What is the Hole in the Middle of a Bagel?

Bagels are a beloved breakfast item amongst many people. Bagels come in a wide variety of flavors such as onion, cinnamon raisin, everything, blueberry, pumpernickel, etc. They are also very customizable, with combos such as cream cheese, avocado, bagel sandwiches, and lox. Bagels are very easy and convenient for breakfast consumers on the go. The fist bagel traces back to 1610 in the Polish city Krakow. The word bagel comes from a mixture of English and Yiddish roots. Bagels are a circular dense bread with a hole in the middle. But why do they have a hole in the middle?

The hole in a bagel is called a bialy. Bagels have bialies for many advantages, one of them being for cooking bagels. It allows the bagel to cook evenly and allows them to be stacked up on a dowel which is easier for transport and more pleasing for display. bagels can be made one of two ways. One being you just cut a hole in the middle, the other being you make a rope of dough and loop it around to form a bagel. Bagels are considered to be rolls without the bialy. This also goes for another breakfast favorite, the donut.