[Eyal Bekerman]

Hello,

Last week I was making American Bagels, taken from Peter Reinhart's wonderful book . My only problem was that the toppings fell off the bagels as soon as someone touched them.
So can anyone give me some pointers: what is the correct stage to top the bagels (or any other bread) and how do I make it stick.

Eyal

[KyleW]

I find that the toppings stick pretty well if I apply them to the wet bagels. Some of the topping will always fall off, scooping up th bits that fall off is part of the bagel eating adventure. Another approach, depending on your level of bagel devotion, is to use bagel boards. They are webbing covered 1x4's. you put the topping on the board and then the bagel on the topping. THey bake right on the board for the first half og the bake. THen you flip them onto the stone to finish. THe weight of the bagel helps the "topping" stick a little better. Here's what they look like.

Bagel Boards

Use the little arrows to the right and left of the thumbnails to see more pics.

Hope this helps!

Kyle