By definition, a bagel is a firm-textured bread that is boiled and then baked. Your standard bagel will cost you 300 calories and usually has only 1 or 2 grams of fiber, depending upon the flavor. Thomas' new Bagel Thins are a completely different story: 110 calories per serving and 5 grams of fiber per thin. The only similarity between the two products are that they each maintain a hole in the middle.
While Thomas' Bagel Thins are a worthy attempt to bulk up the fiber and bring down the calories on the traditional bagel, they really are just a repackaging of the same company's (Bimbo Bakeries USA) Oroweat Sandwich Thins, featured in a previous post on this blog. The bread in the so-called bagel is soft and chewy, featuring the texture traditional to any bread product with added isolated fiber ingredients used to increase fiber content. It's doubtful that the Thomas' Bagel Thins have ever seen boiling water before being baked!
If you are looking for a real low-calorie bagel, you might consider another Thomas' product, the 100 calorie bagel. They're small - and not always high in fiber - but at least it's boiled and a bagel...not just flattened out whole wheat bread with a hole in it!
