For the love of a great bagel

Red Seal Chef Ken Knight has been cooking up Montréal-style bagels for the City Market Downtown for a number of years. Find out how Ken’s love of food and Edmonton’s downtown have led him to producing some of the best “proper” bagels in the city.

What flavours of bagels do you sell?

There are a number of flavours: Multigrain, Cinnamon Raisin, Classic White – plain, poppy seed & sesame seed, Whole Wheat – poppy seed, sesame seed & everything (onion, garlic, caraway seed, sesame seed & poppy seed).

How are Montréal-style bagels different than other bagels?

Most bagels sold in grocery stores and fast food outlets are produced from a commercial bagel-making machine using simplified ingredients. Besides yeast, flour and water, Montréal-style bagels contain eggs, vegetable oil and barley malt. They are also shaped by hand — so they actually have bagel holes — and they are boiled in water sweetened with honey before they are baked at very high temperatures. The result is a denser, chewier bagel with a lot of flavour in the bagel itself, not just the garnishes.

What is your best selling bagel?

Classic white with sesame seeds.

How did you start making bagels in the first place?

I am a Red Seal Chef and I make a point of learning how to cook anything that I think is fabulous. I was ho hum about bagels until I first had one in Montréal. I tracked down a recipe in The New York Times, of all places, and with a little experimentation managed to produce a reasonable facsimile. I don’t twist the bagels exactly the same as they do in Montréal and my bagels rise a little higher because Edmonton is so high above sea level.

What kind of feedback do you get from customers on your products?

I get mixed reactions. Some people prefer the bagel-machine bagels. Others, especially people from the Montréal –Ottawa – Toronto triangle are grateful to find what they consider to be a “proper” bagel.

What inspired you to become a farmers’ market vendor?

I reached a point in my life where I no longer wanted to be a boss or to have a boss. During the last boom, it became almost impossible to keep employees in the food industry. Busy, successful restaurants were going under because they couldn’t keep staff. By making the bagels in my warehouse loft and selling them at farmers’ markets, I can make a modest living without having to worry about whether my employees or coworkers are actually going to show up for work that day.

Why do you like selling at the City Market Downtown?

Downtown is my neighbourhood. It’s where I live and work. I love being outside in the summer and in our beautiful, light-filled City Hall in the winter.

What is your favourite way to enjoy your bagels (sandwich, spreads, plain, etc)?

I prefer them with butter or cream cheese or as an open-faced sandwich made from lox, ham or pastrami. I’m not fond of slathering them with jam for breakfast as many people do, but then I don’t have much of a sweet tooth.

Do you have a memorable, unique or funny story about selling at the City Market Downtown?

A few weeks ago at the City Hall Market an acquaintance of mine (we volunteered together at the Jazz City Festival) stopped by my stall. He can’t eat bagels, but to support me and the market he picked a woman out of the crowd at random and bought her two bags of bagels. It  was a delightful Pay It Forward moment.

What are your future dates at the City Market Downtown at City Hall?

Currently, I plan to be at all of them.