Classic Homemade Bialys Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 200 degrees F (95 degrees C). Turn off and keep door closed to retain warmth.
• Dissolve yeast and sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl. Let stand until yeast softens and begins to form a creamy foam, 7 to 12 minutes.
• Mix all-purpose flour, bread flour, vital wheat gluten, and 2 1/2 teaspoons salt in another bowl; add to yeast mixture. Combine remaining 1 1/4 cup warm water with onion juice; pour over flour and yeast mixture. Stir together until a dough forms.
• Knead dough on a floured work surface until soft and smooth, 8 to 10 minutes. Form dough into a ball and place it in a lightly-oiled glass or ceramic bowl, turning to oil all sides. Cover with a towel. Place dough in warm oven until it triples in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Punch dough down and turn it over. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in the oven again until doubled in bulk, about 45 minutes more.
• Punch dough down again and transfer to a floured work surface. Divide into 2 equal cylinders. Slice each cylinder into 8 rounds. Lay them flat and let rest, covered with a towel, about 10 minutes.
• Heat oil in large skillet over medium-high heat. Add onion and cook, stirring often, until golden, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat; stir in poppy seeds and 1/2 teaspoon salt. Let filling cool to room temperature.
• Flatten the dough into rounds about 3 1/2-inches in diameter with a raised middle and thinner edge. Sprinkle cornmeal lightly over 2 baking sheets. Arrange dough rounds on baking sheets. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until increased by half, about 30 minutes.
• Center oven rack and preheat oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
• Press the bottom of a greased shot glass in the center of each round to make a deep indentation. Place 1 to 2 teaspoons of filling in each indentation. Cover with plastic wrap and let bialys rise until puffy but not doubled, about 15 minutes.
• Bake bialys in the preheated oven until lightly browned, rotating the baking sheets so they brown evenly, about 15 minutes.

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.

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:

• 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.