Bachelor Cooking: Soak Your Bagels!

I know this sounds like one of those goofy TikTok hacks, but apparently it works.

I do enjoy a tasty toasted bagel in the morning, preferably with a schmeer of butter or cream cheese. But toasting bagels can be a chore. You hope to slice them perfectly down the middle so that both slices will fit in the toaster; if one slice is too big, you’re potentially fishing out burnt bagel parts after toasting.

I’ve had a toaster-oven for a few years now, and I’ve used it sporadically. But again, slicing the bagels and then putting them (face up? face down?) in the toaster-oven also produces mixed results – one slice almost toasted, the other slice overcooked.

So I tried one of those online gimmicks. And I should tell you … it works.

Recipe –

• Unsliced bagel, any kind
• Warm water
• Kosher salt (every recipe needs Kosher salt)
• Choice of spread (butter, margarine, cream cheese, peanut butter)

Take the untoasted, unsliced bagel and run it under the cold water tap for twenty seconds. Let it get nice and wet.

Shake off the excess wetness and place that soaked bagel, uncut, into your toaster-oven and toast as the directions recommend.

The bagel will develop a crispy outer shell, while the inside bread will be warm and chewy.

Carefully take the toasted bagel out of the toaster-oven. Place on cutting board. Slice the bagel to create a top and a bottom.

Spread your spread on the slices.

Enjoy.

Put the Kosher salt back in the cupboard.

Trust me. This works. You get a crispy shell and soft, warm, comforting bread-and-spread inside. Why have I not tried this before?

I gotta try more of these food hacks. This could be fun.

But I’m going to need more bagels.