A Southern Bagel Company, Long Beach
Happy Saturday, friends! I have recently been craving a sweet and fun breakfast option and I stumbled across this cute little bagel shop right in my hometown, Long Beach! A Southern Bagel Company is a recently established business that specializes in homemade kettle boiled bagels. This basically means that they drop their bagels into a kettle of boiling water and that hot water cooks the starch on the outside of the bagel, which gives the bagel its wonderfully crispy and shiny outer layer (why I love them). Basically, this process is what separates bagels from just being a round bread loaf with a hole in the middle. This boiling process is required before baking because it ensures that the bagel will keep its shape while cooking, BUT after some research, I found that homemade bagel recipes for this can vary based on what you put in the boiling water to add flavor, such as maple syrup, honey, barley malt, and many more! Apparently, this is is a deal breaker situation, haha. Who knew??
I know that, during quarantine, alot of people have decided to attempt bread making, but what about bagel making?? I say, lets start a new homemade trend. I have linked some popular bagel recipes that can be done easily at home (and what they add to their poaching water):
water (for a savory bagel)
maple syrup, baking soda, salt, and water
honey or barley malt syrup
If you are brave enough to venture into bagel-making, PLEASE send pics and reviews!
To make SBC even better, they make tons of different homemade cream cheese and jelly spread options. They have breakfast, lunch, and dessert bagel menus to choose from, or you can customize your own.
I decided to try "The Louisiana", which is a cranberry bagel with strawberry cream cheese and fresh strawberries on top and Y'ALL. It was basically perfect and has convinced me to be okay with cream cheese. And it was so affordable! The employees were so pleasant, and though the building was not open for customers to sit down and eat, they have an adorable covered porch and patio with tables and chairs. I didn't take the opportunity to try it, they also have the option to order homemade loafs of bread for $4.00.
For me, it wasn't too sweet or too heavy for a breakfast meal and ended up being the perfect serving size to fill me up and satisfy my sweet tooth craving. I guess the moral of this story is that bagels are the best breakfast food ever and cannot be topped (unless its with SBC's homemade cream cheese, fresh fruit, or jelly spread).
I can't wait to share more with y'all soon! Go out and support your local businesses and do it SAFELY.
Robyn <3
Robyn,
ReplyDeleteThis post made me hungry! I'm definitely a bagel lover. Trying to limit carbs, I just found a company by the name of Sami's Bakery that makes low carb options without sacrificing taste. After reading your article, I am now motivated to start trying to make them on my own. I'm one that is very careful about being in the public during this pandemic, so your blog gives me motivation.
Dwight
Robyn, I do bake a lot but I never try to bake bagel before since it requires lots of step including boil before baking. The pictures of your bagel looks good. Again, I need to make time to go down to the coast to try all these food you include in your blog posts.
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