Wegmans 3 bagels “off the rack.” May 25, 2018
BY: Paul Goldfinger, Editor @Blogfinger.net:
Since Blogfinger was founded in 2009, we have intermittently written about bagels. Our most common theme usually has been a debate as to where the best bagels in the Ocean Grove metropolitan area could be found.
I am biased because I go to Wegmans most mornings for one of their coffees (I favor the “House Blend” and a sesame bagel.) Their bagels are very fine, but they are, honestly, not a pure relative of the traditional lower East Side (European origin— Jewish/Polish) New York bagel. Wegmans doesn’t make and hand roll their bagel dough. And there are some other differences.
However, they do take bagel making seriously. One time I met their head bagel-baker who was visiting the Ocean store from the Rochester headquarters. He was so happy to meet someone who cared about the details that he fussed with every day of his life, and he was checking on the Wegman product and their equipment: especially the baking oven and boiling vat.
I like the fact that their bagels are not as fat as your head, unlike many bagel bakeries around including the highly regarded Hot Bagel place on Monmouth Road in Oakhurst (see our link below).
Wegmans receives their raw bagels by truck—frozen I believe. Special dough and design are created in Rochester. Then they boil them and rest them overnight, finally coating and baking them very early on the morning in which they will be sold.
What I don’t like over there, and my personal chef Eileen (who herself is a Wegwoman) agrees, is that they underbake their bagels leaving them yellowish- tan in color with a sort of mushy crust; ie, the outer crust has little crunch. They do this to maintain the shelf life of their bagels which tend to sell out by the end of the day. You can get around that issue by toasting them.
But for me, the Weg-bakers create one custom bagel a day which has a dark brown outside that is perfectly crunchy while remaining chewy inside. No toasting is necessary. They do that by keeping it in the oven for an extra 10-15 minutes. And they will do it for you if you ask, but you have to be there when they are baking—early in the morning. The other approach is to look through their bagel selection (it is available for you to pick and choose on your own) and you can often find some that are well done—like the three off the rack in the photo above.
Custom bagel at Wegmans. Just right! Blogfinger photo. ©
In recent decades, the lowly bagel has become an American breakfast roll with a hole. You can find bagel stores everywhere, but their quality can vary quite a bit. And still, the best bagels come from New York City. You can actually have New York bagels shipped to you. Check out “Gold Belly.”
Here is a link to one of our bagel posts. Find out about the “Hot Bagel Bakery:”
BILLY JOEL: