The St Louis Tzitzel Bagel

Tzitzel bagels are unique to St Louis - the bagels are covered in cornmeal and their story originates in a St. Louis Jewish deli.

I traveled to St Louis last weekend to see about some bagels. I hope to have my full Midwest Bagel Quest reporting on the St Louis bagel scene out later in the week, but for now, I will tell you about the Tzitzel bagel. Before heading to St Louis, I read through the St. Louis Jewish Light digital archives and the St. Louis Post-Dispatch digital archives to trace the history of bagels in St Louis. I read about Pratzel’s Bakery, opened by Max and Nathan Pratzel in 1913 and described as the first family bakery making bagels in St Louis. I read about Lickhalter Bakery, opened by Samuel Lickhalter in 1915, whose bagels were described as legendary. “St Louis Bagel Belt,” a 1977 article from the St Louis Globe Democrat, also highlights Bagel Factory, Petrofsky’s Bakery, and New York Bagelry as shops to get quality bagels. The article had a lot to say in general about St Louis bagels, but does not mention Tzitzel bagels. Neither does “A Brief History of Bagels in St Louis,” a 2023 article from St. Louis Jewish Light. Even though it talks about Pratzel’s Deli, where, according to Internet consensus, the Tzitzel bagel originated.

I saw the Tzitzelnickel bagel at Union Bagel and was curious about it. It was in the display case with cherry crunch bagels and chihuahua cheese bagels, foods that I believe should be either a muffin or a scone, and leave the bagel out of it. But the Tzitzelnickel bagel called to me because, if done right, pumpernickel is my favorite bagel, and Tzitzel sounded Yiddish. So I bought one. And it was delicious. So Jenny went back inside, got back in line, and we bought a couple more of them.

What exactly is a Tzitzel bagel?

A Tzitzel bagel is a bagel that is coated in cornmeal before it is baked. I figured this was the innovation of Union Bagel and specific to a pumpernickel bagel, but when we went to Baked & Boiled the next day, they sold a plain Tzitzel bagel. I learned that cornmeal on a bagel is not unusual in St Louis and was curious about the backstory. I figured that Missouri being part of the “Corn Belt,” has something to do with this. Except Illinois, Michigan, Minnesota, and Wisconsin are also part of the “Corn Belt,” but none of the bagels I tasted in those states had cornmeal on them. A few articles trace it back to Pratzel’s, and it is a fairly simple story that starts because bakers often use cornmeal to slide their bread in and out of the oven. Turns out that Nate Pratzel liked the taste of crispy cornmeal on the bottom of his rye bread loaves and started coating the entire loaf with cornmeal. At some point, he started doing this with his bagels as well. Now it is a bit of a St Louis bagel specialty.

From the St Louis Jewish Light article, “The legacy of Pratzel’s Bakery.”

An article in the Forward had a theory about why it is called Tzitzel. The Forward is a Jewish newspaper, but back in 1897, when it was founded, it was a Yiddish-language daily socialist newspaper. My grandmother was always reading a copy of her Forverts paper. The theory is that in Yiddish, "zis" means sweet, and thanks to the presence of sugar in corn, cornmeal is slightly sweet.

Does anyone know the full story for calling it Tzitzel bread or Tzitzel bagel?

Baked & Boiled's Tzitzel bagel on the left. Union Bagel's Tzitzelnickel bagel on the right.

Tzitzel might be a Yiddish word, but Jenny and I had a hell of a time trying to pronounce it. You can listen to our attempts.