Knead-to-dough basis

Lloyd Yates, left, with his fiancée and business partner, Devin Lam, bake bagels in the shared kitchen space at Moxie Kitchen + Events.

Writer: Hailey Evans
Photos: Duane Tinkey

Lloyd Yates met Devin Lam in 2020, in the lobby of a doctor’s office in Chicago. “We’re both chatty, outgoing people. We just started talking,” Lam said. Their romantic connection was instant, but their shared love of bagels was a slower burn. The story goes that Yates brought lunch to Lam’s office one afternoon, promising a bagel. But his version of an “everything bagel” — piled with turkey, cheddar, peppers, cream cheese and hot sauce — had more than she wanted. She laughed during the retelling: “I was like, I don’t know if this is going to work out.”

Lam’s Jewish heritage meant growing up with brunch tables spread with bagels and lox, a simple classic. But Yates grew up making bagel sandwiches stuffed with everything in the fridge. Many of his family meals came from the South, from recipes each generation told to the next. His grandmother baked bagels from a family recipe that dates back to the 1600s. “Black history isn’t really known for bagels, but there is a history there,” Yates said. “It was just normal for me growing up that we had homemade stuff always there: bagels and pancakes, sweet potato pie, all kinds of things.”

Fortunately, the relationship worked out, despite their bagel differences. Lam had been experimenting with bagel recipes of her own, while Yates just quietly let her figure it out. “He actually didn’t tell me he already knew how to make bagels from scratch until I’d been making these attempts that just weren’t right,” Lam said.

The pair lived briefly in Miami before moving to Des Moines in early 2024. But even before they’d packed up their boxes for the move, they’d learned about Des Moines’ famous Downtown Farmers’ Market and successfully applied as a vendor. Their startup, Black Bagel, became a rising star even during its first season at the market. He makes the dough; she spins out creative varieties and handles the baking.

The Black Bagel recipe, adapted from Yates’ family, uses maple syrup in the dough instead of the usual barley malt. “We want to innovate the bagel,” she said. During the farmers market season, they tested out unique flavors, including cacio e pepe, French toast, Fruity Pebbles, and one version that combined the flavors of tomato soup and grilled cheese.

Snag a bag of your own

Even though the farmers market is closed until May, Black Bagel continues to operate online at blackbagel.com. Fans can order a half or full dozen — plain, sesame, everything or a surprise “bagel of the day” — and pick them up in person or have them shipped nationwide on the same day they come out of the oven. Lam and Yates recently took up residence in Moxie Kitchen + Events, a shared kitchen space, so they can scale up their business.

Black Bagel uses fresh ingredients, without preservatives, so they’ll last on the countertop for about four days or in the fridge for seven. Lam and Yates recommend storing them in the freezer to extend their shelf life to four months. “They’re super easy to pull out and put right in the toaster,” Lam said.

With Black Bagels, the possibilities are endless: