Why are there holes in Bagels?

Question

Nice simple one if you know the Answer... what is the history of the Hole....To be filled away with a bakers dozen?

Answer 1

that's actually a good question...always kind of bugged me

just thought, well if you're going to have a sodding sandwich you might aswell have a full one...

Answer 2

Montrealers did not always have Montreal bagels. Once there was a baker in that city who wanted to find something different to serve his customers. Croissants, hamentachen, cookies they all knew. But what could he make that was different?

So the baker set off to see what he could find. He walked for many days until he came to a small town. He went straight to the bakery. He looked at this bakery’s croissants, hamentachen, and cookies – the baker was getting very hungry after such a walk – but then suddenly something reminded him of his important mission – to find something different to serve his customers. What he saw was round, like a yarmulke, but with a hole in the middle and a ring of dough around the hole! The woman there told him it was a bagel and he ordered 10 or so with a cup of tea.

The baker had never eaten anything so delicious. Sweet and chewy, perfect with the smoked salmon she served. He asked the woman if she would explain to him how she made these wonderful things called bagels. So she showed him just how she mixed the dough and kneaded and rolled it into round shapes, joining the ends together. She boiled the bagels in hot water and baked them over a fire in her brick oven. They smelled so good fresh that the baker ate another 12, warm and crispy!

When the woman asked if he understood all the parts of the bagel recipe, the baker said yes but he didn’t understand how she got the holes in the bagels. So the woman decided to play a joke - and sell some more of her bagels. She said, “Oh the holes, that’s easy. I come from a long line of bakers. My mother left me all her bagel holes, which she got from my grandmother who was also a bagel baker and so on going way back. I tell you what – I will sell you some bagels with some bagel holes. Then you can take them home to Montreal and you will always have bagel holes to go with the recipe I have given you.”

So the baker bought 12 dozen bagels on 3 strings, which makes four hundred and thirty-two bagels - and 432 bagel holes. When he got to the top of Mount Royal in Montreal he was getting very tired from carrying all these bagels, and he thought, “ Well they’re round, I’ll just roll the bagels down the hill and pick them up at the bottom.” But some dogs on Mount Royal, who are always there walking with their owners, ate up all 432 bagels. And they ate the holes too!

The baker didn’t know what to do. He thought and he thought and finally, he had an idea! He drew circles on his baker’s board and made his bagels around the holes, and boiled them and baked them in his special fire and brick oven. Then, who knew, one day he dropped raisins in by mistake, and Montrealers have been eating many different kinds of bagels ever since….

Answer 3

An oft-repeated story states that the bagel originated in 1683 in Vienna, Austria, when a local Jewish baker created them as a gift for King Jan III Sobieski of Poland to commemorate the King's victory over the Turks that year. The baked good was fashioned in the form of a stirrup (or horseshoe or saddle, tales vary) to commemorate the victorious cavalry charge. That the name bagel originated from beugal (stirrup) is considered plausible by many, both from the similarities of the word and due to the fact that traditional handmade bagels are not perfectly circular but rather slightly stirrup-shaped.

Answer 4

Same reason there are holes in donuts. Before the hole was cut out, the dough in the middle would not cook all the way through and was still doughy. So some wise baker cut the center out, decreasing the cooking time, and the bagel was cooked all the way through to perfection.

Answer 5

There are holes in bagels because the dough is initially formed into a cylindrical shape, then the ends are joined :-)

Answer 6

I dont know, maybe people look at the overall size of it and dont realise they are being diddled by the middle being taken out. Just think of how much money the manufacturers are making by using the middles to make more holey bagels!

Answer 7

Because they need a way to compete with the donut.

Answer 8

because the baker puts it there

Answer 9

To confuse you of course!!! And to totally mes up the cream cheese.

Answer 10

So you can put it on your finger and nibble away at it turning it as you bite it