Clocking in at Panera

Almost every day for the last two weeks I have woken up at 7:00 AM and made it to Panera Bread by 8:00 AM to "clock in." This routine has had several benefits so far:

• I have gotten used to waking up at the same early time every morning and therefore also gotten used to falling asleep at a reasonable time. This should make the transition much smoother to TFA's Summer Institute (affectionately called Teacher Boot Camp by some for its 70 hour weeks).
• I have been extremely productive with my time spent at Panera. I blazed through the TFA Pre-Institute training materials and several books.

But most importantly, this time has afforded me the opportunity to become familiar with Panera itself. Aside from consuming their free wifi, I am conducting a very methodical survey of their bagel offerings by trying a new one each day. Each bagel is tested under identical conditions by toasting it at setting 2, topping it with plain cream cheese and washing it down with a small cup of Guatemalan Antigua coffee. Like any good study, a recommendation for extending this study would be to sample the 77 different bagel and cream cheese combinations (Panera offers 7 cream cheeses and 11 bagels), but I do not have the time nor the patience to take-on such an exploration. So, without further adieu, my thoughts on the bagels sampled so far:

• Morning Glory Bagel. Flavored with seedless raisins, walnuts, carrot bits, cinnamon chips and brown sugar. This bagel surprised me the most. The description of carrot bits and raisins scared me off at first but this turned out to be one of my favorite bagels!
• Asiago Cheese Bagel. Chunks of Asiago cheese are added to their base dough and even more Asiago is grated on top. A Panera classic. It seems they are obsessed at Panera with adding Asiago to everything, but it tastes great so I can't complain. This is one of the Panera bagels made without a center hole and it is as the standard for their hot breakfast sandwiches. [ThisBritishLife argues this bagel is the best.]
• Everything Bagel. Their base bagel dough topped with sesame seeds, poppy seeds, garlic, toasted onion and kosher salt. Delicious, yet also bordering on overwhelming. Perfect for those, who like myself, can't decide and have to settle for compromise options such as this bagel or the chocolate/vanilla swirl at TCBY.
• French Toast Bagel. Sweet maple-flavored and vanilla chips are swirled into their base bagel dough. Although I am a huge fan of french toast, this is my least favorite bagel. It is far too sweet and doesn't taste enough like a bagel for me. But other people like it so I am glad it is on the menu.
• Whole Grain Bagel. Bagel dough made from our mixture of whole spelt flour, millet, flaxseed and other wheat flours is sweetened with honey and topped with rolled oats. Like the Morning Glory, I wasn't expecting to be wowed by this bagel but because of its wonderful texture and hearty taste I have to rank this one among the top of my list. Probably part of the draw is getting to feel healthy while eating it!
• Dutch Apple & Raisin Bagel. Chunks of apples, cinnamon, molasses and raisins adorn the dough and sweet walnut streusel decorates the top. When I must settle for store bought bagels, I usually enjoy a good cinnamon raisin bagel, but this bagel just left me unimpressed. Like the french toast it seems you can't judge a bagel by its name and I'm glad this exercise encouraged me to venture to other parts of the menu and discover some much better bagels!
• Chocolate Chip Bagel. Semisweet chocolate chips and vanilla are swirled into their base bagel dough. I thought this was going to taste terrible with the cream cheese but it wasn't that bad, just a little odd. It definitely smells great out of the toaster and the melted chocolate chips are a huge plus. I'd put this at a mid-range bagel.
• Untested bagels. Unfortunately my study will be interrupted for a few days by a trip home, but the remaining bagels will be tested soon: Cinnamon Crunch, Blueberry, Plain, and Sesame.

Unfortunately my knowledge of Panera's breads will not be very useful for much longer, because although there are 51 Panera Breads in Pennsylvania, not one of them is located in Philadelphia.

This Philadelphia Life begins in 22 days...

[UPDATE: It appears there aren't any Paneras in Philadelphia because between 1993 and 1999 Panera Bread and Au Bon Pain were operated by the same company and Philadelphia is flooded with Au Bon Pain locations. Read more about the connection here. Thanks TBL for the info.]