Bagels are a favorite in our house and Montreal-style bagels in particular are popular in Ottawa. I haven't eaten many New York-style bagels so I was keen to give them a try.

I was curious about what makes a Montreal-style bagel different from a New York-style bagel. The Montreal-style bagel is usually small, crunchy and sweet. It's made with malt and sugar rather than salt and is baked in a wood-fired oven. The New York bagel is more puffy, with a softer crust and a somewhat savory flavor since it uses salt instead of sugar. Also, unlike the typical Montreal bagel, it is baked in a standard oven.

Bagels have a long history going back possibly as far as ancient Egypt; however, popular myth places the invention of the bagel in Krakow shortly after the 1683 Battle of Vienna. As the story goes, a baker made a roll in the shape of the king's stirrup and called it a beugel (which is Austrian for "stirrup") as a thank you to King Sobieski who saved Austria from the Turks. Bagels were brought to North America in the early 1900s by Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe. They settled largely in Montreal and New York City leading to those cities developing the major bagel styles we eat today. The recipe calls for a high-gluten flour, which is not readily available in Canadian stores, and I found out why: it turns out that all-purpose flour in Canada already is high-gluten! This makes our standard flour particularly good for breads and generally anything crusty…including bagels.

Recipe: Bagels

Makes: 12 bagels

The Greek Celebration Breads are sweet breads served at holiday times such as Christmas, Easter, and New Year's. This week I made the Greek Christmas Bread called Christopsomos Bread. The holiday recipes are generally made using the base "Greek Celebration Bread" and then fruit and nuts are added.

I chose to make the Christopsomos bread in part because I'm a big fan of raisin bread and hot cross buns, and also because of its curly cue appearance. Today though I was in the mood for something a little different, so I replaced the fruit with raisins and swapped walnuts out in favor of pecans. Yum!

This recipe suggests that authentic Greek spices can be used. Spices such as Mastic and Mahleb (which is extracted from Santa Lucia cherry pits) could replace all the spices found in the recipe.) Unfortunately, I couldn’t find either locally, so here is the North American version.

Recipe: Greek Celebration Bread

Makes: 1 loaf

Anadama bread is a traditional New England sweet bread characterized by flour, molasses, and cornmeal. It has an unusual name whose origins are explained by local folklore. The story has several variations but most of them go something like this: a fisherman, angry at his wife for serving him little more than cornmeal and molasses porridge, decides to take matters into his own hands, adds flour and yeast, then bakes it. As he eats the resulting bread, he mutters “Anna, damn her!” and the name stuck. Or at least the kinder, gentler version, Anadama, stuck! The recipe demands your attention because it requires several more steps than traditional versions that tend to be of the direct bake variety. The first two steps draw out the flavor from the corn as well as soften it to improve its digestibility. In these steps, you first create a cornmeal soaker and leave it overnight, and then you mix that into a sponge, leaving it for another hour. Next, you mix the dough and allow it to rise for about 90 minutes, followed by shaping and proofing for 90 more minutes. Finally, the cooking time is around 40-50 minutes. So, in all (if we don't include the soak overnight), it takes about 5½ hours from start to finish.

Recipe: Anadama Bread

Makes: 2 loaves of bread

Ingredients: