Newbie intro

Newbie intro

Sholem aleykham,

That I post on Shabbat should tip you off that I'm a goy. I am originally
from da Bronx, now living in North Hollywood, CA. My name was Cristofalo,
but my Jewish friends at the Bronx High School of Science (Class of '52)
called me Cristofalberg. I'm still in close contact with one of them.
That's all why I know a very little Yiddish, poorly.

I have a question about bagels. The supermarket bagels here are awful. Can
anyone recommend a place that makes those wonderful bagels I remember from
my youth? Or a recipe handed down from Bobe? My Thai wife, who likes
bagels, although she has only tasted those supermarket ones, said she would
make them for us. I found this recipe. Is it worth making?

A shaynam dank.

nick

**********************************

REAL HONEST JEWISH PURIST'S BAGELS

This is a recipe by my friend Johanne Blank.

Gentle reader, it is assumed that you know from bagels. The bagel, in it's
peripateic history, has moved from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to the
delis of the United States, survived the onslaught of many a foreign
formulation and flavoring, and also has managed to remain relatively
dignified in the face of mass-production, freezing and other procedural
adulterations and bastardizations. In the United States, however, most
people's idea of a bagel seems to be of a vaguely squishy unsweetened
doughnut, possibly with some sort of godawful flavoring mixed into it (with
the "blueberry bagel" being perhaps the most offensive), generally
purchased in lots of six in some supermarket... possibly even frozen. These
are not those bagels.

These bagels are the genuine article. These are the bagels that have
sustained generations of Eastern European Jewish peasants, the bagels that
babies can teethe upon (folk wisdom has it that the hard, chewy crust
encourages strong teeth), the bagels about which writer and humorist Alice
Kahn has so aptly written that bagels are "Jewish courage."

This recipe makes approximately fifteen large bagels, The bagels are made
without eggs, milk or any type of shortening or oil, which makes them
pareve according to Kosher law. These bagels are plain, but I will provide
suggestions as to how you may customize them to your tastes while retaining
their Pristine and Ineffable Nature. May you bake them and eat them in good
health.

INGREDIENTS:

* 6-8 cups bread (high-gluten) flour
* 4 tablespoons dry baking yeast
* 6 tablespoons granulated white sugar or light honey (clover honey is
good)
* 2 teaspoons salt
* 3 cups hot water
* a bit of vegetable oil
* 1 gallon water
* 3-5 tablespoons malt syrup or sugar
* a few handfuls of cornmeal

EQUIPMENT:

* large mixing bowl
* wire whisk
* measuring cups and spoons
* wooden mixing spoon
* butter knife or baker's dough blade
* clean, dry surface for kneading
* 3 clean, dry kitchen towels
* warm, but not hot, place to set dough to rise
* large stockpot
* slotted spoon
* 2 baking sheets

HOW YOU DO IT:

First, pour three cups of hot water into the mixing bowl. The water should
be hot, but not so hot that you can't bear to put your fingers in it for
several seconds at a time. Add the sugar or honey and stir it with your
fingers (a good way to make sure the water is not too hot) or with a wire
whisk to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of the water, and
stir to dissolve.

Wait about ten minutes for the yeast to begin to revive and grow. This is
known as "proofing" the yeast, which simply means that you're checking to
make sure your yeast is viable. Skipping this step could result in your
trying to make bagels with dead yeast, which results in bagels so hard and
potentially dangerous that they are banned under the terms of the Geneva
Convention. You will know that the yeast is okay if it begins to foam and
exude a sweetish, slightly beery smell.

At this point, add about three cups of flour as well as the 2 tsp of salt
to the water and yeast and begin mixing it in. Some people subscribe to the
theory that it is easier to tell what's going on with the dough if you use
your hands rather than a spoon to mix things into the dough, but others
prefer the less physically direct spoon. As an advocate of the
bare-knuckles school of baking, I proffer the following advice: clip your
fingernails, take off your rings and wristwatch, and wash your hands
thoroughly to the elbows, like a surgeon. Then you may dive into the dough
with impunity. I generally use my right hand to mix, so that my left is
free to add flour and other ingredients and to hold the bowl steady.
Left-handed people might find that the reverse works better for them.
Having one hand clean and free to perform various tasks works best.

When you have incorporated the first three cups of flour, the dough should
begin to become thick-ish. Add more flour, a half-cup or so at a time, and
mix each addition thoroughly before adding more flour. As the dough gets
thicker, add less and less flour at a time. Soon you will begin to knead it
by hand (if you're using your hands to mix the dough in the first place,
this segue is hardly noticeable). If you have a big enough and shallow
enough bowl, use it as the kneading bowl, otherwise use that clean, dry,
flat countertop or tabletop mentioned in the "Equipment" list above.
Sprinkle your work surface or bowl with a handful of flour, put your dough
on top, and start kneading. Add bits of flour if necessary to keep the
dough from sticking (to your hands, to the bowl or countertop, etc....).
Soon you should have a nice stiff dough. It will be quite elastic, but
heavy and stiffer than a normal bread dough. Do not make it too dry,
however... it should still give easily and stretch easily without tearing.

Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with one of your clean
kitchen towels, dampened somewhat by getting it wet and then wringing it
out thoroughly. If you swish the dough around in the bowl, you can get the
whole ball of dough covered with a very thin film of oil, which will keep
it from drying out.

Place the bowl with the dough in it in a dry, warm (but not hot) place,
free from drafts. Allow it to rise until doubled in volume. Some people try
to accelerate rising by putting the dough in the oven, where the pilot
lights keep the temperature slightly elevated. If it's cold in your
kitchen, you can try this, but remember to leave the oven door open or it
may become too hot and begin to kill the yeast and cook the dough. An
ambient temperature of about 80 degrees Farenheit (25 centigrades) is ideal
for rising dough.

While the dough is rising, fill your stockpot with about a gallon of water
and set it on the fire to boil. When it reaches a boil, add the malt syrup
or sugar and reduce the heat so that the water just barely simmers; the
surface of the water should hardly move.

Once the dough has risen, turn it onto your work surface, punch it down,
and divide immediately into as many hunks as you want to make bagels. For
this recipe, you will probably end up with about 15 bagels, so you will
divide the dough into 15 roughly even-sized hunks. Begin forming the
bagels. There are two schools of thought on this. One method of bagel
formation involves shaping the dough into a rough sphere, then poking a
hole through the middle with a finger and then pulling at the dough around
the hole to make the bagel. This is the hole-centric method. The
dough-centric method involves making a long cylindrical "snake" of dough
and wrapping it around your hand into a loop and mashing the ends together.
Whatever you like to do is fine. DO NOT, however, give in to the temptation
of using a doughnut or cookie cutter to shape your bagels. This will pusht
them out of the realm of Jewish Bagel Authenticity and give them a
distinctly Protestant air. The bagels will not be perfectly shaped. They
will not be symmetrical. This is normal. This is okay. Enjoy the diversity.
Just like snowflakes, no two genuine bagels are exactly alike.

Begin to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farenheit (200 C).

Once the bagels are formed, let them sit for about 10 minutes. They will
begin to rise slightly. Ideally, they will rise by about one-fourth
volume... a technique called "half-proofing" the dough. At the end of the
half-proofing, drop the bagels into the simmering water one by one. You
don't want to crowd them, and so there should only be two or three bagels
simmering at any given time. The bagels should sink first, then gracefully
float to the top of the simmering water. If they float, it's not a big
deal, but it does mean that you'll have a somewhat more bready (and less
bagely) texture. Let the bagel simmer for about three minutes, then turn
them over with a skimmer or a slotted spoon. Simmer another three minutes,
and then lift the bagels out of the water and set them on a clean kitchen
towel that has been spread on the countertop for this purpose. The bagels
should be pretty and shiny, thanks to the malt syrup or sugar in the
boiling water.

Once all the bagels have been boiled, prepare your baking sheets by
sprinkling them with cornmeal. Then arrange the bagels on the prepared
baking sheets and put them in the oven. Let them bake for about 25 minutes,
then remove from the oven, turn them over and put them back in the oven to
finish baking for about ten minutes more. This will help to prevent
flat-bottomed bagels.

Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks, or on a dry clean towels if
you have no racks. Do not attempt to cut them until they are cool... hot
bagels slice abominably and you'll end up with a wadded mass of bagel pulp.
Don't do it.

Serve with good cream cheese.

TO CUSTOMIZE BAGELS: After boiling but before baking, brush the bagels with
a wash made of 1 egg white and 3 tablespoons ice water beaten together.
Sprinkle with the topping of your choice: poppy, sesame, or caraway seeds,
toasted onion or raw garlic bits, salt or whatever you like. Just remember
that bagels are essentially a savory baked good, not a sweet one, and so
things like fruit and sweet spices are really rather out of place.

From: Carolina Rodriguez (crodrigu@ucs.indiana.edu)

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

____________________________________________________

rec.food.cuisine.jewish recipe archives
< http :// www .cyber-kitchen,com /rfcj>
____________________________________________________

Re: Newbie intro

On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:19:59 -0600, Nick Cramer wrote:

> Sholem aleykham,
>
> That I post on Shabbat should tip you off that I'm a goy. I am
> originally from da Bronx, now living in North Hollywood, CA. My name was
> Cristofalo, but my Jewish friends at the Bronx High School of Science
> (Class of '52) called me Cristofalberg. I'm still in close contact with
> one of them. That's all why I know a very little Yiddish, poorly.
>
> I have a question about bagels. The supermarket bagels here are awful.
> Can anyone recommend a place that makes those wonderful bagels I
> remember from my youth? Or a recipe handed down from Bobe? My Thai wife,
> who likes bagels, although she has only tasted those supermarket ones,
> said she would make them for us. I found this recipe. Is it worth
> making?
>
> A shaynam dank.
>
> nick
>
> **********************************
>
> REAL HONEST JEWISH PURIST'S BAGELS
>
> This is a recipe by my friend Johanne Blank.
>
> Gentle reader, it is assumed that you know from bagels. The bagel, in
> it's peripateic history, has moved from the shtetls of Eastern Europe to
> the delis of the United States, survived the onslaught of many a foreign
> formulation and flavoring, and also has managed to remain relatively
> dignified in the face of mass-production, freezing and other procedural
> adulterations and bastardizations. In the United States, however, most
> people's idea of a bagel seems to be of a vaguely squishy unsweetened
> doughnut, possibly with some sort of godawful flavoring mixed into it
> (with the "blueberry bagel" being perhaps the most offensive), generally
> purchased in lots of six in some supermarket... possibly even frozen.
> These are not those bagels.
>
> These bagels are the genuine article. These are the bagels that have
> sustained generations of Eastern European Jewish peasants, the bagels
> that babies can teethe upon (folk wisdom has it that the hard, chewy
> crust encourages strong teeth), the bagels about which writer and
> humorist Alice Kahn has so aptly written that bagels are "Jewish
> courage."
>
> This recipe makes approximately fifteen large bagels, The bagels are
> made without eggs, milk or any type of shortening or oil, which makes
> them pareve according to Kosher law. These bagels are plain, but I will
> provide suggestions as to how you may customize them to your tastes
> while retaining their Pristine and Ineffable Nature. May you bake them
> and eat them in good health.
>
> INGREDIENTS:
>
> * 6-8 cups bread (high-gluten) flour
> * 4 tablespoons dry baking yeast
> * 6 tablespoons granulated white sugar or light honey (clover honey
> is good)
> * 2 teaspoons salt
> * 3 cups hot water
> * a bit of vegetable oil
> * 1 gallon water
> * 3-5 tablespoons malt syrup or sugar
> * a few handfuls of cornmeal
>
> EQUIPMENT:
>
> * large mixing bowl
> * wire whisk
> * measuring cups and spoons
> * wooden mixing spoon
> * butter knife or baker's dough blade * clean, dry surface for
> kneading
> * 3 clean, dry kitchen towels
> * warm, but not hot, place to set dough to rise * large stockpot
> * slotted spoon
> * 2 baking sheets
>
> HOW YOU DO IT:
>
> First, pour three cups of hot water into the mixing bowl. The water
> should be hot, but not so hot that you can't bear to put your fingers in
> it for several seconds at a time. Add the sugar or honey and stir it
> with your fingers (a good way to make sure the water is not too hot) or
> with a wire whisk to dissolve. Sprinkle the yeast over the surface of
> the water, and stir to dissolve.
>
> Wait about ten minutes for the yeast to begin to revive and grow. This
> is known as "proofing" the yeast, which simply means that you're
> checking to make sure your yeast is viable. Skipping this step could
> result in your trying to make bagels with dead yeast, which results in
> bagels so hard and potentially dangerous that they are banned under the
> terms of the Geneva Convention. You will know that the yeast is okay if
> it begins to foam and exude a sweetish, slightly beery smell.
>
> At this point, add about three cups of flour as well as the 2 tsp of
> salt to the water and yeast and begin mixing it in. Some people
> subscribe to the theory that it is easier to tell what's going on with
> the dough if you use your hands rather than a spoon to mix things into
> the dough, but others prefer the less physically direct spoon. As an
> advocate of the bare-knuckles school of baking, I proffer the following
> advice: clip your fingernails, take off your rings and wristwatch, and
> wash your hands thoroughly to the elbows, like a surgeon. Then you may
> dive into the dough with impunity. I generally use my right hand to mix,
> so that my left is free to add flour and other ingredients and to hold
> the bowl steady. Left-handed people might find that the reverse works
> better for them. Having one hand clean and free to perform various tasks
> works best.
>
> When you have incorporated the first three cups of flour, the dough
> should begin to become thick-ish. Add more flour, a half-cup or so at a
> time, and mix each addition thoroughly before adding more flour. As the
> dough gets thicker, add less and less flour at a time. Soon you will
> begin to knead it by hand (if you're using your hands to mix the dough
> in the first place, this segue is hardly noticeable). If you have a big
> enough and shallow enough bowl, use it as the kneading bowl, otherwise
> use that clean, dry, flat countertop or tabletop mentioned in the
> "Equipment" list above. Sprinkle your work surface or bowl with a
> handful of flour, put your dough on top, and start kneading. Add bits of
> flour if necessary to keep the dough from sticking (to your hands, to
> the bowl or countertop, etc....). Soon you should have a nice stiff
> dough. It will be quite elastic, but heavy and stiffer than a normal
> bread dough. Do not make it too dry, however... it should still give
> easily and stretch easily without tearing.
>
> Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl, and cover with one of your
> clean kitchen towels, dampened somewhat by getting it wet and then
> wringing it out thoroughly. If you swish the dough around in the bowl,
> you can get the whole ball of dough covered with a very thin film of
> oil, which will keep it from drying out.
>
> Place the bowl with the dough in it in a dry, warm (but not hot) place,
> free from drafts. Allow it to rise until doubled in volume. Some people
> try to accelerate rising by putting the dough in the oven, where the
> pilot lights keep the temperature slightly elevated. If it's cold in
> your kitchen, you can try this, but remember to leave the oven door open
> or it may become too hot and begin to kill the yeast and cook the dough.
> An ambient temperature of about 80 degrees Farenheit (25 centigrades) is
> ideal for rising dough.
>
> While the dough is rising, fill your stockpot with about a gallon of
> water and set it on the fire to boil. When it reaches a boil, add the
> malt syrup or sugar and reduce the heat so that the water just barely
> simmers; the surface of the water should hardly move.
>
> Once the dough has risen, turn it onto your work surface, punch it down,
> and divide immediately into as many hunks as you want to make bagels.
> For this recipe, you will probably end up with about 15 bagels, so you
> will divide the dough into 15 roughly even-sized hunks. Begin forming
> the bagels. There are two schools of thought on this. One method of
> bagel formation involves shaping the dough into a rough sphere, then
> poking a hole through the middle with a finger and then pulling at the
> dough around the hole to make the bagel. This is the hole-centric
> method. The dough-centric method involves making a long cylindrical
> "snake" of dough and wrapping it around your hand into a loop and
> mashing the ends together. Whatever you like to do is fine. DO NOT,
> however, give in to the temptation of using a doughnut or cookie cutter
> to shape your bagels. This will pusht them out of the realm of Jewish
> Bagel Authenticity and give them a distinctly Protestant air. The bagels
> will not be perfectly shaped. They will not be symmetrical. This is
> normal. This is okay. Enjoy the diversity. Just like snowflakes, no two
> genuine bagels are exactly alike.
>
> Begin to preheat the oven to 400 degrees Farenheit (200 C).
>
> Once the bagels are formed, let them sit for about 10 minutes. They will
> begin to rise slightly. Ideally, they will rise by about one-fourth
> volume... a technique called "half-proofing" the dough. At the end of
> the half-proofing, drop the bagels into the simmering water one by one.
> You don't want to crowd them, and so there should only be two or three
> bagels simmering at any given time. The bagels should sink first, then
> gracefully float to the top of the simmering water. If they float, it's
> not a big deal, but it does mean that you'll have a somewhat more bready
> (and less bagely) texture. Let the bagel simmer for about three minutes,
> then turn them over with a skimmer or a slotted spoon. Simmer another
> three minutes, and then lift the bagels out of the water and set them on
> a clean kitchen towel that has been spread on the countertop for this
> purpose. The bagels should be pretty and shiny, thanks to the malt syrup
> or sugar in the boiling water.
>
> Once all the bagels have been boiled, prepare your baking sheets by
> sprinkling them with cornmeal. Then arrange the bagels on the prepared
> baking sheets and put them in the oven. Let them bake for about 25
> minutes, then remove from the oven, turn them over and put them back in
> the oven to finish baking for about ten minutes more. This will help to
> prevent flat-bottomed bagels.
>
> Remove from the oven and cool on wire racks, or on a dry clean towels if
> you have no racks. Do not attempt to cut them until they are cool... hot
> bagels slice abominably and you'll end up with a wadded mass of bagel
> pulp. Don't do it.
>
> Serve with good cream cheese.
>
> TO CUSTOMIZE BAGELS: After boiling but before baking, brush the bagels
> with a wash made of 1 egg white and 3 tablespoons ice water beaten
> together. Sprinkle with the topping of your choice: poppy, sesame, or
> caraway seeds, toasted onion or raw garlic bits, salt or whatever you
> like. Just remember that bagels are essentially a savory baked good, not
> a sweet one, and so things like fruit and sweet spices are really rather
> out of place.
>
> From: Carolina Rodriguez (crodrigu@ucs.indiana.edu)

Google for a Kosher Bakery, there must be a number of them in LA. One
step down would be one of the bagel chains, Einstein Bros is actually
pretty decent.

____________________________________________________

rec.food.cuisine.jewish recipe archives
< http :// www .cyber-kitchen,com /rfcj>
____________________________________________________

Re: Newbie intro

General Schvantzkopf <schvantzkopf@yahoo,com > wrote:
> On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:19:59 -0600, Nick Cramer wrote:
[ . . . [
> Google for a Kosher Bakery, there must be a number of them in LA. One
> step down would be one of the bagel chains, Einstein Bros is actually
> pretty decent.

Thanks!!! I'm denser than a supermarket bagel! I know from Google. After
you woke me up, I found the Continental Kosher Bakery, just one block
before the Cafe Eilat and Apple Pie Mountain Bakery. I have to pass it to
go there. Duh.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

____________________________________________________

rec.food.cuisine.jewish recipe archives
< http :// www .cyber-kitchen,com /rfcj>
____________________________________________________

Kosher Bakers and Bagels (was Re: Newbie intro)

General Schvantzkopf wrote:
> On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:19:59 -0600, Nick Cramer wrote:
>
>> I have a question about bagels. The supermarket bagels here are awful.
>> Can anyone recommend a place that makes those wonderful bagels I
>> remember from my youth? ....

> Google for a Kosher Bakery, there must be a number of them in LA....

It's my grandfather's yahrtzeit this week, and you're making me think of
him. When I was a kid, I lived off and on with my grandparents in
Bakersfield, California. Sigmund was a master baker in a kosher bakery
in Los Angeles--my family had had a bakery in Toronto--and commuted 3
days a week on, 3 days off. Because of the hours involved (apparently
he had 12-14 hour shifts, beginning at 2:00am) I didn't see him the
first day home--he was sleeping, and most of the second as well.

I once asked his sister, still surviving, for the family bagel recipe.
She asked me, "do you want the small recipe or the big one?" I said,
knowing it was for home use, "the small one." She replied... "OK...
first get about 10 pounds of flour and a couple of gallons of water...."
<G>.

Once a year or so, we'd convince him to take a "busman's holiday,"
little did we know it really wasn't that much fun for him because it's
what he was doing all week long but to give us some pleasure he'd
consent to make bagels at home. My grandmother hated it. He'd have
ropes of dough just about everywhere, on the backs of chairs, hanging
off doorknobs, over the tops of doors, on the dining room table... And
of course, she was cleaning up stray flour for the next two weeks.

She was visiting one of her sisters who'd settled in LA and took my
brother and I to visit him in the bakery. I remember seeing him, while
he was talking to us, reaching into what seemed to me at the time a
Grand Canyon of a vat and pulling out perfectly matched handfuls of
dough for tsibblekuchen (onion rolls) to rise on trays. Each one the
same size and weight, just doing it entirely by feel.

B/, moderator hat off




rec.food.cuisine.jewish recipe archives
< http :// www .cyber-kitchen,com /rfcj>

Re: Kosher Bakers and Bagels (was Re: Newbie intro)

Brian Mailman <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote:
> General Schvantzkopf wrote:
> > On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:19:59 -0600, Nick Cramer wrote:
> >
> >> I have a question about bagels. The supermarket bagels here are awful.
> >> Can anyone recommend a place that makes those wonderful bagels I
> >> remember from my youth? ....
>
> > Google for a Kosher Bakery, there must be a number of them in LA....
>
> It's my grandfather's yahrtzeit this week, and you're making me think of
> him. [ . . . ]

It's good that you should think of your Zayde on his Yahrzeit.

Thanks for sharing your memories of him.

Zay gezunt.

--
Nick. Support severely wounded and disabled Veterans and their families!
I've known US vets who served as far back as the Spanish American War. They
are all my heroes! Thank a Veteran and Support Our Troops. You are not
forgotten. Thanks ! ! ~Semper Fi~

____________________________________________________

rec.food.cuisine.jewish recipe archives
< http :// www .cyber-kitchen,com /rfcj>
____________________________________________________

Re: Kosher Bakers and Bagels (was Re: Newbie intro)

Nick Cramer wrote:
> Brian Mailman <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote:
>> General Schvantzkopf wrote:
>>> On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:19:59 -0600, Nick Cramer wrote:
>>>
>>>> I have a question about bagels. The supermarket bagels here are awful.
>>>> Can anyone recommend a place that makes those wonderful bagels I
>>>> remember from my youth? ....
>>> Google for a Kosher Bakery, there must be a number of them in LA....
>> It's my grandfather's yahrtzeit this week, and you're making me think of
>> him. [ . . . ]
>
> It's good that you should think of your Zayde on his Yahrzeit.
>
> Thanks for sharing your memories of him.
>
> Zay gezunt.
>

The secret to bagels is the water. There are stories abroad about a
baker outside of New York City who paid a chemist to duplicate New York
City water so that the bagels would taste like those made in NYC.

Years ago a fellow opened a bagel bakery in Atlantic City thinking he'd
get the early morning gambling traffic on their way home. He didn't do
very well until he started having tanker-loads of water delivered from NYC.

We have traveled all over North America (we lived in an RV for 9 years
and were truly "wandering Jews") and there is no where other than New
York City, not even New Jersey, where one can purchase a great bagel.

Don't get me started on bread and pizza :-)
--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life



rec.food.cuisine.jewish recipe archives
< http :// www .cyber-kitchen,com /rfcj>

Re: Kosher Bakers and Bagels (was Re: Newbie intro)

On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:17:09 CST, in rec.food.cuisine.jewish , Janet
Wilder <kelliepoodle@yahoo,com > in <473B29B4.2000007@yahoo,com > wrote:

>Nick Cramer wrote:
>> Brian Mailman <bmailman@sfo.invalid> wrote:
>>> General Schvantzkopf wrote:
>>>> On Sun, 11 Nov 2007 10:19:59 -0600, Nick Cramer wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> I have a question about bagels. The supermarket bagels here are awful.
>>>>> Can anyone recommend a place that makes those wonderful bagels I
>>>>> remember from my youth? ....
>>>> Google for a Kosher Bakery, there must be a number of them in LA....
>>> It's my grandfather's yahrtzeit this week, and you're making me think of
>>> him. [ . . . ]
>>
>> It's good that you should think of your Zayde on his Yahrzeit.
>>
>> Thanks for sharing your memories of him.
>>
>> Zay gezunt.
>>
>
>The secret to bagels is the water. There are stories abroad about a
>baker outside of New York City who paid a chemist to duplicate New York
>City water so that the bagels would taste like those made in NYC.
>
>Years ago a fellow opened a bagel bakery in Atlantic City thinking he'd
>get the early morning gambling traffic on their way home. He didn't do
>very well until he started having tanker-loads of water delivered from NYC.
>
>We have traveled all over North America (we lived in an RV for 9 years
>and were truly "wandering Jews") and there is no where other than New
>York City, not even New Jersey, where one can purchase a great bagel.
>
>Don't get me started on bread and pizza :-)

Or pastrami, which also depends on the water. I know that sounds silly
to some, but it is important. I used to make my own beer at home.
There was a long article in _Zymurgy_ (not simply the last magazine
alphabetically) about how to test your tap water. And another article
in a local brewing mag on which areas were serviced by which water
source. Water chemistry is important.

--
Matt Silberstein

Do something today about the Darfur Genocide

http :// www .beawitness.org
http :// www .darfurgenocide.org
http :// www .savedarfur.org

"Darfur: A Genocide We can Stop"

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Re: Kosher Bakers and Bagels (was Re: Newbie intro)

On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:17:09 CST, Janet Wilder
<kelliepoodle@yahoo,com > wrote:

>We have traveled all over North America (we lived in an RV for 9 years
>and were truly "wandering Jews") and there is no where other than New
>York City, not even New Jersey, where one can purchase a great bagel.

After all, bagels were invented in New York, weren't they?

Regards
--
David Uri.
Please visit my town - http :// allezblancs.miniville,fr
Every visitor increases the population by one.
Email: daviduriVEST@bigfoot,com (remove VEST to reply)
Facebook: http :// profile.to/daviduri

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Re: Kosher Bakers and Bagels (was Re: Newbie intro)

David Uri wrote:
> On Wed, 14 Nov 2007 17:17:09 CST, Janet Wilder
> <kelliepoodle@yahoo,com > wrote:
>
>> We have traveled all over North America (we lived in an RV for 9 years
>> and were truly "wandering Jews") and there is no where other than New
>> York City, not even New Jersey, where one can purchase a great bagel.
>
> After all, bagels were invented in New York, weren't they?
>
> Regards

The family legends say that my great-grandfather was a baker in the city
of Bialystok. Tantas said he made bagels.

My generation questions: was he a baker from Bialystok, or a bialystok
baker?

Any good soufganiot recipes out there? Chanukah approaches.
--
Janet Wilder
Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
Good Friends. Good Life



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Re: Kosher Bakers and Bagels (was Re: Newbie intro)

Brian,
Thanks for sharing about your zayde....,es pecially on his Yahrtzeit...you've
given him naches "over there."

signman


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