Homemade Bagels Montreal Style Recipe - An Italian in my Kitchen (2024)

FAQs

What makes a Montreal bagel different? ›

In contrast to the New York–style bagel, the Montreal bagel is smaller, thinner, sweeter and denser, with a larger hole, and is always baked in a wood-fired oven. It contains malt, egg, and no salt, and is boiled in honey-sweetened water before being baked.

When too much flour is kneaded in, bagels become dense, hard and tough, instead of crisp and chewy. It can easily take 10 minutes of mixing and kneading before the right texture and gluten strength is achieved. This is what the inside of a well-made bagel should look like.

It's a long-standing rivalry that has resurfaced for debate thanks to this new, already extremely popular bagel shop. New York-style bagels are soft, chewy and doughy. Montreal-style bagels, on the other hand, are smaller, denser and sweeter.

The Montreal Bagel Bakery, as it was called, was founded by Isadore Shlafman and Hyman Seligman. They went on to establish Fairmount Bagel and St-Viateur Bagel Shop, respectively. The bagel originated in Poland. The sweet dough made its way to Montreal with Jewish immigrants coming to Canada.

Compared to a “New York style bagel”, what makes the Montréal bagel the far superior is that, not only is each single bagel is made by hand, but they are poached in honey water before being baked in a wood-fire burning oven. This cooking process gives the bagel its distinctive chewiness, golden color and crust.

Montreal bakeries typically stick to simple flavors like plain, sesame, poppyseed and everything (or "fully dressed" as they call it). Montrealers prefer to eat their bagels plain and warm from the oven, though shops do sell Philadelphia cream cheese for dipping if you prefer.

Bread flour – Because of its high protein content, bread flour makes these homemade bagels delightfully chewy. This recipe also works with all-purpose flour, they're just a bit less chewy than bagels made with bread flour. Maple syrup – It activates the yeast and gives the bagels a hint of sweetness.

According to Molly, “If the bagels proof too much, they'll deflate in the water bath.” If you're keeping an eye on your dough, she advises pulling it a little too early rather than a little too late (and definitely before they double in size), as it's better to be underproofed.

Montreal style bagels are boiled in honey and water, resulting in a sweeter taste. They are, however, cooked in wood-fired ovens giving them a deeper and crunchier crust. They are thinner and smaller than a New York style bagel while being doughy and dense.

The Bagel Time reports that what makes the Montreal bagel unique is that it is always handmade and cooked in a wood-fired oven. Yep, this bagel is always hot and fresh. Another difference between the Montreal and the New York bagel is that the Montreal's dough is much denser and sweeter.

Are Montreal bagels healthier? ›

The Montreal bagel has a calorie range of 120-220. This means it is definitely healthier than other versions of a bagel. Some people, when eating the New York style bagel scoop out the interiors and just eat the crust.

Its very small bagels are made in a wood-burning oven and sweetened with honey. They do not need to be toasted if they are eaten within four hours of being purchased (why anyone would wait that long is beyond me). After four hours, Montreal bagels join the ranks of need-to-be-toasted bagels.

Bagels have been widely associated with Ashkenazi Jews since the 17th century; they were first mentioned in 1610 in Jewish community ordinances in Kraków, Poland. Bagels are now a popular bread product in North America and Poland, especially in cities with a large Jewish population.

Bagels were created as a smaller, individually sized version of a popular ring-shaped bread known as obwarzanek. The most popular of their wares was a boiled, lean, ring-shaped bread known as obwarzanek.

Montreal and New York City are both known for their bagels. I've lived in New York since 2021, and have eaten plenty. I also recently tried them in Montreal. I found Montreal's sweet, dense bagels to be better than New York City's large, doughy ones.