Every other week, my husband goes to a well-known bakery, and they are famous for their old fashioned New York style homemade bagels. These bagels are large with a crusty exterior, and the inside is soft and delicious. I would slice them all ahead of time and store them in small portions to stay fresh. This only took about 15-20 minutes, but sometimes the crustier ones presented a challenge to the knife, which resulted in a lop-sided cut bagel. While slicing a crusty bagel and applying a little extra pressure on the knife, the knife slipped and instead took a hunk out of my thumb.
Since we do buy bagels on a regular basis, this scary and painful situation caused me to re-think about the usefulness of a bagel slicer. If I need to use a kitchen tool that offers safety from an accidental mishap of a sharp serrated knife, then it’s not a frivolous purchase at all. It is instead an intelligent decision and a worthwhile tool. I use this bagel slicer on a consistent basis, and every two weeks for our fresh bought bagels.
General Description:
This bagel slicer has a nice compact size, about 9 ¼” in height, a 7” length, and although the base is less than 3 ¼” wide it is very stable. I like the short width which takes up very little room when stored sideways in a confined area.
The bagel slicer is a two piece unit.
The top piece is the frame that contains the blade, and the handle on the frame is smooth in my hand, with plenty of room that keeps my fingers far from the top of the blade. I like the design in which the entire cutting blade has a clear-view acrylic casing to prevent any accidental hand/finger contact with any part of the sharp blade. However, there is enough room within the casing for my long handled cleaning sponge to fit and thoroughly clean both sides of the blade. The stainless steel blade has serrated cutting edges, and I love that the blade has a non-stick finish for easy cleaning.
The second piece consists of the base which is very stable, it does NOT tilt and it does NOT fall over. It has a triangular ledge to hold the inserted bagel, and this measures 4 ¾” across and 2” wide, which easily accommodates our large size bagels. There is also a large rounded slot to retrieve the bagel after slicing. Underneath the base is a flat finger shield which prevents the blade from making contact with anything that’s below the base, including my hand when I carry the bagel slicer from one area to another.
In reference to performance, this bagel slicer functions perfectly. The blade pushes down effortlessly and slices our bagels right down the middle. This eliminates my lop-sided slicing especially with those hard crusty bagels. There is no longer a risk of cutting myself, not even with shaky hands and my not-so-perfect eyesight. This entire task is a very smooth operation that only takes a couple minutes to slice through a dozen bagels, which is a lot faster than when I sliced them all by hand.
If by chance, there is a rock-hard bagel that needs slicing, toss it in the microwave for a few seconds just to soften it up a bit. Therefore, the bagel slicer will slice through those bagels that have hardened overnight, (if not put into a plastic bag which seems to keep them softer and fresher for a longer time).
I could not be happier with the purchase of this bagel slicer. Its sleek design is all about safety as well as superior performance, and with extra consideration for the ease of cleaning. I cannot find a single fault in the construction, with its carefully thought out details. It’s a very effective tool and for me it’s a practical addition to my kitchenware.