Legend has it the first bagel was created in the year 1783, when an Austrian baker designed a special treat in the shape of a stirrup. It was intended as a tribute to the King of Poland, a skilled horseman who had recently saved Austria from an army of Turkish invaders. (A stirrup is the part of a saddle that holds the rider's feet.) The word bagel is derived from the Austrian word for stirrup, beugel. As time went on, the shape gradually shifted from that of a stirrup to the round shape we know today. The name eventually changed from beugel to bagel.

Your basic bagel is made from flour, yeast, malt, water, and salt. These ingredients are combined to make dough, then cut into three-ounce balls. The "bagel balls" are then wrapped around a metal bar to form the famous bagel shape. These doughy bagels are moved to a warm space where the yeast causes them to slowly rise. When they're big enough (about twice their original size) they're dropped in boiling water for several minutes. Finally, the boiled bagels are baked on revolving trays. Mmmmmmmm!

Last year Americans ate nearly 177 million pounds of bagels. That's as heavy as 14,000 elephants, or 44,000 minivans, or 45 million toasters! (And this doesn't even include the weight of the cream cheese.) Today, bagels are made in a huge variety of flavors including onion, garlic, egg, poppy seed, pumpernickel, rye, sourdough, whole wheat, cheese, caraway, blueberry, cherry, strawberry, blueberry, cinnamon- raisin, even chocolate chip! What kind of bagel would you like to make?