Recipes

[Mz iMac]

Last week I purchased 2 freshly made bagels for my lunch.  For some strange reason I forgot all about them & left them in the trunk of my car.

I woke up early this morning remembering I bought bagels last week.  I ran out to my car in my pj's & found them.

I was going to crush them up to make croutons when I decided to go online to find ways of softening them up and the following is what I found:

The quick way....

Soften stale bagel in the microwave

Tools needed:
• Heat-safe bowl
• Microwave-safe plate
• Paper towels
• Stale bagel
• Microwave

Step One: Heat some water. (Make it as hot to the touch as you can stand. You will need to put your hand in it, so be careful here.)
Step two: Dip two full-size pieces of paper towels in hot water. 
Step three: Wring out the paper towel so that it is wet but not dripping wet.
Step four: Wrap the bagel with wet paper towels. Place the bagel on the microwave-safe plate. 
Step five: Place the bagel in the microwave and heat up on high for 15 seconds. 
 
Check to see if the bagel is warmed through. If not, microwave in 10-second increments until it is done.

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The BEST way.....

Soften stale bagels in the OVEN

Tools needed:
• Hot water
• Aluminum foil
• Stale bagel
• Baking pan
• Oven mitts

Step one: Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Step two: Get your kitchen tap water as hot as possible.
Step three: Place the bagel under the stream of hot water and get it fully soaked. I recommend allowing 30 seconds under the stream of water.
Step four: Loosely wrap the wet bagel in aluminum foil. Then place that on the baking pan.
Step five: Place the bagel in the oven and heat it up for 5 minutes.
Step six: Carefully remove the hot bagel from the oven. Remove the foil and enjoy the refreshed bagel.

**I am going to do the OVEN method** for my lunch.

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By the way, if you find yourself with stale bagels, often try a little hack that will help you always have fresh bagels on hand.

What we like to do is slice the bagels in half when we first get home. Then we place two bagel halves in a freezer bag.

We throw those halves in the freezer. Then we want a bagel or half a bagel; we remove it from the freezer.

We throw that frozen half in the toaster and just toast it a bit longer than we normally would.

We don’t defrost it first. We just go from frozen to heating.

If you allow a frozen bagel to defrost on the counter, it may actually taste a bit stale.

However, if you heat it from frozen, they taste perfect and fresh.

SOURCE:  cookingchew.com/soften-bagels.html

[depglass]

We keep ours in the fridge so they never get bone dry.  I wrap them in a paper towel with the edges of the towel on the bottom to seal..  No water, no special plate, just place on the glass shelf.  Experiment with ten second increments so you don't go overboard, ours take 20 seconds. 

[Mz iMac]

@depglass  Microwave?

[ID2]

You certainly don't need any fancy steps to soften bagels. Throw them in the microwave for 20-30 sec. walla s-o-f-t!

[PinkyPetunia]

@Mz iMac  If it was me I'd throw them out and buy fresh bagels.  Easy for me to say since there are bagel shops everywhere in NJ where I am.

Try the oven method over the microwave.  Any bread microwaved is usually pretty bad IMO.  Just don't expect your bagel to be as good as freshly bought.  Let us know how it turns out.  

Now I am in the mood for a bagel.  I am still trying to use up 2 boxes of matzos.

[Still Raining]

Week old bagels can't be made well again.  Just toss them.

It might be heresy, but I toast my old ones.

[millieshops]

@Mz iMac The bagel shop nearest my home closed at the end of 2021  When QVC ran a special on them, I ordered.  The day they arrived, I cut each in half and froze them.  I have been using them straight from the freezer into the toaster oven very successfully.  Did that just this AM and it works beautifully although I did have to learn timing a bit by trial and error.

[Mz iMac]

UPDATE

I did the "oven" method.  Turned out very well.  The bagel tasted "fresh."  Maybe it was the strawberry cream cheese that helped.