Why are New York City's bagels so good?
Why are New York City's bagels so good?
Discover the chemistry of what makes the bagels in New York City taste distinctive.
© American Chemical Society (A Britannica Publishing Partner)
Transcript
SPEAKER: Today we're starting with a bold statement. New York City has the best bagels anywhere, period. Let the hate flow bagel trolls. It only makes us stronger.
Reactions took a field trip to the bagel capital of the world to figure out what makes a New York bagel so delicious. We went to the bustling Murray's Bagels in Greenwich Village, and got to go behind the scenes.
Now, while New York's bagel supremacy is well-established, many people seem to disagree on why. For a long time, many insisted it was the one ingredient that comes from the tap. The "wat-ah," as they say, does play a minor role in how New York bagels turn out. The city gets much of its water from about 130 miles away in the Catskill Mountains.
The water from the Catskills is traditionally soft, meaning it has low concentrations of calcium and magnesium. Actually, New York has some of the softest water in the country. The only softer city is Boston. Leading some in Bean Town to shout, "the wahtah in New Yawk is wicked hahd."
Anyway, here's why it makes a difference. The mineral content of water affects the gluten in the dough. Extra hard water strengthens the gluten, which can make for tougher baked goods. If the water's too soft, your dough gets too goopy.
But is it really the H2O that makes the bagel? No. Chef Richard Coppedge of the Culinary Institute of America took us through everything that goes into a great bagel.
For Chef Coppedge, it starts with the dough. Bakers make about 100 pounds at a time, then hand or machine roll the dough into a bagel shape.
Here's the key though. Good bagel bakeries, according to the chef, let those trays of bagels sit in a cooler for a couple of days. A process called proofing. This allows the yeast time to slowly ferment and release lots of different flavor compounds, up to 50 different ones.
At Murray's, the bagels come out of the cooler and make one more crucial stop before the oven. The kettle. Boiling the bagels from anywhere from 30 seconds to three minutes pregelatinizes the starch in the dough. This locks liquid water into the solid starch, setting up the perfect bagely texture with that shiny crunchy exterior when they come out of the oven.
It's like flash frying a steak before putting it on the grill. You seal in the flavors and keep the insides chewy delicious. So when people say it's the water that makes the bagel, they might be thinking it's what's in the water itself. But those in the know could actually be referring to this quick bath.
Because if you don't have access to New York water, you can pretty closely replicate it. If your water's too soft, you can add a small amount of calcium sulfate to the dough to toughen up the gluten a bit. If you water's too hard, you can filter it down. But if you're skipping the boil, your bagels just won't be the same.
When it comes to rolling, proofing, boiling, and baking, you can't fake it when you make it.
Reactions took a field trip to the bagel capital of the world to figure out what makes a New York bagel so delicious. We went to the bustling Murray's Bagels in Greenwich Village, and got to go behind the scenes.
Now, while New York's bagel supremacy is well-established, many people seem to disagree on why. For a long time, many insisted it was the one ingredient that comes from the tap. The "wat-ah," as they say, does play a minor role in how New York bagels turn out. The city gets much of its water from about 130 miles away in the Catskill Mountains.
The water from the Catskills is traditionally soft, meaning it has low concentrations of calcium and magnesium. Actually, New York has some of the softest water in the country. The only softer city is Boston. Leading some in Bean Town to shout, "the wahtah in New Yawk is wicked hahd."
Anyway, here's why it makes a difference. The mineral content of water affects the gluten in the dough. Extra hard water strengthens the gluten, which can make for tougher baked goods. If the water's too soft, your dough gets too goopy.
But is it really the H2O that makes the bagel? No. Chef Richard Coppedge of the Culinary Institute of America took us through everything that goes into a great bagel.
For Chef Coppedge, it starts with the dough. Bakers make about 100 pounds at a time, then hand or machine roll the dough into a bagel shape.
Here's the key though. Good bagel bakeries, according to the chef, let those trays of bagels sit in a cooler for a couple of days. A process called proofing. This allows the yeast time to slowly ferment and release lots of different flavor compounds, up to 50 different ones.
At Murray's, the bagels come out of the cooler and make one more crucial stop before the oven. The kettle. Boiling the bagels from anywhere from 30 seconds to three minutes pregelatinizes the starch in the dough. This locks liquid water into the solid starch, setting up the perfect bagely texture with that shiny crunchy exterior when they come out of the oven.
It's like flash frying a steak before putting it on the grill. You seal in the flavors and keep the insides chewy delicious. So when people say it's the water that makes the bagel, they might be thinking it's what's in the water itself. But those in the know could actually be referring to this quick bath.
Because if you don't have access to New York water, you can pretty closely replicate it. If your water's too soft, you can add a small amount of calcium sulfate to the dough to toughen up the gluten a bit. If you water's too hard, you can filter it down. But if you're skipping the boil, your bagels just won't be the same.
When it comes to rolling, proofing, boiling, and baking, you can't fake it when you make it.