j-lu

Thanks everyone for the warm welcome! Beside my day job I also adore eating good food, so I'm really looking forward to participating in the forum! My kinda folks! Some answers: Yes, there are regional adjustments for bagels. (The real puffy ones are known as "West Coast" or "California" Bagels in the trade). Since we started out in March, I've met a lot of people who thought bagels were exclusively breakfast food and should be consumed with coffee -- like a donut. This is why, at first, the best selling flavors were plain and all the "tutti fruities". Over the course of the months, we've made a point of turning customers on to other flavors (I often choose the 13th bagel for customers, since I pay for them, after all!). I do think customers are learning to appreciate the more traditional flavors -- for a few months running, the second best selling flavor has been Everything. What a contrast to Cranberry Walnut! We also try to show that bagels make great lunch as well. PS. we do make Salt bagels -- pressed into kosher salt before proofing and baking. If you need more than 1/2 dozen, or want them right out of the oven, call ahead of time. Almost no one boils bagels any more. One second too short or long in the water means BAD bagels. It's also messy and dangerous, so beside the difficulty of finding bakers willing to do the work, you can't get workman's comp insurance. We, like many others, use a steam-injection oven. Mine was manufactured in Paramus, NJ and my Manhattan-dwelling sales rep flew down to fire it up, season it and teach us how to use it. These ovens can be set to provide a variety of finishes to bagels. The main differences between puffy and dense bagels are: the quantity of yeast in the dough, the proofing time (rising) and oven adjustment. Another interesting thing was the hardness of the water at our location, which tended to weigh all the doughs down. The first batches were like lead and all the recipes needed to be tweaked! The water also dulls the sheen a bit -- like it does to dishes. Looking forward to meeting some of you in the near future!

This is my first-ever post! I own The Bagel Works and wanted thank Jaymes for coming by, checking us out and helping spread the word. I'm originally from the City and grew up mostly in Jersey. I was forewarned by the former owner of a (now nearly defunct) local bagel chain that "purist" NY bagels wouldn't fly here because the Texan taste finds them "too hard". We strive to make the best bagel in Texas while not straying too far from the NY fray. We also strive to stay in business! We recently added kaiser rolls (hand made) and croissants to satisfy the local soft bread palate! Our bagel has a traditional NY taste and a crust with a life of its own. Certain flavors have a more traditional density while others (read, "Blueberry, et. al.") are slightly more puffy. We also feature a variety of breakfast and lunch items including one homemade soup daily. We fly lox in from Brooklyn and can order any kind of smoked fish, whitefish salad, etc. upon request. We also make chopped liver to order -- approved by my mom on a recent visit. We have a growing group of NY- and Chicago-area regulars which is heartening. Though Cedar Park is a tad out of hand for Austin, I wanted to invite everyone (Mon-Sat 6:30-3, Sun 7:30-2). Mention e-gullet and you'll get 50 cents off. We're on 1431, just east of 183 in The Railyard shopping center. Jennifer