Evidently at some point in my life, I became a bagel snob.

This character trait became evident a few weeks ago when I had some lovely, sustainably caught lox and wanted – of course – to enjoy them on bagels with cream cheese, red onions, and capers. However, for some reason I couldn’t seem to get to House of Bagels in a timely manner, so I unwisely decided to settle for some alleged bagels from a grocery store.

Bad idea! Clearly, just calling something a bagel does not make it a bagel. The beauty of those lovely lox was lost on those doughy round things. There was no texture, no chew, no essential bagelness. It did get me wondering though -- how could two things that look so similar be so very, very different?

I knew the perfect person to ask: friend, foodie and baker extraordinaire Brenda Hock, and during our conversation I found out that she also just happened to have helped bread guru Peter Reinhart test recipes for his Whole Grain Breads: New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor book.

“The secret to good bagels is the same secret as good bread: time equals taste,” Hock explained. “Mass production rushes the process.”

She went on to explain that there are four elements to true bagels. Because a bagel should be chewy, the first key is to use high gluten flour, not all purpose or bread flour. The high gluten flour is high in protein, so as the bagel dough develops, those proteins bind together to form a stronger structure than in other flours – hence the chewiness.

Anyone who has done any baking knows that it’s a good idea to give the yeast a little sweet treat to munch on while it’s proofing and the dough is rising – some honey, sugar, even beer. For bagels, you want to get the dough really plumped up, so Hock noted that most bagel bakers will use diastatic malt powder or syrup, though even brown sugar or molasses will work too.

As the King Arthur Flour website explains, “Diastatic malt powder is the all-natural ‘secret ingredient’ savvy bread bakers use to promote a strong rise, great texture, lovely brown crust, and extended shelf life … Vitamins and active enzymes in diastatic malt help yeast grow fully and efficiently throughout the fermentation period, yielding a good, strong rise and great oven-spring … Malt also converts starch to sugar, enhancing bread's browning.”

The third and very crucial aspect of making bagels is “to shape them (by hand is best, but some machines do an adequate job) and let them proof overnight in the refrigerator,” said Hock. “The longer you can let them proof, ferment really, the more flavor you’ll have.” This is the step that most mass-produced “bagel” productions skip entirely in the interest of producing more product in less time, but this is the step that lets the dough build up the structural bonds that will result in that all-important chewiness and hearty taste.

Bagels also have to spend some time in boiling water. Even if you’ve followed every step up to this point, if you just bake the dough, you just get bread with a hole in it. To add some color to the bagel and help set its shape, some bakers will add something like barley malt, non-diasatic malt powder, baking soda, or brown sugar to the boiling water before slipping the bagels into it. Hock explained that this process doesn’t take long, “just about 30 seconds a side.”

After boiling, you apply any toppings you might want – I’m addicted to Everythings, which are exactly what their name implies – and bake the bagels at about 350 degrees F for only about 15 minutes (time and temperature vary slightly between recipes). Ironically, actually making and baking the bagel doesn’t take that much time; it’s the time needed for flavor development that is evidently the deal breaker in mass production where time equals money and taste is represented only by the hole in the middle of the doughy bread thing.

Thanks to Wikipedia for this little gem about bagels …

“In modern times Canadian-born astronaut Gregory Chamitoff is the first person known to have taken a batch of bagels into space on his 2008 Space Shuttle mission to the International Space Station. His shipment consisted of 18 sesame seed bagels.”

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Earth Day Food and Wine Festival at Santa Margarita Ranch, Saturday, April 17, 2010! One of the premiere events on the Central Coast and tickets are going fast!

(And remember that the week following Easter is National Egg Salad Week!)

Ground Cinnamon–light brown, Paprika–light orange, Tumeric–bright gold, Black tea–reddish tan, Ground coffee–creamy brown, Blueberries–deep blue, Blackberries–plum, Concord grape juice–lavender, Spinach–soft green, Carrot tops–pale gold, Yellow apple skins–lavender, Chopped beets–dark pink, Beet root–reddish brown, Red cabbage–midnight blue or teal, Onion skins–yellow or brown (the longer skins are simmered, the darker the color)

Instructions:

Place a single layer of uncooked, white eggs in a small saucepan

Add fresh dye material (2 cups shredded produce or spices; 1 cup chopped, dried plants;

1/2 cup ground herbs)

Barely cover eggs with tepid water

Add 2 tablespoons of white vinegar to water to set the color

Bring water to a gentle boil

Reduce heat and simmer for 15 minutes

Carefully remove eggs from the dye bath

Rinse with cold water

Air dry