Bialys
Outside of New York City, the bialy is little known. Bialys came to the United States from Bialystok, Poland, and they are sometimes known as Bialystok Kuchen. In the early 1900s, hundreds of thousands of Eastern European Jews immigrated to American and settled in New York City. They brought with them their taste and recipes for bialys. Kossar's was opened in 1936 by Isadore Mirsky and Morris Kossar on Clinton Street. It soon become the unofficial American bialy-making holy site, and over the decades it helped to spread the gospel of this Polish-Jewish bread far and wide.
While there were once dozens of bialy bakeries in New York, the number can now be counted on one hand. Bialys have long been a staple in New York delicatessens and a favorite of the Jewish community. True bialy lovers know where the best bakeries are. In fact, Manhattan's Lower East Side is lovingly called "Bialy Central."
"The bialy, which comes from Bialystok, Poland, is a lost bread of a lost world," said David Zablocki, who purchased the failing New York City bakery, Kossar's, a year ago with Evan Giniger and a third partner who has since sold his stake. "If you were to go to Bialystok today you would find no remnant of that bread or the people who made it." (Most of the Jews who lived in Bialystok were killed during the Holocaust.)
What are Bialys?
A bialy is a small round bread with a depressed middle filled with cooked onions and sometimes poppy seeds. It has a somewhat salty taste. Large puffy bubbles characterize the bialy's soft, chewy insides. Though it can be slathered with butter or cream cheese (and topped with cured/smoked fish) like a bagel, purists prefer them straight up, preferably no more than five hours after being pulled from the oven.The indentation in the middle of the dough is filled with onion, garlic, and/or poppy seeds. Because the bialy has a very short shelf-life, about 6 hours, they do not lend to being shipped around the country. They can be modest in size, 3 to 4 inches, or the size of a small pizza. Similar to the bialy is the onion pretzel and the onion board, popular Jewish breads from other countries.
Bialys
from Elizabeth Falkner, http://www.foodrepublic.com/
Pastry chef Elizabeth Falkner took a moment out of prepping her soon-to-open Brooklyn pizza restaurant to lament the lack of a treat that she's obsessed with, and to share the recipe below (though she notes that it's an adaptation for home; she prefers to cook them in a wood-burning oven).
Filling
Rice flour for dusting on parchment lined pan
1 tablespoon olive oil
1 teaspoon poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 onion minced, per bialy
Dough
17 ounces bread flour
9 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon kosher salt
2 teaspoons sugar
4 ounces starter or poolish*
1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast
2 ounces warm water
14 1/2 ounces cold water
*Make the starter or poolish the night before with 1/2 cup flour, 1/3 cup water and 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast. Mix together and leave out at room temperature overnight.
Combine 2 ounces of warm water with the yeast to dissolve. Combine all dough ingredients together except the salt.
When dough comes together, knead for 6 minutes.
Add salt and knead for another 2 minutes. Set aside to rise for 2 hours.
Roll into a log on a flour dusted surface. Scale out dough at 3 ounces a ball (about 16 bialys total)
Press each out to shape without overworking and leaving 1" lip around edge.
Proof dough balls (allow to rise again) in warm spot covered with a clean dish towel for an hour or until soft and airy.
Sauté onions in 1 tablespoon olive oil until light caramel in color but at higher heat. Make center depression in each one and fill with the filling.
Sprinkle bialys lightly with poppy seeds and salt.
Bake at 450 degree oven, preferably on a pizza stone, for about 12-15 minutes.
Servings: 16 bialys
Brooklyn Bialy Recipe
from http://whatscookingamerica.net/
This wonderful recipe is from Bonni Lee Brown of Bradenton, Florida. Bonni grew up in New York City where her father owned a pharmacy in Brooklyn. Bonni says, "This is the closest recipe I've played with that approximates the fresh bialys my Dad would bring home on Sunday mornings. I was never a big bagel fan, but cream cheese and lox on a bialy I could go for anything. My children think these bialys are the best they've had outside of New York City."
Bonni has a bakery, called Bonni Bakes Edible Art, in Bradenton, Florida's newly organized Village of the Arts. Everything Bonni bakes is done from scratch in small batches, using only the best ingredients available. No chemicals. No artificial colors or flavors. No preservatives.
Cornmeal
Onion Topping (recipe below)
2 cups warn water (110 to 115 degrees), divided
1 package active dry yeast
2 teaspoons granulated sugar
2 1/4 teaspoons salt
1 3/4 cups bread flour
3 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal.
Prepare Onion Topping; set aside.
In a large bowl, combine 1/2 cup water, yeast, and sugar; let stand 10 minutes or until foamy. Add remaining 1 1/2 cups water, salt, bread flour, and all-purpose flour. Knead by hand or with dough hook of mixer for 8 minutes until smooth (the dough will be soft). If you think the dough is too moist - add flour, a tablespoon at a time. If the dough is looking dry and gnarly - add warm water, a tablespoons at a time.
Form dough into a ball and place in a lightly oiled bowl, turning to oil all sides. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise 1 1/2 hours or until tripled in bulk. Punch dough down in bowl, turn it over, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise another 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.
On a floured board or counter, punch dough down and roll into a cylinder shape. With a sharp knife, cut cylinder into 8 rounds. Lay dough rounds flat on a lightly floured board, cover with a towel, and let them rest 10 minutes. Gently pat each dough round into circles (a little higher in the middle than at the edge), each about 3 to 4 inches in diameter. Place bialys on prepared baking sheets, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise an additional 30 minutes or until increased by about half in bulk (don't let them over-rise.
Make an indention in the center of each bialy with two fingers of each hand, pressing from the center outward, leaving a 1-inch rim. Place approximately 1 teaspoon of Onion Topping in the hole of each bialy. Dust lightly with flour, cover with plastic wrap, and let rise 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
Bake on upper and lower shelves of the oven for 6 to 7 minutes, then switch pans and reverse positions of pans (front to back), and bake another 5 to 6 minutes until bialys are lightly browned. NOTE: These are soft rolls, and it is important not to bake them too long or they will be very dry. Remove from oven and let cool on wire racks.
After cooling, immediately place in a plastic bag (this will allow the exterior to soften slightly). NOTE: These rolls are best eaten fresh, preferably lightly toasted and smeared with cream cheese. For longer storage, keep in the freezer.
Makes 8 bialys.
ONION TOPPING:
1 tablespoon vegetable or olive oil
1 1/2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1/3 cup minced onion
1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher salt
In a small bowl, combine vegetable or olive oil, poppy seeds, onions, and salt; set aside.
Yields: 8 Bialys
