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Alternative names

Bajgiel, beigel, beygl

Type

Bread

Place of origin
Poland

Region or state

Central & Eastern Europe, North America, Israel

Associated national cuisine

Jewish, Polish, American, Canadian, and Israeli

Created by
Jewish communities of Poland

Serving temperature

Room temperature

Main ingredients

Wheat dough

Variations

Montreal-style bagel, pizza bagel, bagel toast

A bagel ( Yiddish: בײגל, beygl ; Polish: bajgiel; also historically spelled beigel) is a bread product originating in the Jewish communities of Poland. It is traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough, roughly hand-sized, that is first boiled for a short time in water and then baked. The result is a dense, chewy, doughy interior with a browned and sometimes crisp exterior. Bagels are often topped with seeds baked on the outer crust, with the traditional ones being poppy and sesame seeds. Some may have salt sprinkled on their surface, and there are different dough types, such as whole-grain and rye.

The earliest known mention of a boiled-then-baked ring-shaped bread can be found in a 13th-century Arabic cookbook, where they are referred to as ka'ak. 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. Bagel-like bread known as obwarzanek was common earlier in Poland as seen in royal family accounts from 1394.

Bagels are now a popular bread product in North America and Poland, especially in cities with a large Jewish population, many with alternative ways of making them. Bagels are also sold (fresh or frozen, often in many flavors) in supermarkets.

The basic roll-with-a-hole design is hundreds of years old and has other practical advantages besides providing more even cooking and baking of the dough: The hole could be used to thread string or dowels through groups of bagels, allowing easier handling and transportation and more appealing seller displays.

Linguist Leo Rosten wrote in The Joys of Yiddish about the first known mention of the Polish word bajgiel derived from the Yiddish word bagel in the "Community Regulations" of the city of Kraków in 1610, which stated that the food was given as a gift to women in childbirth. There is some evidence that the bagel may have been made in Germany before being made in Poland.

In the 16th and first half of the 17th centuries, the bajgiel became a staple of Polish cuisine. Its name derives from the Yiddish word beygal from the German dialect word beugel, meaning "ring" or "bracelet".

Variants of the word beugal are used in Yiddish and in Austrian German to refer to a similar form of sweet-filled pastry ( Mohnbeugel (with poppy seeds) and Nussbeugel (with ground nuts), or in southern German dialects (where beuge refers to a pile, e.g., holzbeuge "woodpile"). According to the Merriam-Webster dictionary, 'bagel' derives from the transliteration of the Yiddish 'beygl', which came from the Middle High German 'böugel' or ring, which itself came from 'bouc' (ring) in Old High German, similar to the Old English bēag "ring" and būgan "to bend, bow". Similarly, another etymology in the Webster's New World College Dictionary says that the Middle High German form was derived from the Austrian German beugel, a kind of croissant, and was similar to the German bügel, a stirrup or ring.

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. They were often displayed in the windows of bakeries on vertical wooden dowels, up to a metre in length, on racks.

Bagels were brought to the United States by immigrant Polish Jews, with a thriving business developing in New York City that was controlled for decades by Bagel Bakers Local 338. They had contracts with nearly all bagel bakeries in and around the city for its workers, who prepared all their bagels by hand.

The bagel came into more general use throughout North America in the last quarter of the 20th century with automation. Daniel Thompson started work on the first commercially viable bagel machine in 1958; bagel baker Harry Lender, his son, Murray Lender, and Florence Sender leased this technology and pioneered automated production and distribution of frozen bagels in the 1960s. Murray also invented pre-slicing the bagel.

Around 1900, the "bagel brunch" became popular in New York City. The bagel brunch consists of a bagel topped with lox, cream cheese, capers, tomato, and red onion. This and similar combinations of toppings have remained associated with bagels into the 21st century in the United States.

In Japan, the first kosher bagels were brought by BagelK from New York in 1989. BagelK created green tea, chocolate, maple-nut, and banana-nut flavors for the market in Japan. Some Japanese bagels, such as those sold by BAGEL & BAGEL, are soft and sweet; others, such as Einstein Bro. bagels sold by Costco in Japan, are the same as in the U.S.

Size change over time

Bagels in the U.S. have increased in size over time, starting at around two ounces (around 55 grams). In 1915, the average bagel weighed three ounces. In the 1960s, the size began to increase. By 2003, the average bagel sold on a Manhattan coffee cart was six ounces (around 170 grams).

Preparation and preservation

At its most basic, traditional bagel dough contains wheat flour (without germ or bran), salt, water, and yeast leavening. Bread flour or other high gluten flours are preferred to create the firm, dense but spongy bagel shape and chewy texture. Most bagel recipes call for the addition of a sweetener to the dough, often barley malt (syrup or crystals), honey, high fructose corn syrup, or sugar, with or without eggs, milk or butter. Leavening can be accomplished using a sourdough technique or a commercially produced yeast.

Bagels are traditionally made by:

mixing and kneading the ingredients to form the dough

shaping the dough into the traditional bagel shape, round with a hole in the middle, from a long thin piece of dough

proofing the bagels for at least 12 hours at low temperature (40-50 °F = 4.5-10 °C)

boiling each bagel in water for 60-90 seconds that may contain additives such as lye, baking soda, barley malt syrup, or honey

baking at between 175 °C and 315 °C (about 350-600 °F)

This production method gives bagels their distinctive taste, chewy texture, and shiny appearance.

In recent years, a variant has emerged, producing what is sometimes called the steam bagel. To make a steam bagel, the boiling is skipped, and the bagels are instead baked in an oven equipped with a steam injection system. In commercial bagel production, the steam bagel process requires less labor, since bagels need only be directly handled once, at the shaping stage. Thereafter, the bagels need never be removed from their pans as they are refrigerated and then steam-baked. The steam bagel results in a fluffier, softer, less chewy product more akin to a finger roll that happens to be shaped like a bagel. The dough used is intentionally more alkaline to aid browning, because the steam injection process uses neutral water steam instead of an alkaline solution bath.

Bagels can be frozen for up to six months.

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. The taste may be complemented by additions cooked on the bagel, such as onion, garlic, sesame seeds, or poppy seeds. The appeal of a bagel may change upon being toasted. Toasting can have the effect of bringing or removing desirable chewiness, softening the crust, and moderating off-flavors.

A typical bagel has 260-350 calories, 1.0-4.5 grams of fat, 330-660 milligrams of sodium, and 2-5 grams of fiber. Gluten-free bagels have much more fat, often 9 grams, because of ingredients in the dough to supplant the wheat flour of the original.

New York style

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. The resulting bagel has a fluffy interior and a chewy crust. According to CNN, Brooklynites believe New York bagels are the best due to the quality of the local water. According to Brooklyn Water Bagels CEO Steven Fassberg, the characteristics of a New York bagel are the result of the recipe formula and preparation method.

Montreal style

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. It is predominantly of the sesame "white" seeds variety (bagels in Toronto are similar to those made in New York in that they are less sweet, generally are coated with poppy seeds and are baked in a standard oven).

St. Louis style

The St. Louis style bagel refers not to composition, but to a particular method of slicing the bagel. The St. Louis style bagels are sliced vertically multiple times, instead of the traditional single horizontal slice. The slices range from 3 mm to 6 mm [1/4 to 1/8 inches] thick. This style of bagel was popularized by the St. Louis Bread Company, now known as Panera Bread. Generally, the bagels are sliced into eight pieces using a bread slicer, which produces characteristically precise cuts (the bagel is not torn or crushed while slicing). This particular method of preparation increases the surface area available for spreads (e.g., cream cheese, butter). However, it decreases the portability of the bagel and prevents formation of sandwiches.

Other bagel styles

As suggested above, other bagel styles can be found elsewhere, akin to the way in which families in a given culture employ a variety of methods when cooking an indigenous dish. Thus, Chicago-style bagels are baked or baked with steam. The traditional London bagel (or beigel as it is spelled) is chewier and has a denser texture. A bakery in Halifax, Nova Scotia bakes a sourdough bagel with locally sourced wild yeast that incorporates qualities of both the New York-style bagel and Montreal-style bagel, calling it the "East Coast-style".

Poppy seeds are sometimes referred to by their Yiddish name, spelled either mun or mon (written מאָן), which comes from the German word for poppy, Mohn, as used in Mohnbrötchen. American chef John Mitzewich suggests a recipe for what he calls "San Francisco-Style Bagels". His recipe yields bagels flatter than New York-style bagels, characterized by a rough-textured crust. An everything bagel may include such toppings as poppy seeds, sesame seeds, onion flakes, caraway seeds, garlic flakes, pretzel salt, cinnamon raisin and pepper.

In Austria, Beigl (often also spelled Beigerl or Beugerl in its diminutive form) are a traditional Lent food. The rings are made from a yeasted dough, rolled out very thin and briefly boiled in salted water before topped with salt and caraway seeds and then baked. Depending on the region, they are sometimes baked to a very hard consistency, making them relatively brittle. Connected with it is the tradition of Beiglreißen (lit. ripping/tearing the Beigl) at Easter where two people pull on opposite ends of a Beigl until it breaks into two pieces. Tearing off the larger piece is meant to bring good luck. In Vienna, Eastern Lower Austria and Burgenland, Beugerl has taken on the meaning of certain types of Kipferl.

Non-traditional doughs and types

While normally and traditionally made of yeasted wheat, in the late 20th century variations on the bagel flourished. 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. Green bagels are sometimes created for St. Patrick's Day.

Many corporate chains now offer bagels in such flavors as chocolate chip and French toast.

Sandwich bagels have been popularized since the late 1990s by specialty shops such as Bruegger's and Einstein Brothers, and fast food restaurants such as McDonald's.

Breakfast bagels, a softer, sweeter variety usually sold in fruity or sweet flavors (e.g., cherry, strawberry, cheese, blueberry, cinnamon-raisin, chocolate chip, maple syrup, banana and nuts) are common at large supermarket chains. These are usually sold sliced and are intended to be prepared in a toaster.

A flat bagel, known as a 'flagel', can be found in a few locations in and around New York City, Long Island, and Toronto. 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.

The New York Style Snacks brand has developed the baked snacks referred to as Bagel Crisps and Bagel Chips, which are marketed as a representation of the "authentic taste" of New York City bakery bagels.

Though the original bagel has a fairly well-defined recipe and method of production, there is no legal standard of identity for bagels in the United States. Bakers are free to call any bread torus a bagel, even those that deviate wildly from the original formulation.

Large scale commercial sales

United States supermarket sales

According to the American Institute of Baking (AIB), 2008 supermarket sales (52-week period ending January 27, 2009) of the top eight leading commercial fresh (not frozen) bagel brands in the United States:

totaled to US$430,185,378 based on 142,669,901 package unit sales.

the top eight leading brand names for the above were (by order of sales): Thomas', Sara Lee, (private label brands) Pepperidge Farm, Thomas Mini Squares, Lender's Bagels (Pinnacle Foods), Weight Watchers and The Alternative Bagel (Western Bagel).

Further, AIB-provided statistics for the 52-week period ending May 18, 2008, for refrigerated/frozen supermarket bagel sales for the top 10 brand names totaled US$50,737,860, based on 36,719,977 unit package sales.

The AIB reported US$626.9 million fresh bagel US supermarket sales (excluding Wal-Mart) for the 52 weeks ending 11 April 2012. Fresh/frozen supermarket sales (excluding Wal-Mart) for the 52 weeks ending 13 May 2012 was US$592.7 million. The average price for a bag of fresh bagels was $3.27; for frozen it was $1.23.

Similar breads

Many cultures developed similar breads and preparations. The in Russia, Ukraine and Belarus, and the obwarzanek (in particular obwarzanek krakowski) in Poland. Somewhat similar in appearance to bagels, these breads are usually topped with sesame and poppy seeds. The ingredients in these breads and bagels somewhat differ, as these breads are made with a different dough using butter and sometimes also with milk.

In Turkey, a salty and fattier form is called açma. The ring-shaped simit is sometimes marketed today as a Turkish bagel. Archival sources show that the simit has been produced in Istanbul since 1525. Based on Üsküdar court records (Şer'iyye Sicili) dated 1593, the weight and price of simit was standardized for the first time. Noted 17th-century traveler Evliya Çelebi wrote that there were 70 simit bakeries in Istanbul during the 1630s.

Jean Brindesi's early 19th-century oil paintings about Istanbul daily life show simit sellers on the streets. Warwick Goble made an illustration of the simit sellers of Istanbul in 1906. Simit is very similar to the twisted sesame-sprinkled bagels pictured being sold in early 20th century Poland. Simit are also sold on the street in baskets or carts, as bagels were then.

The Uyghurs of Xinjiang, China enjoy girdeh nan (from Persian, meaning round bread), a type of nan, the local bread.

Another bagel-like type of bread is the traditional German Dortmunder Salzkuchen from the 19th century.

Ka'ak al-Quds (better known in English as the Jerusalem bagel) is an oblong ring bread, usually topped with sesame seeds, with its origins in Jerusalem. Unlike the bagel, it is not boiled prior to baking.

Cultural references

"Bagel" is also a Yeshivish term for sleeping 12 hours straight-e.g., "I slept a bagel last night." There are various opinions as to the origins of this term. It may be a reference to the fact that bagel dough has to "rest" for at least 12 hours between mixing and baking or simply to the fact that the hour hand on a clock traces a bagel shape over the course of 12 hours.

In tennis, a " bagel" refers to a player winning a set 6-0; winning a match 6-0, 6-0, 6-0 is called a "triple bagel".

"" or " Bagelach" is a title of a famous Russian and Yiddish song written in Odessa in the 1920s. The Barry Sisters together with the Ziggy Elman Orchestra made it popular in the US in 1939. Today it belongs to the repertoire of klezmer, jazz and pop musicians.

In Quizbowl, a "bagel" refers to failing to correctly answer any part of a multi-part bonus question (i.e. "We bageled that bonus on the Franco-Mongol alliance in the first finals match."). This is because a bagel looks like the number zero, which is the points gained by incorrectly answering all of the questions.

In the United States, February 9 is often celebrated as National Bagel Day, in which people celebrate the rich history of getting together and eating bagels.

The term "bageling" refers to when a Jew uses a Jewish word or phrase in a conversation, or in the vicinity of a stranger who is also clearly Jewish, in order to inform them that they are also Jewish.

The bagel is a major plot device in the 2022 sci-fi film Everything Everywhere All at Once.

References

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Alternative names Bajgiel, beigel, beygl Type Bread Place of origin Poland Region or state Central & Eastern Europe, North America, Israel Associated national cuisine Jewish, Polish, American, Canadian, and Israeli Created by Jewish communities of Poland Serving temperature Room temperature Main ingredients Wheat dough Variations Montreal-style bagel, pizza bagel, bagel toast A bagel ( Yiddish: בײגל, beygl ; Polish: bajgiel; also historically spelled beigel) is a bread product originating in the Jewish communities of Poland.

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1. Make bagels: Combine water, flour, sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on low speed until dough is well-developed, about 8 minutes. To ensure the gluten has developed fully, cut off a walnut-sized piece of dough. Flour your fingers, and then stretch the dough: if it tears immediately, the dough needs more kneading. Fully developed dough should form a thin translucent "windowpane."

2. Transfer dough to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and a kitchen towel, and let rise for 2 hours.

3. Punch dough down, place it on a lightly floured work surface, and use a knife or dough scraper to divide the dough into 6 pieces (or more, for smaller bagels). Roll each piece of dough into a sausage shape about 6 inches long. Join the ends to form a circle. Repeat with the remaining dough, and let the bagels rest for 15 minutes.

4. Preheat the oven to 475 degrees F (245 degrees C). Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Arrange small plates with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, and onion flakes next to the baking sheet.

5. Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil in a large pot. Add honey, if desired (see Editor's Note). Boil three bagels at a time, until they rise to the surface of the pot, about 1 minute per side. Remove bagels with a slotted spoon and place them on the lined baking sheet.

6. Dip the tops of the wet bagels into the toppings and arrange them, seed-side up, on the baking sheet. Sprinkle with coarse salt, if desired. Bake in the preheated oven until the bagels begin to brown, 15 to 20 minutes.

Editor's Note:

Adding honey or barley malt syrup to the boiling water bath gives the bagels a pleasing chewy texture with a hint of sweetness. You may omit the honey if desired. The nutrition data for this recipe includes the full amount of honey. The actual amount of honey consumed will vary.

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Make bagels: Combine water, flour, sugar, salt, vegetable oil, and yeast in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the dough hook. Mix on low speed until dough is well-developed, about 8 minutes. To ensure the gluten has developed fully, cut off a walnut-sized piece of dough.

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The first peanut brittle is was made in 1890 by a southern women who made it by mistake

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1) Grease a large cookie sheet
2) In a heavy 2 quart saucepan, over medium heat bring sugar, corn syrup, salt, and water to a boil. Stir until the sugar dissolves then stir in the peanuts. Stir until candy reaches 300 degrees F
3) Remove from heat and then stir in butter and baking soda right away. Then pour it into a cookie sheet. Once its cool break it into pieces.

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Caramelization which is melting sugar at a high heat.

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Sucrose is what gives peanut brittle it's nice hard crack.

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A bagel is a bread product that originated in Jewish communities in 1683.

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1) Combine 1 1/4 cup water, flour, sugar, 1 teaspoon salt, vegetable oil, and yeast in mixing bowl. Mix for 8 minutes until well combined.
2) Then stretch the dough if it tears it needs more kneading.
3) Next transfer into lightly oiled bowl and cover it with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours.
4) Punch dough and place on a floured surface. Roll each dough into sausage shapes and then join ends to form circle.
5) Bring 4 quarts of water to a boil and boil the bagels. Let boil 1 minute each side.
6) Lastly put on any topping you want (seeds, salt etc.)

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This is a wonderful peanut brittle that is easy to make and wows everyone! Have all the ingredients for this recipe measured out and ready. This recipe requires that you react quickly. You do not have time to measure ingredients in between steps.

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Mobile Cuisine | Food Truck, Pop Up & Street Food Coverage

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The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

We have decided when these fun facts pop up, that we would share them with our readers in our section titled "Did You Know?"

For today's Did You Know we will look at Peanut Brittle fun facts.

Peanut Brittle Fun Facts: Brittle, is a type of confection, consisting of flat broken pieces of hard sugar candy embedded with peanuts.

Some believe that peanut brittle originated in the American South. The fact that Civil War soldiers survived on peanuts because of its protein content, coupled with the Southern peanut farming boom in the 1900's.

Another version credits a Southern woman for inventing the candy purely by accident in 1890. While attempting to make taffy, she inadvertently added baking soda to the recipe instead of cream of tartar.

The term brittle first appears in print in 1892.

Traditionally, brittle is a mixture of sugar and water is heated to the hard crack stage corresponding to a temperature of approximately 300 °F.

In parts of the Middle East, brittle is made with pistachios, while many Asian countries use sesame seeds and peanuts.

January 26th is National Peanut Brittle Day.

A snake nut can or snake peanut brittle can is a practical joke device that closely resembles a can of nuts, but contains a long wire spring covered by a cloth or vinyl sheath, printed like snake skin, which leaps out of the can and startles the unsuspecting victim. The item was invented by Samuel Sorenson Adams of the S.S. Adams Co. circa 1915.

Peaut Brittle Fun Facts We Missed

Let us know if we missed any peanut brittle fun facts in the comment section below. We always love to add to these lists. If we can verify that the facts is just that, a fact, we will give the reader credit in the article.

Reference: Wikipedia: Fun Facts about Brittle.

Find all of the National Food Holidays to spice up your food truck menu specials throughout the year.

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The internet is full of fabulous facts about everything from current events to the history basket weaving. As we research for our daily content on food trucks, food carts and street food, we stumble upon some items of knowledge that we just did not know.

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With Halloween just around the corner, candy is on the brain. So it's fitting that the American Chemical Society has chosen "The Sweet Side of Chemistry-Candy" as the theme for this year's celebration of National Chemistry Week (October 19-25).

We all know that candy usually has a lot of "sugar" in it, but what does that really mean? Is the sugar in a chewy caramel the same as the sugar in a brittle lollipop? If so, why are the textures and consistencies of those two sweet treats so different?

The answers lie in chemistry.

The type of sugar people are usually most familiar with is sucrose (C 12 H 22 O 11 )-the white crystalline substance commonly used in baking or added by the spoonful to tea or coffee. Each sucrose molecule is actually a disaccharide (double sugar), consisting of two smaller sugar molecules bonded together: one glucose and one fructose.

When mixed with water and heated, sucrose crystals dissolve, forming a sugar syrup used in making candy. As the temperature of the syrup rises and water boils away, the concentration of the sugar increases, which affects the way the molecules behave when the syrup eventually cools. Confectioners (people who make candy) have described distinct stages for the syrup based on the highest temperature it reaches during cooking. They use these categories to make different types of sweets.

You may have seen the term "soft ball" in recipes for fudge or pralines or the term "hard crack" in toffee and peanut brittle recipes. These are just two of the temperature stages recognized in candy-making, and although they may seem like rough rules of thumb for home bakers, they actually have quite specific parameters that lead to specific results.

Soft ball stage, for example, is achieved when the sugar syrup has been heated to between 113° and 115°C. At that point, the sugar concentration will be reach about 85 percent, which is a good consistency for making fudge. The term soft ball (and the names of all the other temperature stages) comes from the " cold water test," which allows a confectioner to test the temperature stage without a thermometer. At soft ball stage, when a small amount of the syrup is dropped into cold water, it will form a soft, flexible ball that will naturally flatten out after a few moments. Other stages include:

Firm ball (118°-120°C and 87 percent sugar), used in making marshmallows and caramels

Hard ball (120°-130°C and 92 percent sugar), used in making rock candy and gummies

Soft crack (132°-143°C and 95 percent sugar), used in making butterscotch and taffy

Hard crack (148°-155°C and 99 percent sugar), used in making lollipops and brittles

Clear liquid (160°-169° C and 100 percent sugar)

Brown liquid (170°-176° C and 100 percent sugar)-also known as caramelized sugar-used to flavor many deserts

Notice that caramels and sugar that has been caramelized are not the same. Caramels are the familiar chewy candy made from mixing sugar in the firm ball stage with cream and other ingredients, depending on the recipe. The brown color you see in caramels is the result of the Maillard Reaction-a complex chemical reaction that occurs when sugars (like sucrose, glucose or fructose) react with amino acids (like those found in cream) at an elevated temperature. The Maillard Reaction is responsible for colors, odors, and flavors in cooked foods of all kinds, from caramels to popcorn to steak.

Caramelized sugar, on the other hand, is pure sugar that has been heated to 170° C. At that temperature, the sucrose begins to break down and form other compounds. Even food chemists do not completely understand the chemical reactions that occur during the caramelization process, but the results are delicious. Caramelized sugar has complex flavors, ranging from nutty to buttery, and it's used to give a rich taste to many desert items.

So next time your sweet tooth leads you to a gummy bear, a piece of fudge, or a lollipop, remember that the flavors and textures of those treats are no accident. They are the result of some seriously sweet chemistry.

LEARN MORE
Read more about sucrose, fructose and glucose in our Carbohydrates module

See pictures and videos of each temperature stage used in cold water test in the Exploratorium's Science of Cooking exhibit

Learn about other tricks of chemistry that confectioners use to make the perfect candy in the Exploratorium's Science of Cooking exhibit

Explore the history of the Maillard Reaction from its discovery in 1912 to modern research on its implications for food safety and health in Chemical and Engineering News

Watch a video from Food Science TV demonstrating the Maillard Reaction and the process of caramelization in the kitchen

Christine is a freelance writer, editor, and content strategist, specializing in science and nature. She holds an Bachelor's degree in Environmental Science and Media Studies and a Master's of Science Writing. She has been working in science communication and education for nearly a decade as a journalist, an organizer for conservation groups, and a museum educator. Before joining the Visionlearning team, she served as the New Media and Online Community Manager for the Webby award-winning Smithsonian Ocean Portal. Christine is assisting Visionlearning with developing new modules and glossary terms, managing the blog, and outreach through social media.

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With Halloween just around the corner, candy is on the brain. So it's fitting that the American Chemical Society has chosen "The Sweet Side of Chemistry-Candy" as the theme for this year's celebration of National Chemistry Week (October 19-25). We all know that candy usually has a lot of "sugar" in it, but what does that really mean?

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Bagels get their flavor and texture from a long cold fermentation process.

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Bagel - an overview | ScienceDirect Topics

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beygel. Bagels are thought to have originated in Poland, where Polish bakers, in an effort to honor their victorious horse-riding king, made a stirrup-shaped roll and boiled it before baking. This boiling helped keep the shape of the roll during subsequent baking.

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Sucrose is a complex sugar that can react with water molecules that form two simple sugars known as glucose and fructose.

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When I first began making bread, the science involved was always in the back of my mind. I had an idea of what occurred-my diagram for the chemical reactions in dough looked something like this:

When I started preparing a manual for a bread-making class, however, I really began to wonder about the details. Is the sugar for fermentation part of flour? How exactly does the yeast process this sugar? Do all the complex flavors of bread really come from one organic molecule, ethanol? Numerous trips to the university libraries helped me understand the enzymes involved in making the dough.

When I realized that flour contains a very small amount of sugar, only one to two percent, I thought, "Wait a minute, how is that possible? That's not enough to make dough rise." Then I figured out that the starch in flour provides most of the sugar for fermentation, and the starch must be broken down into sugar before it can be fermented. This breakdown is the work of enzymes.

An enzyme is defined as a large molecule, usually a protein, that catalyzes a biological reaction. This means that the enzyme speeds up the reaction by reducing whatever energy barrier is preventing the reaction from happening quickly and easily.

When two molecules bump into each other, there is a chance they will react to form new molecules. Sometimes this happens easily-the two molecules each have an unstable site, for example, and when they bump, a bond forms between the sites, creating a new, stable molecule. In other cases, however, bonds in the reacting molecules must break (which requires energy) before new bonds can form. The amount of energy needed to break the old bonds is the energy barrier to the reaction. This is represented by the solid line in the diagram below.

One way to increase the speed of a reaction is to heat it up. Hotter molecules move faster; they possess more energy. When two of them collide, there is a greater chance that the necessary bonds will break and reaction will occur. If more molecules possess the energy needed to get over the barrier, more of the reaction occurs.

The other way to speed up a reaction is to reduce the barrier, as shown by the dashed line in the diagram. When less energy is needed for the reaction, more molecules will possess enough energy to get over the barrier. Reducing the barrier is the job of catalysts. They alter the situation to reduce the barrier to reaction. Enzymes are a subset of catalysts; they work on biological reactions. About 4000 reactions are known to involve enzymes, including most of the reactions that occur in the human body and several reactions in bread dough, described next.

Enzymes catalyze three main reactions in bread-making: breaking starch into maltose, a complex sugar; breaking complex sugars into simple sugars; and breaking protein chains. The breakages could happen without enzymes, but the energy barrier is so large that it is very unlikely. Essentially, the enzymes are necessary for the reactions to occur.

It is easy to start seeing enzymes as little critters that come in, recognize the site where they can work, and begin to chew on bonds or snap them in half. While this is a convenient picture, it does a disservice to the marvels of biology. Enzymes do not think or act, but still manage to arrive at the sites where they are needed. Each enzyme has a very specific job to do and only interacts with the appropriate molecules for which it is designed, ignoring all others. Enzymes work efficiently and are not used up by the process; after the reaction occurs, the original enzyme molecule is left intact and can proceed to a new site.

If the enzyme does not think, how does it manage to perform its specific task? The simplified picture presented in general chemistry textbooks is called the "lock and key model." An enzyme has a specific shape that fits together with the substrate, the molecule on which it will be working. The enzyme bonds to the substrate with a weaker chemical bond, a hydrogen bond or hydrophobic bond, for example. It alters the substrate in a way that makes reaction favorable. Once reaction occurs, the enzyme releases the products and moves on.

For example, the substrate sucrose is a complex sugar that can react with a water molecule to form two simple sugar molecules, glucose and fructose.

There is an energy barrier to the reaction because it takes a lot of energy to break the middle bond of the sucrose.

The enzyme sucrase fits together with the sucrose (below). In order to bond to the enzyme, the sucrose must stretch. This stretching weakens the sucrose's middle bond, which becomes susceptible to attack by water molecules. The energy barrier has been lowered. When a water molecule comes along, the middle bond easily breaks and reacts with the water molecule. The enzyme is now holding the product molecules, which it releases. Sucrose has been broken into glucose and fructose.

Another example emphasizes the bonding nature of the enzymes; they are not simply fitting into substrates like puzzle pieces, snapping into place. Bonds must form. Once bonded, the active site of the enzyme is positioned near the reaction site of the substrate, which it alters to reduce the energy barrier.

In this example, the substrate is a protein. Proteins are chains of amino acids linked by peptide bonds. When a peptide bond forms, a water molecule is released.

A water molecule can come back and break a peptide bond, but it usually does not have enough energy.

The enzyme carboxypeptidase catalyzes the breaking of the last peptide bond in the protein chain, releasing the end amino acid. Carboxypeptidase contains a zinc atom with a positive charge. This zinc atom bonds with the protein near the last peptide bond, pulling the electrons of the bond away from it and, thus, weakening it (below). The enzyme also has a pocket area composed of hydrophobic atoms; if the terminal amino acid has a hydrophobic group on it, the group is attracted to this pocket and held by it. In addition, carboxypeptidase can form hydrogen bonds with the terminal amino acid, further securing it in place.

When a water molecule encounters the weakened peptide bond, it likely now has enough energy to break it, recombining with the broken ends to reform the loose amino acid. The various bonds holding the enzyme to the protein substrate are weakened, and the enzyme is released.

The first enzyme to take action in bread dough is amylase. Amylase acts on starch (either amylose or amylopectin), breaking the starch chain between adjacent sugar rings. There are two kinds of amylase: α-amylase (alpha-amylase) randomly breaks the chain into smaller pieces while β-amylase (beta-amylase) breaks maltose units off the end of the chain.

Amylase is found in flour. Wheat kernels contain amylase because they need to break starch down into sugar to use for energy when the kernels germinate. The amount of amylase varies with the weather and harvesting conditions of the wheat, so mills generally test for it and add extra or blend flours to get an appropriate amount.

Amylases are mobilized when water is added to the flour. This is one reason why doughs with a higher hydration often ferment faster-the amylases (and other enzymes) can move about more effectively. To reach the starch molecules, amylases must penetrate the starch's granules; thus, most of the action in bread dough happens at broken granules, where the starch is available for reaction. Fortunately, a percentage of starch granules are damaged during milling and accessible by the amylases.

An amylase is a big molecule, with hundreds of amino acids linked together. Many different groups contribute to the bonding between the amylase and the starch substrate. In addition, there are several different amylase molecules, and each functions differently. The examples of enzyme action presented above give the general idea.

Because of amylase, some of the starch in bread dough is broken into maltose, a double-ring sugar composed of two glucose molecules; but fermentation reactions require single glucose rings. Simple sugars like glucose also provide flavor to the bread and participate in browning reactions that occur at the crust during baking.

Fortunately, the yeast used in bread-making contains the enzyme maltase, which breaks maltose into glucose. When the yeast cell encounters a maltose molecule, it absorbs it. Maltase then bonds to the maltose and breaks it in two. Yeast cells also contain invertase, another enzyme that can break sucrose, like the sucrase described above. This enzyme works on the small percentage of sucrose found in the flour. These two enzymes are responsible for producing much of the glucose needed by the yeast for fermentation.

The other major enzyme at work in bread dough is protease. Protease acts on protein chains, breaking the peptide bonds between amino acids. Carboxypeptidase, described above, is an example of a protease. There are hundreds of proteases, but only a few are found in bread dough, where they chop the gluten into pieces. Proteases occur naturally in flour, yeast cells, and malt. Their levels are measured at the mill and adjusted in the same way that amylase levels are adjusted.

Proteases in bread dough have been the subject of scientific research for the past hundred years. There has been much debate about their importance. In the early years, scientists were trying to prove their existence and measure relative activity in different brands of flour. They amplified the protease activity by adding non-gluten substrates to the mix. These substrates were ones that protease readily attacks. Eventually someone thought to look at protease activity in normal bread dough and found very little activity.

It seems, however, that this very small activity might be just what is needed in bread dough. Too much protease activity would break up the gluten, destroying the network that forms during kneading. A little bit, however, softens the dough and makes it more workable. If the dough is allowed to autolyse (i.e., rest) or if preferments are used, proteases have time to work before kneading, making the dough easier to knead. (I wonder if this is the origin of the word "autolyse," from "autolysis," which means "self-breaking" and could refer to the protein proteases at work on the protein chains.)

In addition to affecting the dough's consistency, proteases affect its flavor. Proteases result in single amino acids when they break the last peptide bond of the protein chain. These amino acids can participate in the flavor and browning reactions that occur at the crust during baking.

So now, my simplified diagram of the chemical reactions in bread dough looks more like this:

This diagram includes the presence of enzymes. Without enzymes, bread-making would not be possible. Then again, neither would we.
Drawings by the author.

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Enzymes: The Little Molecules That Bake Bread

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When I first began making bread, the science involved was always in the back of my mind. I had an idea of what occurred-my diagram for the chemical reactions in dough looked something like this: When I started preparing a manual for a bread-making class, however, I really began to wonder about the details.

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Brittle | CraftyBaking | Formerly Baking911

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Sugar confectionery refers to a large range of food items, which includes candy. It's main ingredient is sugar, especially crystalline sugar (sucrose), sometimes along with its close relative being glucose or corn syrup. Candy comes in a variety of forms and can be classified by its PREPARATION METHOD, which determines whether it will be CRYSTALLINE or NON-CRYSTALLINE in nature.