Eltana Bagels
eat while fresh;
toast or freeze
All classic bagels, including Eltana bagels, are boiled first and then baked. (Round breads with holes in the middle that are not boiled and baked, we call BSO’s – Bagel-Shaped Objects). Rooted within that classic tradition, there are four things that Eltana does differently than most artisan bagel makers:
1. We hand roll our bagels using a dense dough which yields a product with a scrumptious chew. Why hand-roll bagels?
2. We boil our bagels in a honeyed water to impart a touch of sweetness to the surface.
3. We seed our bagels top and bottom (and sides) because we don’t want the kids to fight. And because the honey helps the seeds stick and our stone floored oven allows the seeded bagel to slide out intact.
4. We wood-fire our bagels to impart a smokiness and hints of char. Why wood fire bagels?
Shepherd’s Grain
Read about our roaster
Plain, Sesame, Poppy, Everything, Salt,
Wheat, Sesame Wheat
Spreads
The Sweet
· Plain cream cheese
· Honey almond cream cheese
· Date walnut cream cheese
· Fig apricot compote
· Almond butter
The Savory
· Lox spread (with scallions, pink peppercorns and lemon)
· Caramelized onion hummus
· Red pepper and walnut spread
· Fava bean mint spread
· White bean and feta spread
· Spicy garlic cream cheese
Salads
· Kharcho tuna salad (locally caught Albacore)
· Green salad with beets and almonds (your choice of garlic lemon tahini dressing or sumac vinaigrette)
· Yemenite egg salad
Specialties
· Moroccan fruit salad (served with yogurt)
· Lox plate (3 halves, cream cheese, cucumbers, curried red onions, capers)
· Daily or basic frittata
·Abulafia (roasted egg and onion flatbread)
Soups and Stews
Available after 11am. Served with a bagel.
· Shakshuka (Israeli pepper, tomato, and egg stew)
· Lebanese lentil soup
· Tunisian tomato soup
· Carrot and chickpea soup
Sweets
· Tahini cookies
· Scone
· Walnut Anise Biscotti
Why hand-roll bagels?
There has got to be an easier way? Well, not really. Eltana bagels get their chewy deliciousness because they are made with very concentrated and stiff dough. There is not a bagel-making machine made that can produce them. And even if someday someone invents such a machine, we still might not use it because hand rolling further conditions the dough to an even greater level of chew and density.
Why wood fire bagels?
Can you taste the difference between wood firing and conventional baking? Depends.
If you are eating one hot out of our oven, you bet. The apple wood smoky flavor mixes with the honeyed surface to impart a hint of smokiness to the surface that adds complexity.
What if you eat an Eltana bagel after it has been frozen, thawed and toasted? Probably no taste difference if you are blindfolded. But who eats blindfolded? The wood firing imparts irregularity and subtle char marks to the surface that make Eltana bagels more handsome than mass produced or conventionally baked varieties.
