DeRusha Eats: St. Paul Bagelry
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) -- There is a visceral reaction when you feast your eyes upon the perfect bagel.
Peggy Teed and her sister Dodie Green ought to know. They call themselves the "bagel sisters," as co-owners of St. Paul Bagelry.
"Everybody's just passionate about bread," Teed said.
They've run their first store in on the St. Paul-Roseville border since 2007, and their newest in South Minneapolis just opened in early 2017. It is a genuine family business.
"We have sons, nephews, nieces and in-laws," Green said.
Even their father works for the company.
"He does all our banking, some of our packaging; he works every day in our Roseville location. He's a young 89-year-old," Teed said.
St. Paul Bagelry provides bagels for the company's own locations, as well as wholesale bagels to co-ops and grocery stores all over the Twin Cities and outstate. They make so many bagels, they use a machine to shape the dough. The bagels then go into a vat of boiling water, for just about two minutes.
Boiling then baking is the New York bagel way.
"It gives you that chew. And baking it gives the right crisp. It's a great combination," Teed said.
St. Paul Bagelry also tops both sides of the bagels.
"You've got to double dip it, before you bake it. You've got double dip it gently," Teed said.
The everything bagel has sesame, poppy, salt, garlic, onion on both sides. They bake for 15 minutes.
Seventeen varieties of bagels are on display at the St. Paul Bagelry, plus 19 flavors of cream cheese, all made in-house. They said they try to match the flavors to the personality of the customer. They have sweet options, savory ones and seeded possibilities.
They also sell bagel sandwiches for breakfast and lunch. They have traditional sandwiches like lox and capers, of course, but also more fun ones like the Isaac Hayes with fried egg, provolone and bacon, or the Luther Vandross, which has fried egg, sausage, bacon, ham and cheddar cheese.
When the bagel sisters bought the Bagelry in 2007, they were making 250 bagels a day. Now they make 4,000.
"They're all natural, no preservatives. It's a great bagel," Teed said.
Green and Teed are passing down a legacy of hard work, love for family, and one heck of a bagel.
"It's worked out very well," Teed said. "We love working with our family."