What's up with Frozen Bagels?

As the temperature outside drops, frost is on the brain. Many of us in the Midwest grew up on frozen bagels. While that’s intrinsically tragic… It does make some sense. And frozen bagels can work in a pinch—when you freeze the right product in the right way. This week, let’s explore how our society let frozen bagels happen, and how to optimize this frozen situation.

Automating the bagel

The story of these frozen bread disks begins with the machine-produced bagel. The Thompson Bagel Machine Manufacturing Corporation invented a bagel-rolling machine and partnered with Lender’s Bagels, a Connecticut bagelmaking powerhouse. With this invention, bagels could be made in large quantities at breakneck speeds. To distribute them across the country before they spoiled the most logical option, of course, was to freeze the bagels. Lender’s Bagels began to rapidly fill the freezer isles of supermarkets everywhere in America, other companies followed suit, and the efficiency arms raced ramped up. Steam baths were used instead of boiling, and freaky flavors like chocolate chip and cheddar were thrown in the mix. Thus the puffy, soft, bizarrely-flavored presliced bagel became the standard in the American household.

Lender’s bagel factory in Mattoon, Illinois. (Source: JG-TC)

Don’t lose your cool

Before you get mad about the above-described degradation of the bagel, take a deep breath and remember that the appetite for bagels crafted by experts won’t go away soon—it’s stood the 300-year test of time. Along the way, many bagel shops have incorporated technology. Simple dough portioning machines cut correctly-sized pieces, rolling conveyor belts or shaping cones help form rings, and industrial equipment for boiling and baking speed up production. After running through these machines, pieces need varying degrees of touching-up by human hands. Everything makes a difference in the process. The same goes for freezing—it’s not totally out of line.

Hands in dough.

How to properly freeze bagels

Straight from the freezer to the toaster—that’s how it goes down in many households every morning. The result? A dry, brittle husk of bread with notes of freezer-burn and toaster-burn. Not great. But we stand by the fact that not all hope is lost when a bagel enters the freezer. It’s just a matter of freezing properly. Once you pick up fresh bagels from your local bagel shop, freeze each bagel whole, wrapped in plastic. This prevents water loss and creates less surface area for freezer-burn.

Does your freezer look like this?!

How to reheat frozen bagels

Two acceptable options: Allow them to thaw to room temperature on the counter, or re-bake them in a hot oven. For best results, dip a frozen bagel in hot water before putting it in the oven to bake for a few minutes. This little bath before baking goes a long way in reviving your preserved baked goods by repeating the process by which it was originally created: boiling, then baking. Toasting the resulting unfrozen bagel is up to you! Regardless of what you do with your bagels, just remember and respect that the cultural heirloom your breakfast represents—a fresh, hand-rolled ring of dough baked expertly and sold to support the lives of many people for many, many years.