a dense, chewy bagel while steam makes it more like white bread texture.

As I mentioned above, all authentic New York City bagels are made by being kettle boiled. This method of cooking the dough is an essential part of what makes NYC bagels taste the way they do.

Before baking, the bagels must be poached briefly to help form a slight crust and develop their delicious chewy centre.