Brooklyn Bialy Recipes

Steps:

• Cover two baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle lightly with cornmeal. Prepare Onion Topping:.
• In a small bowl, combine vegetable or olive oil, poppy seeds, onions, and salt; set aside, 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).
• Add flour if you think the dough is too moist , a tablespoon at a time.
• If the dough is looking dry, 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 log.
• With a sharp knife, cut log 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.

Steps:

• The instructions below are for baking bialys fresh in the morning with no refrigeration of the dough. Other schedules are fine too, of course. For example the dough can be mixed in the morning instead of at night, then pre-shaped into balls and refrigerated overnight to shape and bake the next morning. (Retarding the dough like that will make a more sour bialy.) The timing here works for a cool kitchen, 65-70F. If you're making this bread in much hotter ambient temperatures, you can use very cold water in the starter and dough mix; or you can use less starter. For example, halve the starter build components to total 130g ripe starter, and add that missing 65g flour and 65g water to the dough ingredients.
• The Morning Before Baking
• Feed 20g of sourdough starter with 120g flour and 120g water. Leave covered at room temperature to expand throughout the day. By evening it should be somewhere between doubled and tripled. If it's looking sluggish, put it somewhere warmer. My starter took 11 hours at around 70F.
• Making the Filling
• This can be done the night before or during the two-hour final proof the morning you bake.
• Onion Poppyseed Chop the onion and saute in olive oil. When translucent, remove from the heat, add the poppyseeds and a pinch of salt. Mix well and transfer to another container to cool. You may want to mince the cooked onions into smaller pieces after they're cooked.
• Date Goat Cheese Mince the dates (seedless) and mix with chopped rosemary and crumbled goat cheese. Cover and store until ready to use.
• The Night Before Baking
• Mix the ingredients for dough. Let the dough rest for about five minutes and then fold it a bit until it's smooth. Place it in a lightly oiled in a bowl, cover, and let it ferment overnight at temps of 65-70F.
• The Next Morning
• Lightly flour your countertop, scrape the dough out onto the counter, press out the air, and divide the dough 14 pieces (weighing approx 95-100g).
• Roll each piece into a ball and place them next to each other with about 1 inch between.
• Cover the dough balls with a damp tea towel or baking pan, and let rise for 1 1/2 - 2 hours. (Replenish the moisture on the towel if it dries out.)
• Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and lightly dust with rice flour or cornmeal.
• Using a bench knife, scoop up a proofed dough ball and gently stretch it outward into a disc with your fingers thinning out the center of the disc but leaving the edges thick and untouched. Place the shaped dough on the baking sheet, and repeat until all the dough balls are shaped.
• Spoon about a tablespoon of filling into the hollow of each bialy, then brush the exposed dough with water.
• Let the dough rest while you preheat your oven to 475F for about 20 minutes.
• Load the first baking sheet into the oven on the middle shelf.
• Bake the bialys for 10 minutes, followed by 2-3 minutes of broiling still at 475F to caramelize the filling. If 500F is your oven's only broil option, keep a close eye on the bialys.
• Place the baked bialys on a cooling rack and return the oven setting to bake.
• Brush the second baking sheet of bialys with water again, and load them into the oven, following the same instructions above.
• Storage
• Bialys can be kept wrapped at room temperature for 12-24 hours, and then they should be refrigerated. The staling effects of refrigeration are remedied by toasting, which is the ideal way to eat bialys anyway.

Steps:

• In large bowl, combine 1/2 cup warm water yeast and 2 teaspoons sugar; let proof.
• Mix the water, salt and flours into yeast mixture.
• Knead until smooth (dough will be soft). Use more flour as needed.
• Cover lightly and let set in warm place until tripled in size (about 1/1/2 hours).
• Punch dough down and let rise again until doubled.
• Punch dough down and roll into 2 cylinders.
• Cut each roll into 8 rounds.
• Lay flat, cover with a towel, and let rest.
• Prepare the topping mixture by mixing the oil, poppyseed, onion, and salt; set aside.
• Pat the dough into flattened round a little higher in the middle than at the outer edge (each should be about 3 1/2 inches in diameter); place on a lightly floured surface and cover with a dry towel then topped with a damp towel.
• Let rise until 1/2 in bulk half proofed (this will take 30 minutes -- don't let over raise).
• Press the bottom of shot glass about 1" in the center of each bialy to make a deep indentation.
• Spread the topping mixture over the bialys and let rise for 15 minutes more until 3/4 proofed, taking care not to let them over rise.
• Preheat oven to 425°F while the bialys are rising.
• Carefully transfer the bialys to 2 large 14x17 inch ungreased baking sheets.
• Bake on the upper and lower shelves of oven for 6 to 7 minutes; turn and switch the pans on the shelves so they bake evenly 5 to 6 minutes more.
• Can be frozen.

Steps:

• Combine bread flour, yeast, salt, and water for dough in a bowl. Stir with a wooden spoon and mix until a very wet, soft, and sticky dough forms. Cover and leave at room temperature for at least 12 hours.
• When ready to make the bialys, heat olive oil for filling in a skillet over medium heat. Add onion and salt and cook, stirring occasionally until onion softens, sweetens, and turns golden brown, about 10 minutes. Turn off the heat and add bread crumbs, 2 teaspoons poppy seeds, green onion, and cayenne pepper. Stir to combine and cool down until needed.
• Uncover dough; it should be bubbly. Scrape it away from the sides of the bowl with a spatula and transfer onto a floured work surface. Dust a little flour over top and gently press dough with your hands to flatten. Divide it into 8 equal portions and roll each into a ball, using a bit of flour as needed. Stretch each ball gently and tuck dough under the bottom; place on a baking sheet lined with generously floured parchment paper or a silicone liner (such as Silpat®). Dust the tops with flour and carefully cover with a dish towel; let proof until just about doubled in size, 45 to 60 minutes.
• Preheat the oven to 500 degrees F (260 degrees C).
• Flour your fingers and pick up one dough ball. Press and pull on the center to form it into a ring shape; the center of the dough will be thin and the edges will be thicker. Make sure the centers are very thin but be careful not to tear them open. Repeat with remaining balls.
• Fill the center of each with no more than a rounded teaspoon of onion-poppy seed filling, then gently press the filling up the sides toward the outer rings. (You will have extra filling.) Spray bialys with some cold water and sprinkle poppy seeds over top.
• Bake in the center of the preheated oven until puffed and nicely browned, about 12 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack and cool for about 20 minutes before serving.