PrintFlorida Bagel Maker Using 'Brooklyn-Style' Water
Photograph by Adam Kuban
For foods whose reputation is tied to a certain place—New York bagels, New York (or, depending on loyalties, Neapolitan) pizza—it's often said that the secret is in the water. With so few ingredients, many of which can be replicated exactly, the critical difference must be in that area's water supply, whose composition couldn't be quite the same anywhere else.
Or could it? Taking this theory perhaps a bit too literally, one Florida bagel maker decided to go after that theory for himself: He's recreating Brooklyn water in his own kitchen. Steve Fassberg of Original Brooklyn Water Bagel Co. in Delray Beach, Florida, analyzed the exact chemical composition of Brooklyn tap water and replicated its mineral content, for water that, he claims, makes all the difference in his bagels. "We took this myth and proved the science," he told the Miami Herald. No reported taste-tests yet.
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11 Comments:
There's a pizza shop in Tampa (Sam & Eddie's) that uses actual NYC water in their pizzas. They make a very good pizza.
redfish at 10:06AM on 08/12/09
It's nice in theory, but if he's using sugar and not barley malt or malt syrup, it's still not going to be the same . . .
susanl73 at 10:45AM on 08/12/09
I actually agree 100% with this theory. Even people who claim to have "NY Style" pizza in other parts of the country don't make pizza that has that same "taste" -- I'm convinced it's the water.
juliebugsmama at 11:12AM on 08/12/09
As a former Brooklynite, I am begging you to open a store in Tampa! I miss bagels more than I miss my family...ok maybe I miss them equally but you get my drift...
danielle710 at 11:12AM on 08/12/09
I 100% agree with this as well. I am a major bagel connoisseur, and one thing that bugs me is how great bagels are always associated with NYC, when really, it's actually much easier to find a good bagel in Jersey!! (I'm speaking mainly about Hudson, Essex, Bergen, and Morris counties.) We never get any respect. Every time i go to a new bagel place in the city that's touted as the best, it never lives up to the shops i go to out here.
annawesley at 12:04PM on 08/12/09
I can't wait to drive up and try these. I'm desperate for a good bagel, which are few and far between in South Florida.
OccasionalOmnivore at 2:12PM on 08/12/09
Susan173 is right.
Lippy at 3:13PM on 08/12/09
Nonsense. There are any number of bagel shops on Long Island, in New Jersey and in Rockland and Westchester counties that make bagels as good as any place in the city. Since all those places use a different water source than the city (well, maybe some of the Westchester places use the same source) the difference in quality can't be the water.
There are also any number of places that use NYC water and make crappy bagels.
JoeFood at 4:40PM on 08/12/09
Its about technique and ingredients... thats the simple truth, not about a specific water source, however... New York City, parts of Long Island, and northern New Jersey all have particularly soft water, and Florida has highly astringent/ hard water... despite this, any well filtered water should be extremely capable of making excellent bagels in concert with very high gluten flour, salt, malt syrup or powder, yeast, and proper kneading, proofing, blanching, and baking. Anyone can make an excellent bagel in any place, providing you can source good ingredients.
totaltotal at 8:27PM on 08/12/09
I agree with @totaltotal that it's more to do with technique and ingredients. It's like diets, there's not miracle pill - there's no miracle water for bagels.
I do, however, think that the way bread turns out is partly dependent on the humidity and yeast in the air.
yayfood at 10:44PM on 08/12/09
yayfood, you are absolutely correct! I hadn't even given the ridiculous florida humidity any thought... the same thing that causes bagel and pizza blah-ness is probably also why the cuban bread for cubano sandwiches is so much better in miami and cuba than in the north.
totaltotal at 11:14PM on 08/12/09