GSR

Bialys

Bialys are a traditional roll that are fundamental to Ashkenazi Jewsish cuisine. They were a staple at bakeries in New York throughout the 20th century but are hard to find outside of areas with large Ashkenazi populations. Bagels simply get all the glory.

Whereas bagels are supposed to be tough and chewy, Bialys are soft, light, and have an even airy crumb structure. Instead of having a hole, they have a divet in the center which has caramelized onions.

While I love bagels as well, my mom never made them, but she did make fantastic bialys. This is the recipe she used (I converted into weight measurements, which she would have scoffed at) and the pictures here are the ones she took. Looking at them, and tasting the final product makes it feel like she left detailed instructions on how to feel her warmth whenever she’s particularly missed.

The recipe requires a fair bit of steps and periods of letting the dough rise. As my mom would say, they take “a lot of patshkeying”. It yields 12 bialys.

Ingredients

20g yeast

2 cups warm water

275g bread flour

500g all purpose flour

10g salt

10g sugar

1 large yellow onion

15g poppy seeds

2 cloves of garlic

1 tbsp olive oil 

corn meal for baking sheets

Instructions

1. Mince the onion, and garlic. Caramelize in olive oil with poppy seeds, let cool and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, stir to combine 0.5 cup of warm water, 20g of yeast, and 10g of sugar. Let stand for 10 minutes, or until foamy.

3. Add the remaining 1.5 cups of water, 10g of salt, 275g of bread flour, and 500g of all purpose flour. Add a little bit at a time, stirring to combine completely before adding more each time.

4. Knead by hand for around 10 minutes until fully smooth. The dough should be really soft and delicate but should partly spring back when poked. If the dough is too wet or too dry, you can add flour or water 1 tbsp at a time.

5. Form the dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, making sure to turn it so the dough is very lightly oiled on all sides. Optionally cover with plastic wrap. Let it rise for 1.5 hours. Expect it to triple in bulk.

6. Punch down the risen dough, flip it over in the bowl, and let it rise for another 45 minutes. Expect it to double in bulk.

7. On a lightly floured counter, roll the dough into a log.

8. Cut the log into 12 rounds/pucks. Lay the rounds flat on the lightly floured counter, covered with a light towel, and let them rest for 10 minutes.

9. Meanwhile, dust two parchment paper lined baking sheets with corn meal. Don’t skip this part, the corn meal on the bottom of the bialys give them a nice texture and taste.

10. Pat each dough round into flat circles, with a slight rise in the center. Place 6 on each baking sheet.

11. Let rise for another half an hour. Expect them to grow by half in bulk.

12. Make a one inch indentation in the center of each bialy, place a tsp of the onion topping mixture in each.

13. Let rise for 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 425F (218C).

14. Bake on upper and lower shelves of the oven for 7 minutes, then switch pans and reverse positions. Bake for another 6 minutes. They’re soft and can dry out very easily, you don’t want them to brown much at all. Despite looking pretty pale, trust that they’re fully baked when they have just a touch of brown on top.

15. Cool on wire racks.

16. After cooling keep them in a sealed container or plastic bag which will keep the crust soft and good for just a couple days. They freeze/thaw really well so I recommend putting any you’re not having fresh right into the freezer.

17. Enjoy with cream cheese, smoked fish, or with eggs.