Bagels have become a popular bread product in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom especially in cities with large Jewish populations, such as Boston, Chicago, New York, Los Angeles, Montreal, Toronto, Boise, London and Manchester, each with different ways of making the bagel.

Bagels were derived from the similarly shaped doughnuts and from the similarly textured bialys, primarily because of the cooking method amongst other differences. Russian bubliks are very similar to bagels, but are somewhat bigger, have a wider hole, and are drier and chewier. Pretzels, especially the large soft ones, are also very much like bagels, the main exceptions being the shape and the alkaline water bath that makes the surface dark and glossy.

History

The origin of the bagel is unknown. It is accepted that the bagel originated somewhere in Europe. Some evidence points to Kraków, other evidence points to Germany.

An oft-repeated story states that both the bagel as well as the croissant originated in 1683 in Vienna, Austria, when an Austrian baker created them to commemorate the victory in the Battle of Vienna over the Turks that besieged the city. Similar to the crescent-like bend croissant (Hörnchen in German, little horn) which is said to have been inspired by the Turkish flags, the bagel is supposedly related to the victorious final cavalry charge led by King John III Sobieski of Poland. Thus, the baked good was fashioned in the form of a stirrup ( , or the similar Bügel-shaped horseshoe, or saddle, tales vary).

There was a tradition among many observant Jewish families to make bagels on Saturday evenings at the conclusion of the Sabbath. They would not be permitted to cook during the Sabbath and, compared with other types of bread, bagels could be baked very quickly as soon as it ended.

That the name originated from beugal (old spelling of Bügel, meaning bail/bow or bale) is considered plausible by many, both from the similarities of the word and because traditional handmade bagels are not perfectly circular but rather slightly stirrup-shaped. (This fact, however, may be due to the way the boiled bagels are pressed together on the baking sheet before baking.) Also, variants of the word beugal are used in Yiddish and Austrian German to refer to a round loaf of bread (see Gugelhupf for an Austrian cake with a similar ring shape), or in southern German dialects (where beuge refers to a pile, e.g., of wood Holzbeuge)

Since the middle of the 19th century, bakeries on Brick Lane & the surrounding area in London have been selling bagels (the local spelling is "beigel"). In the East End of London, bagels were traditionally sold in groups of three, which were referred to as a "prial" , a "prangle" or (less commonly) a "frackle" of bagels. They were often displayed in the windows of bakeries on vertical wooden rods of up to a metre in length in racks. Allegedly, it was here, before the widespread use of refrigeration that 'beigels' would be stored in large crates of earth that had been prebaked to remove insects, bacteria & other contaminants in an effort to keep their moisture & freshness.