What does a bagel call its grandfather? Poppy!

January 8, 2022 3:28 PM

How Many Bagels Does It Take to Keep a Place in Business? - The NYTimes talks to Montreal's St. Viateur and NYC's Ess-a-Bagel about keeping the dough coming in and sending the dough out
posted by They sucked his brains out! (8 comments total)

Great article. Respect to the bagel makers! I worked in a bakery for a few years, and the bagel guys would roll them out two at a time, one with each hand - at high speed - for hours at a time.
posted by niicholas at 11:03 PM on January 8, 2022

The graphics are lovely in this article, they go well together.
posted by storybored at 9:43 AM on January 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Cf The Secrets of New York's Best Bagel — Handmade
posted by BWA at 9:58 AM on January 9, 2022 [2 favorites]

I don’t understand why text was skipped over for “writing”. Reading the “hand written” style is rough for me and seemingly breaks reader view.
posted by Geckwoistmeinauto at 12:25 PM on January 9, 2022

OMG, I worked in a state-wide sized bagel factory once upon a time. Big mixer varying up to 150 pounds of flour, 3 former machines, churned out enough bagels for half a dozen outlets and many if not most of the grocery store bagel from the bin bagels. I can't even imagine how many bagels/day we made. Fun long story that's probably elsewhere here previously.

Heading back to flat and flatmates every day with a humongous bag of fresh (made 'em myself) bagels everyday... priceless.
posted by zengargoyle at 1:50 PM on January 9, 2022 [1 favorite]

Interesting, there really was an article! I am a Times subscriber on Kindle and a) on Kindle there was no article—just credits and a picture and b) they won’t let me read it online, the same as they never include recipes—just teaser text about how great they are. I was annoyed so I sent them an email, which is just as useful as writing a comment on a flat stone and skipping it as far as you can.

The Times sucks.
posted by Gilgamesh's Chauffeur at 9:34 PM on January 9, 2022

Bagels are labor-intensive without equipment and this article made me wish I lived in a city where you could just, like, walk into a store and buy an acceptable one.

Alas.

I will keep toiling in my kitchen alone, making a dozen or two at a time. I have never had a Montreal-style bagel! Husband informs me that mine are pretty legit NYC style even if they are occasionally lacking in holes. I am definitely not at the two-bagels-at-once stage of manufacture despite a lot of practice.
posted by charmedimsure at 12:21 AM on January 10, 2022 [1 favorite]

Cf The Secrets of New York's Best Bagel — Handmade

Great vid, thanks!
posted by They sucked his brains out! at 10:53 AM on January 10, 2022