OMAHA BAGEL CO.

Hoppen Hierarchy:★★★

Small batch sourdough bagels

Standout Dishes: Salted Rosemary Bagel; French Toast Crunch Bagel; Everything Bagel

Bagels aren’t typically viewed as culinary mastery. They’re humble, bread-y vessels perfect for a quick breakfast or a way to satisfy hungry attendees at a morning seminar. Bagels are tasty, but they’re not typically special in the way other breakfast pastries like donuts, scones, and homemade Pop-Tarts are.

That is, at least, until you try an expertly-made bagel. It may be humble in nature, but making an elite-level bagel takes a lot of skill and expertise. And once you taste a great bagel, you’ll never want to go back to the stale, bland options at grocery stores and chain restaurants.

Don’t believe me? Try a bagel from Omaha Bagel Co. and you’ll experience just how special bagels can be.

A family business run by husband/wife team Hank and Michelle Shields—as well as their 3 young children—Omaha Bagel Co. began operations in the summer of 2022. Each bagel is formed, shaped, boiled, rested, and baked in the Shields’ home.

It doesn’t have a storefront (yet) but makes weekly deliveries and sells at the Aksarben Village Omaha Farmers Market.

What sets these bagels apart is their drastic texture contrast. The exterior of the bagel is firm and crispy—you can knock on it and hear the sound from across the room. But that firm outer shell gives way to a delightfully chewy, bouncy interior. The bagels are boiled first to achieve that crunchy exterior, creating a barrier around the interior dough, which remains tender and soft.

Omaha Bagel Co.’s are of the sourdough variety, giving the dough a subtle tang. They’re made in small batches and are all rolled by hand, giving them that welcome, nostalgic homemade quality that you can’t quite describe until you experience it.

The business supplies a stable menu of flavors, both savory and sweet, though there are specials and slight menu adjustments. The Plain Bagel offers the purest taste of what the company has to offer. The flavor of the sourdough is most prevalent here, and it’s accented by a mild salty flavor. It’s the perfect base for a sandwich or a schmear of cream cheese.

Omaha Bagel Co.’s other options provide a little bit more flavor depth. Among the savory options:

Salted Rosemary: The woodsy, aromatic rosemary adds a subtle piney, minty flavor, and the large flecks of sea salt add brilliant pops of salinity.
Everything: Not only do the various seeds provide texture, but they also bring nutty, garlicky notes, along with a slight heat from black pepper.
Jalapeno Cheddar: The jalapeno is extremely subtle, as this bagel has almost no heat. But the sharp, nutty cheddar explodes in every bite, and it also adds a crispy crust atop the bagel.
Onion: Flecks of caramelized onion add a touch of sweetness to this otherwise savory option.

If your sweet tooth needs its fix, Omaha Bagel Co. has you covered there, too:

French Toast Crunch Bagel: This is what Panera’s famed cinnamon crunch bagel wants to be when it grows up. The sweet, warming, citrus-y flavor of cinnamon permeates every bite, and the top has a nice caramelized cinnamon finish.
Chocolate Chip: The chocolate chips are small and lightly applied, adding pops of sweet cocoa flavor. A few more chips would help to ramp up the chocolate-y nature of this option.

Because Omaha Bagel Co.’s bagels are so sturdy, they’re perfect for crafting sandwiches. Bacon and buttery scrambled eggs make for an excellent breakfast sandwich, but these bagels with other proteins like turkey and brisket makes for an excellent lunch/dinner as well.

But these bagels don’t need additional elements to stand out. The base texture and flavor is so strong you’ll find yourself reaching for another again and again right out of the box.

The story behind these bagels is nearly as incredible as their structure. Hank, with no baking experience, noticed the local Bruegger’s was constantly busy. Was there a market inefficiency to take advantage of here? Did Omaha have a craving for fresh-made bagels?

So he decided to purchase a commercial mixer, research and test various recipes, and get feedback from friends and family. The fact that he has no training or formal experience and ended up with a product this good is wild.

But that’s the story behind Omaha Bagel Co., which got a sourdough starter from a friend and has fed it religiously ever since. Unsure of the demand, they prepped 120 bagels for their first farmers market.

They sold out in 30 minutes.

Now Omaha Bagel Co. delivers about 500 bagels per week and sells another 700 at the farmers market. If you think that sounds like a crazy number, just try one of these bagels. Regardless of which flavor you opt for, you’ll understand the demand. Bagels can be basic, but the ones created by Omaha Bagel Co. are anything but.