A bagel (Yiddish: בײגל, romanized: beygl; Polish: bajgiel [ˈbajɡʲɛl] ⓘ; also spelled beigel)[1] is a bread roll originating in the Jewish communities of Poland.

[2] Bagels are traditionally made from yeasted wheat dough that is shaped by hand into a torus or ring, briefly boiled in water, and then baked.

Bagels are often topped with seeds baked on the outer crust—traditional choices include poppy and sesame seeds—or with salt grains.

[3][4] The basic roll-with-a-hole design, hundreds of years old, allows even cooking and baking of the dough; it also allows groups of bagels to be gathered on a string or dowel for handling, transportation, and retail display.

[5][6] The earliest known mention of a boiled-then-baked ring-shaped bread can be found in a 13th-century Syrian cookbook, where they are referred to as ka'ak.

[8] Bagels have been widely associated with Ashkenazi Jews since the 17th century; they were first mentioned in 1610 in Jewish community ordinances in Kraków, Poland.

[2] Bagels are now a popular bread product in North America and Poland, especially in cities with a large Jewish population.

[14] In the Brick Lane district and surrounding area of London, England, bagels (locally spelled "beigels") have been sold since the middle of the 19th century.

[15] At its most basic, traditional bagel dough contains wheat flour (without germ or bran), salt, water, and yeast leavening.

[27] According to a 2012 Consumer Reports article, the ideal bagel should have a slightly crispy crust, a distinct "pull" when a piece is separated from the whole by biting or pinching, a chewy inside, and the flavor of bread freshly baked.

[29][30][31] Some New York City bagel shops, like Murray's in Chelsea and Ess-a-Bagel at 21st and Third Avenue, have had no-toasting policies.

[31] Former New York Times food critic Mimi Sheraton called the practice of eating toasted bagels obscene.

Gluten-free bagels have much more fat, often 9 grams, because of ingredients in the dough to supplant the wheat flour of the original.

[28] The New York bagel contains malt, is cold-fermented for several days to develop the flavors and enhance the crust, and is boiled in salted water before baking in a standard oven.

[34] Different from the New York style, the Montreal-style bagel contains malt and sugar with no salt; it is boiled in honey-sweetened water before baking in a wood-fired oven.

In Austria, beigl (often also spelled beigerl or beugerl in its diminutive form) are a traditional Lenten food.

Non-traditional versions that change the dough recipe include pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, bran, whole wheat, and multigrain.

Other variations change the flavor of the dough, often using blueberry, salt, onion, garlic, egg, cinnamon, raisin, chocolate chip, cheese, or some combination of the above.

According to a review attributed to New York's Village Voice food critic Robert Seitsema, the flagel was first created by Brooklyn's 'Tasty Bagels' deli in the early 1990s.

[43] The AIB reported US$626.9 million fresh bagel US supermarket sales (excluding Wal-Mart) for the 52 weeks ending 11 April 2012.

[47] Based on Üsküdar court records (Şer’iyye Sicili) dated 1593,[48] the weight and price of simit was standardized for the first time.

[49] Jean Brindesi's early 19th-century oil paintings about Istanbul daily life show simit sellers on the streets.

[51] Simit is very similar to the twisted sesame-sprinkled bagels pictured being sold in early 20th century Poland.