O bagelry, bagelry! A bagel by any other city would taste as sweet: NYC-Style Double Blueberry Bagels

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NYC-style Double Blueberry Bagels

There is a feel about the Mile-End you can wrap around your shoulders like a blanket. It hangs in the air with the hiccuping laughter of children running around; it walks the streets peppered with artisan shops and stands under the external, precariously winding stairways that twist away from sidewalks like climbing roses, slippery iron adventures emblematic of Le Plateau's old apartment buildings.

In summertime, the district morphs into a chimera of half-neighborhood and half-telltale orange cones of road blocks. However, if you manage to navigate your way up to Parc Saint-Michel, instead of the tumultuous waters of traffic caused by Montreal's iconic construction activities, the rear side of Boulevard Saint-Laurent offers a different view: rivulets of smaller, calmer, cyclists-based streets branch off like a set of arterioles. Mature broadleaf trees scattered along the sidewalks provide a shady sanctuary from the asphalt furnace of bigger avenues. As fellow pedestrians brush past, sunlight pours down the canopy in shivering, dappled pools of spilled honey, warm without the scorching thick weight of dry heat.

Tucked in the back-end of one of those streets, Rue Fairmount, is a little shop, a little out of the way and a little easily missed. However, the toasty, faintly sweet aroma of Montreal bagels fills the air a couple of meters ahead and should act as your olfactory GPS for the rest of the way. The storefront is quite small, modest with only a pair of painted wooden doors carving out an entrance and a signboard tucked in its red brick facade. "La Maison de l'Original Fairmount Bagel", it asserts. Their entryway is a cavalcade of packaged bagels, all in immaculate stacks, with a refrigerated assortment of cream cheese tubs and spreads thrown in on the right wall for good measure. The shop was empty of customers at the time, but as I waited for my order I could hear the rhythmic, floured pat-pat of a hand-rolled rope of dough being thrown against the countertop somewhere inside. Despite its humble appearance, the bakery is one of the two famous bagel joints in Montreal (the other being St-Viateur Bagel) and features among the strongest contenders in the age-old NYC VS MTL bagelry. 

Fairmount Bagel - Photo Source: Kettleman's Bagel Co.

 Compared to NYC bagels, the Montreal counterpart is more compact, sweeter and more toothsome. Fairmount's bagels have a crackled, sesame-freckled crust well-caramelized all over and a yeasty, almost creamy carb flesh when fresh out of the wood-fired oven. In contrast, the NY goods are known for their glorious gluten chewiness, a glossy bagel carapace that stops just short of a crunch and a softer, puffier dough whose size is worthy of Obélix the Gaul. 

I am more of a rolled oats person, but I do enjoy an occasional blueberry bagel craving - the best kinds with a shmear of nut butter on top. A lot of people eat the Montreal bagel plain as you would a hot pretzel, but I personally prefer a daub of spread to contrast with the crunch of a good bite. That alone probably already makes me a red herring to the locals. In my opinion, both bagel styles have winning attributes and I'd love to taste one at NY's Black Seed Bagel Shop, whose owners sought to combine both characteristics to create a middle ground hybrid. That being said, I have to admit that despite liking to munch on a Fairmount bagel while waiting in line at my favourite ice cream parlor a few steps beside, if I have to take a stance I rally behind the NY camp of bagelry (I'm sorry). In the chewy VS crunchy debate, I'm the kind of gal who prefers to challenge her jaws rather than her teeth. A good chew always wins me over. 

This Double Blueberry Bagel recipe is exactly the kind that will give you that texture - Double, because there are blueberries both incorporated, puréed, in the dough and embedded as little dried fruit gems in it. I wouldn't go as far as saying that it's NYC-style authentic, but I experimented with various boiling times to get my ideal kind of thick, chewy crust and fluffy interior. If you find the shell too chewy, reduce the boiling time by 20-30 seconds, and vice-versa. However, be warned that this crust is already on the chewier spectrum of NY bagels.   
Plenty O' Bluebagelries :P 

NYC-Style Double Blueberry Bagels
Adapted from Sophisticated Gourmet

Portions: 8 medium-sized bagels (the size of a hand palm)

 Ingredients:

 2 teaspoon active dry yeast
1 tablespoon sugar
125 ml (1/2 cup) lukewarm water
500g (3 1/2 cups) bread flour
1/3 cup blueberry reduction (recipe below)
1 cup dried blueberries
100 ml warm water for the kneading stage
Baking soda for the boiling stage

 Blueberry reduction (makes 1/3 cup):1/2 cup blueberries
2 teaspoon sugar
1 tablespoon water

 Preparation:

1. In a small bowl, stir the sugar and lukewarm together (really make sure the water is warm, and not hot or the yeast will die - literally). Sprinkle the dry yeast over the sugared water and set aside until the mixture is frothy. Do not stir. Imagine the yeast granules as tiny little beings feeding on those sugar particles - they'll want to enjoy their meal in peace.

2. Meanwhile, prepare the blueberry reduction: in a small saucepan, combine the blueberries, sugar and water. Bring to a boil and cook it at that temperature for 3 minutes, stirring continuously. Then, reduce the heat to low-medium and simmer the mixture until it reduces in volume and thickens. Scrape the bottom of the saucepan frequently to prevent the fruit sugars from burning. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool. You should have about 1/3 cup of blueberry reduction.

Step 2: Blueberry reduction

3. In the large bowl of a stand-mixer fitted with a dough hook attachment, combine the salt and bread flour together. Make a well in the middle and pour in the frothy yeast mixture. Mix on low until part of the flour starts to incorporate into a misshapen, shedding blob. 

4. Drizzle in the blueberry reduction. Increase the speed to medium-low and mix until there is almost no more loose flour and the dough blobs starts to become a decent ball. Add the dried blueberries. 

5. Gradually add in the remaining warm water, 1 tablespoon at the time, as needed (However, wait at least 5 minutes before doing this to allow your dough to pass through the stiff/shredded stage - it will smooth out, and that's when you'll know how much water you need to add). Knead the dough until it is supple and elastic. It should feel somewhat firm, and no longer sticky or tacky. 

Kneaded blueberry-filled bagel dough :) 

6. Transfer the dough to a lightly oiled bowl, rolling it around to evenly coat it. Cover loosely with a plastic wrap or damp towel and let rise in a warm place for at least 1 hour, or until the dough has doubled in size. 

Puffy risen bagel dough

7. Punch the risen dough and divide it into 8 equal portions (I usually go by weight). Shape each portion into a ball, rolling it between your palms or against a lightly floured cutting board. 

8. To create the bagel hole, every blogger has their little tricks: I use a chopstick. Coat the end of your chopstick in flour and press it into the center of a bagel ball. Push the chopstick all the way through the hole, until the dough hangs in the middle of the chopstick's length. With both hands, hold the two ends of your chopstick horizontally and do small rotating motions to swing the dough ball back and forth around the chopstick. This will stretch the hole to create your bagel ring. Keep doing the motion until the bagel hole reaches the size that you want. Remove the dough ring from the chopstick and place on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. Repeat for remaining dough balls. 

Step 8A: Creating the bagel hole

Step 8B: Poke the chopstick all the way through

Step 8C: Choptick hole stretched out into a full-grown bagel ring
:') snif. They grow up so fast.

9. After shaping the bagel dough rings and placing them on the cookie sheet, loosely cover them with a plastic wrap again and let them rest for 15-30 minutes. 

10. While your bagels go through their 2nd rise, prepare the boiling water. Fill a large cooking pot with water and, for every 4 liters of water, add a 1 tablespoon of baking soda. Bring to a boil, then reduce and maintain the temperature at a simmering point. 

11. Using a slotted spatula, transfer as many bagels as you are comfortable boiling into the pot without overcrowding the surface of the water. The dough rings should have room to bob around. If the dough rose properly, the bagels should float almost immediately or shortly after having lowered them in the water. Let them float on one given side for 2 minutes, then flip them over. Let them boil on the second side for another 2 minutes. If you like a thinner, less chewy crust, diminish the boiling time on each side by 30 seconds to 1 minute.

While you are boiling your bagels, preheat the oven to 425F/220C.

12. Remove your boiled bagels with a slotted spatula and place them on a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper. If you want your bagel to have a topping, this would be the time to top them. While the exterior is still damp, press either side of the bagel into your topping of choice (ie.: poppy seeds, sesame seeds, shredded coconut...).

13. Bake for 15-20 minutes, or until the crust has darkened and the color has caramelized all over. Transfer to a cooling rack for 5-10 minutes. If you don't intend on eating all of them in the following days, freeze them to preserve the freshness :)  


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About the Author

Half-baker. Half-bookworm. Full-fledged daydreamer.

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