Good topic. I have been looking closely at starting a bagel shop in northern Georgia. Southern folks don't do bread/bagels/pastries at all. It really is a need down there. got a local bagel shop I would use as a model for mine. anyway the owners gave me a tour the other day. Four pieces of equipment needed... 1) a very large mixer 2) a large table to roll out the bagels; 3) a steam jacketed water vat. Bagels are boiled for a certain period of time. finally a large rotissiere oven with like 8 shelves. Bagels are brought from the water bath to a trough where they are rinsed off, placed on carpeted "I" beams and placed in oven for a few minutes to steam. when ready, they are dumped off the "I" beams and placed directly on the oven tables. Bake til golden. Serve warm with a bit of olive cream cheese,or my favorite...
Gyro Bagel. take one sesame bagel and toast crispy. while toasting, take three strips of Gyro meat and fry up. Also fry one egg.
Assemble sandwich. Small amount of cream cheese, meat, egg, touch of peeper, serve it up. MMMMMMMMMMMmmmmmmmmm!!!
Yeah, this is the winter to learn the bagels. Several earlier attempts had the right bagel taste, but looked all farked up.
Scott