To wonder why bagels have holes

[LEMtheoriginal]

Is there an actual reason? Or did somebody just decode they would? Does the hole contribute to the ovrrall taste/texture?

It just feels like im missing out on bagel tbh.

Brick Lane (24 Bagel Bake) bagels are the real thing.
Bagels need to be made, boiled, baked & eaten promptly.
Hence the far flung fan base for 24BB (& other kosher baker) bagels.

Nante bagels from the bread counter (NY or not) are proper bagels.

It allows the bagel to cook faster since there is a greater surface area for the volume of dough. It also means that you get more crust for the same amount of dough. And then there is the intrinsic attraction of the ring shape. According to google anyway!!

I seem to remember poaching with barley extract in the water to get a nice crust. I’m too short of time these days to make them 🥯

Because otherwise they would be rolls.

Beigel Bake still v cheap and sell great Chollah and Onion Platzel too.

There is something similar to a bagel with no hole in it, called a bialy. I grew up outside NYC and short of Brick Lane everything called a “bagel” in the UK is bread with a whole in it. Not properly boiled first so lacking the chewy texture.

Uterus so glad I am not the only one to bore wow DS with that

I love bagels

So they could be threaded for easier transportation back in the day.

I'm old with a Jewish Dad. He made special trips to specialist delis in NE England in the 60s and 70s to get them. As a consequence, I can't eat the supermarket ones

I have a Jewish background too....the bagels from proper delis are so delicious...especially when warm...they are so much better than supermarket ones.

I’m going to make a cinnamon one with cream cheese now....🥯

Explanations of myth and science here

I never understood why bagels have a hole for someone to put a circular slice of ham (or whatever filling, I don't eat bagels) thus covering the hole. If I made a bagel, I would have to fill around the hole.

My grandmother told me that when they were sold in Latvia/Lithuania (back in 1800s where my family were from) the sellers used to walk around with bagels on a long pole to sell them. So the hole allowed them to put them on a pole and walk around the village.

LordProf ’absolute pain but nice result’

Oui oui -

I seem to remember BeigelBake and Evering aren’t kosher? I spent years living off them as I could see the queue from my bedroom window and would. 5p for a plain one.

Cheesecake..

Anyhow they have a hole in the middle as they are a dough sausage.

God I fucking LOVE Bagels. Sainsbury's instore bakery do the nicest ones I have found, they're the right texture. They didn't have any when we went in the other day, had to have the prepacked New York Deli ones which were utterly substandard in comparison.

In answer to your question, they have a hole so that DH can stick his finger through it when cutting them and scare the life out of me. He's never cut his finger yet but every time he does it I'm convinced this will be the time he does. And the worst thing about it wouldn't be his cut finger, it would be blood on the bagel..

Now I really want a bagel.

Because Jews give a tithe if everything to god and the hole is what was given to god

BHSTowel - they’re not kosher but they are Jewish owned and run.

& yes, it is beigel rather than bagel.
Am yearning now for a 24BB chopped herring beigel...

What was the beigel shop along Columbia Road market? It was a definite must when buying your blooms.

Don’t know Feko, I was either working at that time of the morning or in bed!

Do you mean the shop with beigels piled high & you could eat in either perched on a stool or out in the back yard? Two guys & one mum.

Or do you mean the other one?

Cafe Columbia 😀.