Meet the Bagel Wizards at Philly Style Bagels

At Philly Style Bagels, bagel wizards Collin Shapiro and Jonathon Zilber have reinvented the bagel by adding beer to the boiling process.

On a crisp Sunday morning in Fishtown, the sun gently creeps onto the rowhomes and trolley tracks lining Girard Avenue. With the exception of a few jogging hipsters, an occasional passing car and the semi-hourly rumbling of the nearby Frankford El, the streets are empty.

Behind him, Jonathon Zilber immerses the bagels in a beer-laden hot liquid bath in preparation for an eventual trip to a hearth oven where he bakes them to a dark, caramel brown. This was our introduction to Philly Style Bagels.

What is a Philly Style Bagel?

It’s fair to say that bagels haven’t changed much since they were invented by Jewish bakers in Poland circa the 17th century. They’ve been tweaked and perfected over the years, with the most popular North American bagels hailing from New York City and Montreal.

The Philly Style Bagel is a traditional bagel. However, it’s less dense than a New York bagel, and it’s not as sweet as a Montreal bagel. Also, the Philly Style Bagel is the perfect size for a sandwich since, as Zilber told us, bagels can be an amazing canvas for everything else.

Inspired by a city that loves its beer and pizza, Shapiro and Zilber have developed a process that involves boiling the bagels in beer and baking them in a pizza oven. This process differentiates Philly Style Bagels from their Montreal and New York City cousins.

“The beer and the boiling process came naturally only because we’re in such a great beer town… [The local beer scene] is such a dynamic, vibrant force at bringing people together and getting people excited about things that they normally wouldn’t be excited about.“

Similar to Montreal bagels, these bagels are generously coated on both sides to achieve maximum flavor. The everything bagel is covered by a special mix that includes sesame seeds, poppy seeds, onion, garlic, yellow mustard seeds, red pepper flakes and salt. Shapiro and Zilber have purposely selected each element in order to etch the flavors into our memory banks.

“…Garlic does that, red pepper does that. Anything that’s spicy is going to stay with you. So it’s not too spicy and it’s not going to burn your mouth, but it’s spicy enough that a half an hour later you’re reminded that you ate something delicious…”

The bagel wizards take no shortcuts – the process takes three days from start to finish. On day one, the bakers make a starter or sponge. On day two, they make the dough. On day three, after the dough has risen for 24 hours, they make the bagels. This process, fueled by the dynamics of hydration and fermentation, results in a bagel that’s both crunchy and moist.

“After we make our dough, instead of letting it ferment for maybe an hour or two, we’ll let it sit a whole 24 hours before we shape [the bagels], and, once they’re shaped, they only proof for about 20 minutes,” Zilber said.

But it’s the beer that creates the real difference. Philadelphia is a great beer city, arguably one of the best in the USA. The beer of choice, selected for its high sugar and malt content, is an IPA brewed at nearby Yards Brewing Company. Adding Yards IPA gives Philly Style Bagels “flavor, color and crunch” while “embracing the culture of Philadelphia,” Zilber said.

“…In Montreal, they would use honey in the water… In New York, they use barley syrup… but it just seemed easier and a natural thing to do in Philly to use beer.”

The Origin of Philly Style Bagels

Shapiro and Zilber met when they were working as stock boys at the Foodery, a Philadelphia beer bottle shop. After realizing their mutual love for noodles and thrift stores, they continued their culinary journey at Shot Tower, one of the most popular coffee shops in Philadelphia.

“We [finished] the salmon… and we were like ‘What [could] we eat it with?’ We looked up a recipe online and made a batch of bagels from start to finish in two hours and they were amazing. For being the worst bagels we ever made, they were pretty amazing.”

Making bagels at home soon led to an opportunity to make bagels for the Hidden Philly Festival, a stint that involved making five dozen bagels on pizza stones for six nights. Since these bagels had to be kosher for the Little Shul festival site, Shapiro and Zilber made these bagels at Morris Levin’s kosher home kitchen. (Levin is a neighbor and friend whom they met at Shot Tower.)

Although they didn’t make any money from these all-nighters, they ended up with enough baking supplies and potential customers to start a pop-up bagel shop. This experience also enabled Shapiro and Zilber to refine their bagel-making process.

Everything Comes Together for the Bagel Wizards

They serve Counter Culture coffee, a roaster they know well from Shot Tower. One Sunday at a time, they’ve developed a loyal customer base of locals, friends and strangers, all bonded together by their love of quality food.

Before long, friends became customers and customers became friends. Word spread thanks to Instagram and plugs from the likes of Beer Scene Magazine and Philadelphia Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan. With girlfriends Desiree Casimiro and Ashley Horowitz on board, Shapiro and Zilber soon became part of the Philly food scene.

What’s Next for Philly Style Bagels?

Money is not the main motivator. Shapiro and Zilber love making bagels for people who love eating bagels. In fact, it’s what they would do if they won the lottery.

Zilber summed it up by explaining that they would “rather make a great product and be part of the community than make a million dollars… I think that the only reason why we’ve been able to get as far as we have is that the people have said that they want us here.”

Update
Philly Style Bagels has opened two permanent locations in Fishtown and Old City and now serves Elixr coffee.

Original Publication Date: May 25, 2015