The Baker's Dozen Trivia Quiz

Answer: USA

While the New York style of bagel is very popular, the first bagels were made long before the Manhattan Indians sold their island for the equivalent of a treasure box at a Chuck E Cheese. The country with the greatest claim is probably Poland with a likely origin around the 14th century. The first written record of the bagel dates to 1610 in Krakow, Poland. Another theory suggests the bagel actually originated in what is now Germany and migrated to Poland where it became popular. Around the time the bagel was first recorded, pretzels were already a popular feast day bread created in German monasteries. It is possible the pretzel inspired the creation of the bagel. Syria is an unlikely origin, but plausible. A 13th-century Arabic cookbook has a recipe for Ka'ak, which is made from bread that is shaped into a ring, boiled, and then baked much like a bagel. Maybe the recipe traveled north where it became popular.

How would you like to make your own bagels from scratch at home?
Ingredients for dough:
4 cups bread flour
1 tablespoonful of light brown sugar
1 and ½ teaspoonfuls of kosher salt
1 tablespoonful of dry yeast
1 and ½ cups of water
Cooking oil as needed

Answer: ring

The Yiddish word "beygl" translates to mean "ring". I also gave credit if you said "bracelet", as the German word "bougel" means bracelet and is also sometimes given credit as the origin of the word bagel. It does not take a whole lot of imagination to figure out why a bagel might be called either a ring or a bracelet. Further along, we will have a question asking why bagels have holes in them. Historically, bagels have had holes since they first have been recorded, however, the size of a bagel today is about six times bigger than the bagels made in the 1600s.

Ingredients for the water bath:
8 cups of water
3 tbsp light brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp kosher salt

Answer: They must be boiled first.

In medieval Europe bread was associated with Jesus, thus requiring a Christian to make it. Poland, at the time, was a little more lenient and they allowed Jews to boil the dough before they baked it. Apparently, the boiling process changed the final product into a non-bread item...allowing the Jews to sell bagels. So, sadly, I guess we would not have the delicious bagels of today if it hadn't been for the horrible racism of the past.

Step 1 for making the dough:
Add yeast to warm water until yeast dissolves. Then slowly pour the yeast into the flour, sugar, and salt mix. Continue to knead the dough until it forms a firm ball and the sides of the bowl are clean (about an 8-minute workout!)

Answer: Butter

New York-style bagel recipes do not traditionally call for butter, though I am sure if you look hard enough online you could find an unusual recipe that needs butter. However, a bagel purist would probably argue that it would not be a New York-style bagel then! Is a bagel snob a thing? The most important ingredients of a NY bagel are highly glutinous bread flour, yeast, sugar for the yeast to eat, and salt. Mixing these together and cooking them just right gives you a delicious plain bagel.

Step 2 for the dough:
Lightly line a bowl with cooking oil and let the round ball of dough sit and rise in a warm place for about 60 to 90 minutes. It is recommended to cover the bowl with a towel or loose-fitting plastic wrap.

Answer: Being boiled before being baked.

Boiling is the key step in giving bagels their inner chewiness. If you listen to a New Yorker, they will tell you a bagel can only be properly made from New York city tap water. Science says otherwise...but good luck convincing a Yankees fan! Get outta here! New York City water is considered to be "soft" with low levels of calcium and magnesium, but this does not appear to alter the chewiness of a bagel. So, fantastic news if you want to make your own bagels outside the five boroughs!

So how does the boiling help make the interior chewy? When a bagel is boiled, the starch on the outside gets sticky and helps form a protective barrier for the interior dough. The exterior of the bagel is set, preventing the bagel from rising much in the oven resulting in a more dense and chewy interior. Yum! Oh, and by the way, all-purpose flour does not have as much gluten as bread flour, thus not being a good choice.

Step 3 of the recipe:
Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and cover in a light layer of cooking oil. Divide the dough into twelve equal-sized pieces and place them on the cookie sheets about 2 inches apart. Let sit for an additional 30 minutes loosely covered.

Answer: Cream cheese

I hope you didn't put the bacon grease! First of all, yuck! Second, pork products are not at all Kosher! No, schmear is a fancy way of saying cream cheese. The history of cream cheese is quite interesting. Did you know it actually was invented on a farm in New York by a non-Jewish farmer? In the 1880s, William Lawrence had been making the French soft cheese, Neufchatel, when a businessman suggested cream be added to make a more popular and, more importantly, pricier product. Supersize, American style! They marketed the new cheese as "cream" cheese...since it had cream in it. Clever. They also called it Philadelphia cream cheese, not because of where they made it, but because Philly was known as a place for fancy cheese. Fast forward about 50 years to the great depression and the prices of cream cheese had dropped...a lot...which led to interest among Jewish delis to add it to their desserts. Up until this time, bagels were mainly made from rye bread and were very hard like bracelet-sized pretzels. The addition of cream cheese encouraged the use of wheat flour resulting in a smaller hole and a softer bread to spread the cheese. About 10 years later in the 1940s lox were added to the combo to make the perfect trifecta.

Step 4 of the recipe:
Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (218 C) and prepare the boiling bath of water, sugar, baking soda, and salt. Bring water to a gentle boil.

Answer: Helps it cook more evenly.

Bagels have holes to allow for even cooking. Without the hole in the middle, the inner texture would not be consistent, especially because the bagel is first boiled, which prevents expansion. Other sources suggest that the round hole originally allowed for bagel cart salesmen to string their wares on a poll for selling. Alternatively, their shape does offer a healthy alternative to a doughnut if one is hankering for something round and tasty. By the way, since the dough is less dense than water, it will float regardless of having a hole in the middle.

Step 5 of the recipe:
Now comes one of the fun parts! Take each ball of dough and gently poke a finger through the middle. Now gently twirl the dough on the finger, until the hole has a diameter of about one inch. Do this with all 12 balls of dough.

Answer: Asiago

Asiago proves to be a fantastic cheese for a bagel. The cheese is especially good when using the bagel as a sandwich with cold cuts. Yum! Asiago bagels are a relatively recent addition to the plethora of bagel variations. Scott Davis of the Panera Bread Company was the first to use Asiago in the 1990s for a breakfast sandwich and it has quickly become a hit with bagel bakers. The sharp flavor of the asiago cheese adds a savoriness to a bagel.

Step 6 of the recipe:
Add 4 bagels at a time to the gently boiling water. Let each bagel cook for a minute or two and then flip over once. Then remove the bagels and let the water drip off.

Answer: They are fire roasted.

Montreal-style bagels are made differently from New York-style bagels. For one, they are fire roasted instead of oven baked. Second, Montreal-style bagels have eggs added but not salt, resulting in a denser chewy dough. They also traditionally use honey as the sugar source and, not surprisingly, often taste sweeter than New York-style bagels. Montreal bagels have holes that are typically larger than the NY style. St. Louis-style bagels are served being sliced vertically with the intention of providing more surface area to spread cheese.

Step 7 of the recipe:
Once most of the water drips off, the bagel will still be sticky which is perfect for adding whatever topping you wish. Everything bagels are a very popular choice, consisting of a combination of poppy seeds, minced garlic, minced onions, and salt. Dried herbs can be used, but should not be added until baking is almost complete, otherwise, they scorch.

Answer: Wild yeast and bacteria

Sourdough bread uses wild yeast and bacteria, just like a Lambic beer does! Weird, right? So rather than start with a large quantity of yeast, time is needed to let the wild strands settle on the dough and start reproducing. As a result, it can take several days before the sourdough will rise enough to be ready for cooking. The variation of the yeast and bacteria is what gives sourdough its distinctive flavor. The extra time is worth it as sourdough bagels are delicious!

Step 8 of the recipe:
Place the bagels in the preheated oven for 12 minutes. It is recommended that you flip them over and then heat them for another 8-12 minutes to allow more even cooking and to prevent burning on the bottom.

Answer: Salt Bagels

Bread and salt are also symbolic gifts to bless a new home with wealth and prosperity. The bread symbolizes the wish that the owner will never be hungry and salt that their life will be full of flavor and spice. Salt bagels have also been traditionally given at weddings for the same symbolic reasons. For a salt bagel to be properly made it has huge salt crystal chunks covering the outside. The saltiness should be an intense flavor and, of course, not for those with high blood pressure or other salt restrictions.

Step 9 of the recipe:
Take the bagels out to the oven and allow them to fully cool on a wire rack.

Answer: Rye

Anyone who can not eat gluten has to avoid wheat, barley, and rye. Unfortunately, for making the perfect bagel, gluten provides a critical part in making them chewy. However, by using a combination of sorghum, brown rice, tapioca starch, and eggs, it is possible to come close to the traditional texture of a bagel. In recent years great progress has been made to make breads without gluten taste delicious and worthy of exploring for someone with a gluten sensitivity.

Step 10 of the recipe:
Cut the bagel in half lengthwise and add your favorite spread or sandwich ingredients.

Answer: Add eggs

Egg bagels are actually quite delicious and a great alternative for someone hankering a bagel that is less dense and chewy. First of all, the white of the egg acts as a leavening agent by forming a coagulated protein network. Secondly, the fat in the yoke will inhibit gluten from becoming doughy, reducing the chewiness of the bagel. Both yeast and baking soda form carbon dioxide which is important for the dough to rise. Adding more water will actually result in flatter bread as it reduces the amount of carbon dioxide that gets trapped in the dough.

The final step of the recipe:
Be sure to store the remaining bagels for a treat later! If you plan on eating them within two days, a paper bag is best at room temperature. If you want to keep them longer, a sealed bag will keep them fresh but sometimes they end up getting moist. Bagels can also be frozen and toasted after defrosting.