Bagel

The bagel is a bread product traditionally made of yeasted wheat dough in the form of a roughly hand-sized ring which is boiled 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 onto the outer crust with the most traditional being poppy or sesame seeds.

It has become a staple bread product in the United States and Canada, especially in cities with large Jewish populations, such as New York and Montreal, each with different ways of making the bagel.

Though often made with sugar, malt syrup, or honey, bagels should not be confused with doughnuts nor with bialys which, among other differences, just have a depression rather than a hole.