05/12/2022

Brad Scott
Have you ever felt like a bagel?

---

"If there is one Golden Rule for good bagels, it is this: A Good Bagel Shall Not Require Toasting. All Else Follows."

Having tasted bagels around the country and around the world, I understand why toasting is the default for most bagel shops: It's because most bagel shops don't serve good bagels.

A good bagel should have a thin, shiny, crackly crust spotted with the kind of microblisters that you can only get from proper boiling followed by a high-temperature bake. It's these little bubbles that add both surface area and crunch.


That crust should give way to a crumb that's dense and chewy, but tender and easy to bite through. A bagel should not ooze cream cheese from its center when you take a bite, any more than a cheeseburger should slide out the back when you clamp down on its bun. These are the qualities that great bagel-makers strive for. Bagel-makers who are immersed in the craft and obsessive about getting it right. The ones for whom a bagel shop is more than just another business. Great bagel-makers are like great pizza-makers in that sense: You will almost never find a good bagel anywhere other than at an owner-operated, single-location shop.