The following article comes from First Reading, author Min Min Xie Fenghui

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In recent years, bagels, known as "stuffed doughnuts", have become widely popular, and white-collar groups in first-tier cities have also affectionately called it "new middle-class bread."

Bagel specialty stores in big cities once became breakfast shops for middle-class people, such as The Daily Bagel and Catch Bagel in Beijing, and Boom Boom Bagels in Shanghai, which are equally divided into soy milk, fried dough sticks, pancakes and fruits.

But have you noticed that there is a hole in the middle of the bagel, and it varies in size. Some are as small as a needle's eye, and some are larger, making the bagel look like a doughnut.

source:Tuchong Creativity

What is the use of this hole in the middle of the bagels? How did bagels become a favorite among the middle class?

Beiguodong:rich in connotation

The so-called bagel is a kind of circular bread that looks like a doughnut and tastes like Chinese steamed buns, but it is more chewy than steamed buns. This hole in the middle of the bagels is also quite particular.

First of all, there are holes to bake good bagels.

Compared to most breads that only need to be baked, bagels need to be boiled before baking.

During the boiling process, hot water comes into contact with the dough, and the starch on the surface begins to gelatinize, and this layer of gel will form a transparent and smooth film covering the surface of the dough. After this "barrier" is formed, external water and air can no longer smoothly enter the inside of the bread, and the expansion rate slows down, resulting in small and tight pores inside the dough.

When baking, the gelatinized layer quickly solidifies to form a hard shell, which hinders further expansion of the dough.

After this operation, the bagel dough with a tight interior, small pores and a shell on the outside is more difficult to bake thoroughly than the normally fermented dough. The hole left in the middle of the bagel appropriately increases the heated surface area, making it more evenly heated during baking, making it easier to bake thoroughly, and the baked color will be more uniform and cooked more thoroughly.

Boiled bagel

In addition to being convenient to make, judging from the development history of bagels, there are many ways to leave a bagel hole.

One view is that Baggo left this hole to imitate the stirrups that people step on when riding horses. It is rumored that an Austrian baker made the earliest bagels from yeast-fermented dough in order to pay tribute to the Polish Emperor's rescue of Austria from the Turkish invasion. Because the Emperor of Poland was very good at riding, Austrian bakers made bagels into the shape of a stirrup, which was quite similar to a ring, and the Austrian stirrup also happened to be "Beugel".

However, this statement is also controversial. Maria Balinska, editor of BBC News, believes that Bago existed before this time point in 1683 and has never heard of such a statement in Poland.

Another view is that bagels, also known as bagels, are made into hollow rings to convey good blessings. In many cultures, the circular shape has multiple auspicious connotations. For example, the circular shape in Chinese culture means "perfection and completeness". In Western philosophy and religion, the circular shape is regarded as a symbol of mystery and divinity, representing the order and sacred power of the universe.

Some netizens joked that the truth of the universe is hidden in bagels| Xiaohongshu screenshot

The bagel made into a circular shape, with two ends connected, has no beginning and no end, symbolizing "eternity, forever" and is often regarded as a gift with blessings. For example, wishing a new life, writer Leo Rosten discovered that the word "baggo" appeared as early as 1610 when he wrote a lexicography book "Fun Yiddish" that studied Yiddish. This circular loaf appeared in the Kraków region, where it is customary to send bagels to women who have given birth to children to congratulate them.

Finally, bagel holes can also help save space and facilitate placement and transportation.

As early as the early 20th century, on the streets of New York, people sold bagels on sticks, and some bakeries sold them in groups of five bagels. The bagels worn with ropes are also convenient for diners to take out. Nowadays, some people wear bagels on a rope to facilitate transportation to supermarkets. When stores display breads, they can also stack them through holes in the bagels and string them to fix them.

A bagel baker in New York|grubstreet.com

bagel:Are the middle-class people happy?

Of course, there are many foods with novel shapes in the baking world. The reason why people pay so much attention to the hole in the middle of the bagel is because of the "middle-class brand" on its body.

But to put it bluntly, Baggo's "middle-class identity" was not born with it.

The history of Bago's fortune can be summarized in one sentence:Originated in Eastern Europe, Jews were brought to the United States and became popular around the world.

The emergence of bagels can be traced back to Eastern Europe in the 17th century. In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, Polish Jews brought bagels to the United States. At that time, more than 300 masters who mastered the technology of making bagels jointly established the "Beigel Bakers Union Local 338" bagels union and agreed on the production standards of bagels. Any bakery that wants to sell bagels must hire a union-certified master.

In the 1950s and 1960s, bagel machines were manufactured and put into commercial use. A large number of labor were replaced, and the monopoly of the guild was broken. The increase in bagels production provided the material basis for its widespread popularity. It slowly entered the lives of most Americans. Coupled with various rich ingredients, bagels gradually became one of the most popular breakfasts. In the 1980s, the concept of healthy eating became the mainstream, and low-oil, low-sugar and non-fried bagels became more popular and gradually spread to the world.

List of 338 trade unions in 1940| Website grubstreet.com

Throughout the entire history of bagels, bagels in New York are undoubtedly the most important part of its journey to the world, and New York's bagels culture has also invisibly influenced the preference of middle-class Chinese people for bagels.

To elaborate on it, Bago started to get angry from the grassroots in New York and has a good mass base.

New York's Lower East Side of Manhattan was once an area where Jewish immigrants gathered. Jews who took refuge here a century ago brought their diet to New York. With its delicious, satiety and cheap advantages, bagels were quickly popular among poor vendors, workers, shop assistants, drivers, homeless people and other groups. Welcome.

Since then, bagels have been improved. The bagels are no longer made from single wheat flour, but rye flour, whole wheat flour and wheat bran are also used; the flavor of the bagels is no longer single. Cinnamon, chocolate, cocoa powder and vanilla spices are added to the dough. Make it different flavors; the surface of the bagels is no longer bare, but is sprinkled with onions, poppy seeds, sesame seeds, garlic, cinnamon powder, etc., making the bagels more attractive.

The bagel company Lenders's Bagel Bakery (abbreviated as "Lenders's") has also provided great help in this process.

First, ordinary bagels have a short period of preservation. It is no exaggeration to say that in the first half of the 20th century, if you want to eat bagels, you had to go to cities like New York to buy them and eat them right away. But Lender's has introduced frozen bagels, which can be shipped to supermarkets and grocery stores in other areas without adding preservatives. People only need to heat the bagels in the microwave and they can be eaten.

Second, the original way to eat bagels was simple, but Lenders 'has shaped bagels into a multi-purpose sandwich that can be paired with peanut butter, smoked salmon, ham, cream cheese, etc. In 1984, after cream cheese producer Kraft acquired Lenders's, it vigorously promoted bagels and cream cheese as the best partners.

Gradually, bagels can be used to make convenient and delicious sandwiches or as bread, becoming an indispensable daily food for every American.

For now, there are dozens of bagel shops in almost every neighborhood in New York, the United States, with different flavors. The bakers in the store will make different bagels based on the preferences of major consumer groups to adapt to different needs. For example, white-collar workers in New York are more willing to buy original bagels, cream bagels, or sandwich bagels at bagels in Times Square and Central Park in Manhattan to pair them with coffee; while American children's breakfast is mostly milk and wheat bagels, which can be smeared with various sauces; there are even rainbow cream sandwich bagels suitable for taking photos and checking in...

Let's put it this way, the popularity of bagels in the United States is like Chinese steamed buns and steamed buns.

Bagel sandwich breakfast| Tuchong Creativity

When bagels arrived in China, they were more popular among the middle class.

Some people believe that bagels become popular in China and become a choice for the middle class, which cannot be separated from the "help" of coffee. In particular, Tims Tianhao Coffee from Canada, a coffee brand with nearly 700 stores in China, has launched the "Fresh Coffee + Bagel Set" that has now become a star set meal.

Coupled with the identity of bagels as an "exotic product", people naturally look at it differently.

This feeling is like "people think that foreign monks can recite scriptures", but in fact it is just "distance produces beauty." Psychology believes that familiarity reduces people's expectations for each other, and conversely makes people more curious and even feel better. In this way, foreign bagels have a psychological advantage.

Moreover, the bagels of many bakeries in China have also been improved. For example, compared with the "tasteless" original bagels, Yuanmaishan has introduced bagels such as cinnamon red pepper, basil cheese, and rose cheese, which have lowered the "entry threshold" of bagels. Coupled with the characteristics of bagels that can be sandwiched between everything, it satisfies the middle class's pursuit of healthy eating.

Cheese bagels| Tuchong Creativity

Most of the bagels sold in domestic bakeries are filled with cheese, beef, salmon, vegetables and fruits, etc., and the most expensive ones can reach 100 yuan each. Of course, the slightly higher price of bagels at this time is not an obstacle, but can be said to be a "middle-class sign."

The hole in the middle of the bagels may also "hinder" people from putting more things into the bagels to a certain extent, thereby reducing the calories of the entire bagels and lowering the calories-this is also very middle-class.

It is no easy feat implementing digitalization initiatives in industries with many small and medium enterprises (SMEs) like agriculture.

[1]Fish Fei thin gray Zhang Linxia:"Baking Book"

[2]Texas farmers:Make a good bread

[3][Japan] Koji Taketani:Bread Science

[4]Shell:Is this naan in Xinjiang considered a bagel?

[5]Chihuo Institute:bagel:Although I had a face-to-face collision with Donut, it was completely different! Hey!

author:Min Min Xie Feng Hui

edit:Chen Yanni

duty editor:Minmin

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