Celebrate National Bagel Day With Montreal-Style Bagels From Spread Bagelry In Center City
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- If you're grabbing breakfast on the go Wednesday, make sure you pick up a bagel. Today is National Bagel Day. Spread Bagelry in Center City is known for its Montreal-style bagels.
Paul Steck, the COO of Spread Bagelry, says the key to a Montreal-style bagel is baking it in a wood-burning oven.
"A Montreal-style bagel is a bagel that's been boiled in honey water then its put in a wood-burning oven and that's really the key the wood-burning oven. We're one of the only bagel shops in the city that does a wood-burning oven," Steck said.
Aside from the New York-style bagel many were raised eating, a whole different culture of bagels was developing in Montreal. There are two bagel shops in Montreal that have been competing with each other for about 50 to 60 years.
Steck says Montrealers love their bagels.
Determining when the bagel is done is the hard part because with a normal oven you set a temperature and timer, in a wood-burning oven, you judge if it's cooked by the way it feels.
"They just get a feeling for it. It is so hard. We work so hard to make our bagels consistent so they are brown, crunchy, chewy. But you know, it's hard to do when you don't have a thermostat," Steck said.
Watch the video above for Pat Gallen's full interview.
