Bagel
Form: Ring-shaped
Country of origin: Poland, United States, Canada
What distinguishes it from other methods of bread making: The sourdough is poached in boiling water before going into the oven
Category of bread: (7) Belongs to this inconspicuous family of breads poached in water, and like pretzels, they are known well beyond the bounds of their country of origin
Particularity: Like its ancestor the croissant, commemorates the victory of the Turks when they were stopped in Vienna in 1683
Ingredients: Dough: T65 flour (used for traditional bread without addition of ascorbic acid); baker’s yeast; margarine; sugar or honey; salt; warm water. Poaching: water, bicarbonate of soda; sugar
Poland, United States, Canada
History with a capital “h” underlines the merits of King John III Sobieski of Poland, who lead 30,000 men to push back the Turkish armies lead by the Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha, thereby liberating Vienna in 1683. Austrian bread makers had in their own way participated in this victory. Thanks to Viennese bakers’ vigilance (since they work at night-time), it might just have been them who gave the alert just in time to make it possible to thwart the Turkish army’s plans to lay siege to Vienna. In remembrance of this victory, the bakers borrowed the idea and shape of the crescent from the Turkish flag. Even if it is a legend, it ended up taking firm root in oral history.
Polish bakers were not at a loss. A baker in Cracow had the idea of immortalizing the exploits of his valorous king who had led his troops so bravely against the Turkish defenses and to the advantage of victory. It was therefore deliberate that he made a ring of dough and shaped the middle in a triangle or stirrup, called a bügel in German, which means “stirrup”. The bagel was born.
Polish Jews immigrated to the New World and took the bagel with them. It has become a classic in Montreal and New York bread baking. Made with leaven and then flavored with eggs, sesame and poppy seeds, fried onions, or garlic, they are then poached in water made sweet by adding honey, and later cooked in the oven. They are popularly eaten with smoked salmon (lax); in Montreal, with Schwartz’s smoked meat; and with cream cheese.