Bagels, Schmears, and A Nice Piece of Fish: A Whole Brunch of Recipes to Make at Home

For a limited time we have bookplates signed by Cathy Barrow.

We're thrilled that after years and years of having to turn down bakers who wanted a book dedicated to bagel making that at last we'll have a serious book on the subject from an award-winning author.

Cathy Barrow is a regular contributor to the Washington Post who has also written for the likes of Serious Eats and Food52. Barrow's Boston-born mother found herself marooned in bagel-less Toledo Ohio, rescued by periodic deliveries of fresh bagels flown in by Barrow's grandmother. Great bagels were like manna from heaven.

And it goes without saying that industrially-produced, supermarket bagels never satisfied. Just like they don't today.

After years of determined experimentation, Barrow developed a home recipe with the chew, the density, the tang, the consistency that are the mark of a true bagel. She shares that here, along with variations that have become a part of the bagelsphere, including not only New York- and Montreal-style bagels, but pumpernickel and egg bagels, pretzels, and bialys. 

There's even a section called Bagels My Grandmothers Wouldn't Recognize that delves into everything from a gluten-free bagels to asiago cheese and olive bagels.

Barrow's attention to bagel-making technique is more detailed that anything we've seen, and includes help for baking at high-altitudes. And what's a bagel without spreads, schmears, and fillings that allow you to personalize your nosh? They're all here too.

Hardcover. Color photographs throughout.