About Bagels

* Exported from MasterCook *

ABOUT BAGELS

Recipe By :
Serving Size : 1 Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Breads

Amount Measure Ingredient -- Preparation Method
-------- ------------ --------------------------------
***** NONE *****

What is a bagel?

A bagel is traditionally a hefty, dense ring of
somewhat bland tasting bread. But with different
flours, such as rye and wheat, bagels take on
different tastes. Add raisins, blueberries,
strawberries, dates and nuts for a dessert-like bagel.
Add veggies, onions, poppy seeds, peanut butter and
other ingredients for an infinite variety of taste
combinations.

The popularity of bagels is as much attributed to what
you can put on them and in them as to what you add to
the unbaked dough. They are the perfect vehicles for
spreads. Most often spreads consist of a cream cheese
base that may be mixed with salmon or lox, fruits,
vegetables and spices -- in myriad combinations. There
are regional differences in how bagels are made, and
ongoing arguments about what constitutes the "perfect"
bagel and best spread combination.

The traditional bagel sandwich consists of cream
cheese, lox, a slice of onion and a slice of tomato.
But that's only the beginning. Bagel sandwiches are so
popular that bagel bakeries often list 40 or 50
sandwich variations on their menus. then there are
mini bagels and bialys. For catered bagel brunches,
there are 3- to 6- pound bagels that are filled and
then cut into pie shaped wedges.

Bagels have a lot going for them. They don't crush or
smash while being carried; they don't melt from the
heat or suffer from freezing. They're at their optimum
goodness when fresh and hot from out of the oven, but
they're delicious, too, even when frozen, thawed and
toasted. If they get stale, they can be made into
bagel chips or ground into bread crumbs. They're an
all-around convenient, no-waste food product that is
well suited to today's health conscious consumers.

The plain water bagel is low in calories compared to
other traditional breakfast foods. Estimates as to the
number of calories in a bagel differ, and its size is
a factor. Most bagels weigh 4 to 5 ounces, and tally
up to between 150 to 200 calories. The addition of
nuts, raisins, berries, chocolate chips and other
ingredients will add to the count. I saw a cracked
wheat bagel in a health food store that had 320
calories. Some bagels weigh 6 ounces. Mini bagels may
be 1 to 3 ounces, so the calories vary accordingly.

It's the toppings and spreads that shoot up the
calorie tab, though this can be tempered by using
light and fat-free cheeses, and spreads without
cheese. A whopping dollop of cream cheese slapped onto
each half of a bagel (2 tablespoons of cream cheese
have 10 grams of fat and 100 calories) will wipe out
the innocence of the plain bagel. Two tablespoons of
regular preserves (there are sugar free varieties,
too) can add on 50 calories but no fat. And peanut
butter? Well, you would rather not know, if you're
counting calories and grams of fat.

Still, you're better off with bagels than with a
doughnut, which has 176 calories and 11 grams of fat.
A homemade bran muffin (not the giant restaurant or
bakery size) has 112 calories and 5 grams of fat. A
large croissant has 300 calories, 17 grams of fat and
85 milligrams of cholesterol. The butter will do it
every time. There is no butter in a bagel recipe. Only
egg bagels have cholesterol; even that can be
eliminated using egg whites instead of a whole egg (or
1/4 cup liquid egg substitute). But a sweet roll with
nut and raisin Danish filing, and icing, can top them
all with about 360 calories, 2.3 grams of fat and 82.2
milligrams of cholesterol.

The Best Bagels are made at home Donna Z. Meilach ISBN
1-55867-131-5

Carolyn Shaw April 1996 From: Homenet Cook



- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -