The days before Christmas are some of the busiest for the Bagel Mill in Peterborough. Before the weekend, manager Amanda MacKinnon posted to the café’s social media that they were preparing to bake 3,000 bagels on Dec. 23 and 24 combined. On a regular Saturday, they sell around 700.
On the post, she encouraged people interested in buying dozens of bagels to pre-order.
“We can run out,”MacKinnon said, and she wanted to make sure the business was prepared and that they could offer people the flavors they wanted.
“The Bagel Mill was created in 1996 by Jim Martens,” MacKinnon said. “We bake the bagels fresh every day.” Around the holidays, the business sees a lot of customers who return to buy bagels every year.
“Some people might have lived in the area,” MacKinnon said, and when they’re back they make sure to pick up bagels. Some people grab bagels before they head out of state, and she has even heard of people taking bags of bagels on planes.
MacKinnon mentioned one regular customer who picked his son up from Boston Logan International Airport on a break from college and asked him where he wanted to eat. “He said he wanted to go to the Bagel Mill,” she said.
The bagel-baker, Bill Davis, has been working at the café since 2012. He gets into work at 3 a.m. and bakes until 10 or 11 a.m.
One Dec. 24, however, MacKinnon scheduled a backup baker to come into the kitchen at midnight. He would bake for a few hours until Davis got in to prepare for the 1,500 to 1,800 bagels that would need to be made for the day. All week, the Bagel Mill had two dough-makers on staff to prepare and extra front-of-house workers.
This past year, the Bagel Mill has experienced significant increases in cost of materials. MacKinnon reported that flour was 10 percent more expensive than last year and cream cheese was 38 percent more expensive. Eggs have been costing more, as well, but she said that they were a little cheaper last week. “It was the first time egg prices have dropped,” she said.
Because of this, the Bagel Mill has had to raise its prices. MacKinnon said most customers have been understanding.
Bagels are different than ordinary bread because they are boiled before being baked. MacKinnon said they also use high-gluten flour, which give a bagel its denseness, and they have sugar added. “There’s plenty of creativity for bagels,” she said. “We have sweet bagels. We have savory bagels. The dough-maker has a list of things she wants to try.”
The Bagel Mill offers seasonal and special flavors like pumpkin, cranberry-orange, banana chocolate chip and maple twist. This is the first year they have sold a gingerbread bagel. “We had a hard time with the texture,” MacKinnon said, “We were finally able to successfully make [it].”
When the Bagel Mill has leftover bagels, they don’t just throw them away. Bagels are donated to food pantries in Peterborough, Greenville, Jaffrey, Greenfield and sometimes Wilton. Old bagels can be made into dog bagels or given to a local farmer.
They sell bagels wholesale to Aesop’s Tables in Peterborough, Island Bowls in New Ipswich, The Grind in Derry and Franklin Café in Franklin.
The Bagel Mill is open Monday through Saturday from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m. and Sunday from 7 a.m. to 2 p.m. MacKinnon asks that people interested in pre-ordering bagels call in 24 hours ahead of time, but they can often accommodate morning-of orders.