Daphne’s Bagels
Inside of Red Hook Coffee
3965 Woodward Ave.,
Detroit
Saturday, August 29
This is the best bagel I’ve ever had in Detroit.
A toasted cheddar jalapeño bagel with plain cream cheese.
And as someone who can be described as “body by bagel” when it comes to my fitness level, I know bagels.
Daphne’s Bagels is currently a Saturday morning pop-up inside of Red Hook Coffee’s Midtown location (they’ve got plans for a brick-and-mortar somewhere in town, but were hush-hush on the details for now).
While there are bagels for sale to the public starting at 8 a.m., it’s smart to pre-order online in advance via their website. Last Saturday, they were sold out by 10:30.
Owners Nick and Carly Howard say they’re selling more than 1,000 bagels a week through orders and their pop-up. That’s impressive considering they started Daphne’s Bagels last year out of their apartment. The name comes from their dog Daphne, an Australian shepherd.
They say they took some inspiration for their recipe from the buzzy Apollo Bagels out of New York City, where residents eat over 100 bagels a year on average.
I’d love to know how our bagel consumption numbers compare in Detroit. They’re definitely about to go up thanks to Daphne’s arrival on the scene.
In fact, it’s hard to compare them to anything else around, including the iconic stalwart New York Bagel and new arrivals like Bev’s Bagels.
These sourdough bagels are hand-rolled, so each one is a bit different. They’re far from perfectly shaped. Each one kinda screams “we’re obviously homemade, get over it.”
The mouthfeel here is everything. The perfect bagel needs to have that pillowy, fluffy inside with a bit of chewiness to it. Where Daphne’s Bagels soars is the crispy edge and sourdough flavor.
“What it boils down to — no pun intended — is the moisture in the dough and the fermentation time,” says Nick Howard. “These are just over two days cold fermented, which helps get that crust extra crispy but fluffy on the inside.”
One of their best sellers is a French toast bagel that’s a maple bagel with a cinnamon crunch topping.
On the savory side, the scallion chili crisp bagel brings together that umami bomb of onion, some spice, and a bit of chili crisp. I paired it with a sun-dried tomato cream cheese and it was heavenly.
These ingredients aren’t hard to spot. They’re truly woven into the dough itself, adding to the enticing visual feast of their rotating selection. The standards are here, too, including an everything and sesame bagel for the less adventurous folks.
Now that summer is over, get ready for “body by bagel” season thanks to Daphne’s Bagels.
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