system
Given the following post, respond as if you're commenting on Reddit:
human
ELI5: What does boiling a bagel do to the bagel?

Why is bagel dough boiled first before baking?
gpt
Boiling it in the lye water, sugar water, or salt water depending on the type of bagel is what gives it the unique skin that you find in no other kind of bread. Without doing so it would just be a hoop of normal bread and would have few of the characteristics that define a bagel.