Caution: This newsletter may make you hungry. This week, we’re counting down my top three bagel flavors.

There is a bakery right next to our condo building that makes pretty darn good bagels. Admittedly, they are not the best bagels I’ve ever eaten, but they are accessible and they are tasty. Some days, it takes a lot of will power not to walk down the stairs and three store fronts over to pick up lox on one of their homemade, hand-rolled bagels.

Bagels are delicious. They are carby circles of delight. I like them warm and right out of the oven. I like them toasted to a golden hue and schmeared with cream cheese. I like them chopped into pieces and dipped into honey butter. As a kid, I liked eating the exterior crust first, then eating the doughy middle piece by piece.

When it comes to bagels, while I enjoy a traditional plain or whole wheat, I adore the toppings. A bagel is a canvas for all sorts of flavors. There may be debate about how the bagel got its hole, but I think most can agree they are tasty.

Salt

I have a salty tooth. I love the flavor salt brings to food. It enhances every molecule making it tastier, richer, and more vibrant. Much like a soft pretzel, these bagels are good because they are simple. Flour, water, yeast, sugar, salt - you don’t need much to make big flavor.

Salt bagels have their top encrusted in thick grains of rock of sea salt. Admittedly, you often have to shake them or brush some grains off lest your mouth turn into the sea.

When I order a salt bagel, I always get it with plain cream cheese. I want the the salt to double the creaminess of the schmear and highlight the yeasty touches in the dough. I like ripping of pieces of the bagel bottom and dipping them into the salt on the top. That more evenly balances out the topping. Plus, the salt grains lend a nice crunch factor to every bite.

Blueberry

Normally, when confronted with an array bagels to choose from, I will go savory. To me, breakfast sweets are for pastries. But, on occasion, I really long for a blueberry bagel. The blueberries usually have a hint of tart and acid which keep them from being too sweet. That’s why this bagel hits the spot.

I didn’t eat a blueberry bagel until after college. Then my best friend introduced me to toasted blueberry bagels with butter. (Thank you, Beth!) The warm bagel melts the butter, softening the insides and showing off the brightness of the fruit. If you eat it in time, the crust maintains a good chew which provides a nice contrast to the softness of the dough.

My mouth is watering as I type this. I may need to change my snack plans for the evening.

Everything

Loving an everything bagel may be basic, but I don’t care. It comes with everything I want into one tasty topping. Each bite has salt, garlic, onion, and a hint of sesame. (There are also poppy seeds, but I can never taste that flavor.) While the seasoning is evenly mixed it sticks to the bagel in a haphazard way. That makes each bite a slightly different experience. Sometimes there’s the crunch of salt, sometimes the umami of garlic, sometimes a hint of sweetness from the onion. It’s all good and I am here for every bite.

In an everything bagel, the topping is the star but each bite complements the yeastiness of the dough and chosen spreads or fillings. Everything bagels with plain cream cheese is great. Everything bagels with the works that come with lox is one of my favorite meals of all time. The seasoning comes alive with the brininess of the capers, freshness of tomatoes, tang of red onion, and the gloriousness that is lox. It all works to make one perfect bite.

Great. I made myself so hungry that I will now be buying this to eat for lunch tomorrow.

My bookmarks bar is full of tools that help me get things done. Next week, we’re counting down my top three productivity tools.

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