I love fresh, hot bagels, and I eat them often for breakfast. Unfortunately, all the bagels I can get here in Seattle range from mediocre to terrible.

About a year ago, I got tired of spending a lot of time buying local fresh bagels that rarely were worth eating. As a result, I taught myself how to make NY style boiled bagels at home. After trying a lot of approaches, I ultimately settled on Peter Reinhart’s approach as covered in The Bread Baker’s Apprentice. After various tests, I agree with Peter that formed bagels must be retarded in a fridge for at least a day before cooking to bring out a really full, rich bagel flavor. Unfortunately, I’m not aware of any bagel bakeries that follow this approach which in part explains the poor flavor of most fresh bagels.

I’ve tried fresh bagels from lots of bakeries all over the country, and after just a year of practice the bagels I make at home are far better than anything I’ve bought in a very long time. Everyone that tried them have said my bagels are amazing (probably because very few if any people have ever eaten a properly retarded bagel).

Since learning to make bagels at home, I’ve wondered why bagel bakeries do not retard bagels (i.e., let slowly rise in a fridge for one or two days). I assume it’s largely a business issue. Given the narrow margins that already exist on bagels, how can a business leave formed bagels in fridge for two days before coking them? Can it be done profitably? Personally, I like the business scalability opportunities offered by separating the processes of making bagels from cooking bagels. I’m really tempted to start a bagel bakery here in Seattle and see if there is a market for properly retarded fresh, Artisan bagels.

I’ve learned some interesting things about making bagels over the past year, and I’ll be posting more of what I learned in my blog over time.

If you know me and want some amazing fresh, hot bagels, you should contact me (I make batches of bagels at home all the time).