I may be biased, but I think Montreal-style bagels are far superior to their American counterparts. The secret ingredient here is honey, both in the dough and in the boiling water, which gives these bagels their signature colour, flavour and crispy chew. If you want to be sure your yeast is alive and active, you can wake it up with the warm water and sugar, wait a few minutes until it gets foamy, then add the other ingredients. If it doesn’t foam, you need new yeast!