My good old, Sunbeam Oster Kitchen Center has an attachment that offers thin, thick, and crinkle cut slices as well as a blade disk for cutting into diced pieces. The unit has no built on bowl to catch the slices, but instead a slinger and output shute off the side. I cna slice cukes very fast and prety much any other food. It also has graters for cheese. My true 10" blade slicer was bought from Weston, and it was their last one, so I git it for under $200. Its nearly the same size as delis use, but I wouldn't use it for slicing anything but meats. Mine also came with a blde sharpener attachment. Who big is 'substantial'?

I am not an afficianado of Montreal bagels, but here is a recipe that seems to replicate them. I proof them overnight in the fridge, not authentic but beneficial. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 1 cup lukewarm potato water (This is essentially the water left over from boiling potatoes. Covered, this will refrigerate for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 4 months. You can also dissolve 1½ tablespoons of potato flour in 1 cup of lukewarm water, but I havent tried this.) 1 envelope of yeast 1 tablespoon beaten egg 3 tablespoons canola oil 1 tablespoon malt syrup ~3 cups all-purpose flour 2 tbsp granulated sugar 1½ teaspoon Kosher salt Poaching Liquid 16 cups water 1/3 cup honey Glaze 1 egg yolk 1 tablespoon water poppy or sesame seeds Instructions -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- In a large bowl, dissolve 1 tablespoon of granulated sugar into the lukewarm potato water. Sprinkle the yeast on top and let it stand for 10 minutes or until it gets frothy. Stir the tablespoon of beaten egg, canola oil and malt syrup into the yeast/water mixture. Stir together 1 cup of the flour, 2 tablespoons of the sugar, and the kosher salt. Slowly beat these dry ingredients into the yeast mixture using an electric mixer until smooth. This should take about 2 minutes. Use a wooden spoon to gradually mix the remaining flour in to the mixture resulting in a soft sticky dough. On a lightly floured surface knead until the dough is smooth and stretchy. Make sure to get all the dry isolated flour spots worked out of the dough. This should take 5-10 minutes. Place the dough in a greased bowl, rotating the dough around the bowl so its outside is covered in the grease. Cover with plastic wrap (or wax paper with grease on it and a small towel). Allow the dough to rise for 1 to 1½ hours until the dough has doubled and you can poke your finger into it and leave a mark. Preheat your oven to 400 F. After rising, punch the dough down and knead it several times. Divide the dough into 10 pieces (the recipe originally called for 12 pieces, but my bagels were getting even too small for me. I may tweak the recipe to result in an even dozen). Keep the unformed dough and formed bagels covered when youre not directly shaping them. There are two methods for shaping a bagel. One is to make a ball (dont compress it too much) and poke your thumb through the center. You work your thumb (on the inside of the bagel) and your index finger (on the outside) all the way around the bagel until its formed. The other method which I prefer is to roll the dough into a long pipe and then wrap it horizontally around your hand using your fist as well as your other hand to seal it into a ring. The pipe of dough just barely wraps around my hand and I have to stretch it a bit. I like this method because the shapes end up more bagel-like, whereas for me, the first method results in more roll-like creations with small depressions in the middle. Place your bagels apart on a floured and covered baking sheet. Let them rise for 15 minutes. In the meantime, in a large pot, bring the water to a boil. Add the honey and stir. This is the poaching liquid. Gently slide your bagels into the water a few at a time into the water over a medium heat for 1 minute on each side. This is to proof them, they should be noticeably bigger than when they went into the water. Carefully remove the bagels onto parchment paper or a foil-lined greased baking sheet using a slotted spoon. Stir together the egg yolk and water and quickly brush over the bagels as they come out of the poaching liquid. Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds. Bake in the 400 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes until the tops are golden brown and the bottoms sound hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

jimster - that's a good question. When I've made breads, the ones that taste yeasty to me are almost always quick rising, i.e.a high percentage of yeast, and a dough that rises quickly. These breads don't have much flavor other than the yeast, unless a lot of other ingredients (sugar, fruit, seeds) are added. Slow fermentation with small amounts of yeast gives a different flavor to the bread, but to me it's not yeasty, it's what makes artisinal bread distinctive. Retarding the dough allows these flavors to develop. I would call it a fermented wheat flavor. Allowing it to ferment for even longer turns it into sourdough. That's all a long way of saying I don't know what makes the yeast flavor in breads, but a large proportion of yeast is usually involved. JMO, Cheryl

Free is nice. Yesterday my daughter used the ”Too Good to Go” app at one of our local bagel places, at the end of their business day. They were offering the leftovers at $5.99 a bag and she got 17 assorted bagels. My son has used it at another bagel place where he got an assortment of bagels, muffins and croissants for a very low price.