I have tried the cragel, and it was glorious.

CRAGELS! The unsavory-sounding croissant/bagel hybrid is tastier than it sounds (food should not remind you of a “pelvic floor exercise” if at all possible), combining two of my favorite things in the world.

I ventured out to House of Bagels in the Richmond (in San Francisco) to go bring home some precious cragel manna, in both plain and cinnamon sugar. It was my duty.

0505_crageltop
I sliced it in half before remembering to take a photo. Sorry.

I was so excited that I was shaking a little bit. and I also sliced it in half to share with my roommates before remembering to photograph. Food blogging is hard, you guys.

So, yes. The cragel. It’s huge. You can see it taking up pretty much all of my palm, and I have pretty average-sized hands. My order of a dozen (yeah.) didn’t fit in my large purse. They’re actually really impressive-looking, with pretty twisted dough and great color. Is it deranged to think bread is beautiful? It’s beautiful.

Plain cragel, sliced in half, untoasted.
Plain cragel, sliced in half, untoasted.

The interior of the cragel is layered and chewy. It sort of tastes like chewier challah or brioche. You can definitely taste that it’s buttery or somehow enriched. My guess is that they start with normal bagel dough (and maybe boil it) and then sort of laminate/layer it with some butter.

Delicious, but oh my god, it’s transcendent if you toast it. It’s like seeing God.

Cinnamon sugar cragel, toasted
Cinnamon sugar cragel, toasted

This time I basically blacked out eating 3/4 of it until I sort of halfheartedly took a photo. It was so good. The bottoms of the cinnamon sugar ones become sort of caramelized. It’s like the corners of monkey bread. And also bagels. And also a croissant.

Side view of toasted cinnamon sugar cragel.
Side view of toasted cinnamon sugar cragel.

Anyways, cragels. While they could have probably been called the more appetizing-sounding bassant/boissant, they’re still really tasty. The 3 of us ate 8 cragels in less than 24 hours, so, there’s that endorsement. Get thee to House of Bagels. (And report back about the NYC version if you’ve had ’em!)

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