Montreal bagels

I have no idea about why I'm thinking about Montreal bagels, although the prospects of crossing the border in mid-August are on my mind.

We're hopeful, that's for sure, and I just made reservations in Plattsburgh for several days in mid-August, with the idea that we could be there and scoot over the border in early morning.  Getting negative COVID tests might be an extra requirement, but we can easily do that on our way up or potentially in Asheville, before we leave.

But Montreal bagels - they're special.  Delicious, dense, and slightly sweet. Baked in a wood-fired oven. 

After our very successful celebrated chef, Katie Button, pivoted her bagel shop to a place called La Bodega, there's no where here in Asheville to buy good bagels aside from a chain franchise, which is OK.  Even Katie's bagels were only authentic NY style.

I make all of our own bread, whole-wheat, often with nuts and dried fruits, and I've been doing that for many years.  I used to haul out my Kitchen Aid mixer, but have now reverted to low overnight rises, following loosely the no-knead artisan loaf approach, first promoted by Jim Leahy, years ago.  It's easy with white flour, but equally successful with whole wheat.

But bagels, well, they require more steps, boiling before baking, adding seeds if warranted, etc. etc.  Hmm, I'm not really sure I want to add that to my days ahead, but clearly it's on my mind.

Here was my post about making Montreal bagels in early September of 2019.

Sept. 2

After a morning walk in the parc national du Bic, the rain started.  My gardening companion continued working outside, creating a wonderful Diervilla patch below the bird feeders, in spite of the drizzle.

I made a second round of Montreal bagels this morning, this time whole wheat, and with a firmer dough, again risen overnight.  Much more satisfactory in shape and handling, although the whole-wheat flour and sesame seeds (from Bulk Barn) neither of which I'd tried before, weren't as fresh as I'd like.  I won't be buying flour or sesame seeds there again, although dried fruit of various sorts is a great buy.

ready to boil

ready to eat

And my second home-crafting project was making rose-hip jam, from wild-foraged rose hips (Rosa rugosa) and windfall apples, for pectin.  I normally make no-sugar jam, but I used cane sugar this evening, thinking that the rose hips might be exceptionally tart.

it's fiddly work removing rose hips

I'm not sure that I'll be collecting a lot more rose hips, unless they turn out to be incredibly delicious.  It's a time-consuming job to remove the seeds....