Discussion
Bialys are the "other" traditional Jewish weekend bread. They originated, according to George Greenstein, as Bialystocker bagels, in Poland. I don't know if this is correct or not. This recipe is loosely based on one
from "Secrets of a Jewish Baker," by George Greenstein. I prefer bialys to bagels, mostly because they are easy to make and taste so good toasted and buttered or with cream cheese.
Those of you who are familiar with bakers percentages will note that bialys are really nothing more than a
60% lean dough with a bit of extra yeast, not too much rise and an interesting shaping and topping. Whatever bialys are, they're good.
The original recipe for these bialys is in cups of flour and doesn't use a pre-ferment. I've converted it to weight and added a biga and an autolyse period.
Recipe
Biga
| Ingred |
Ounces |
Grams |
| HK Flour |
10 |
285 |
| Water |
6 |
170 |
| Dry Yeast |
1/2 tsp |
2 |
Dough
| Ingred |
Ounces |
Grams |
| Biga |
16 |
455 |
| Warm Water |
21 |
595 |
| HK Flour |
35 |
1000 |
| Sugar |
2 Tbsp |
30 ml |
| Salt |
1 Tbsp |
15 ml |
| Yeast |
2 tsp |
6 |
Topping
| Onion |
1 medium, minced |
|
| Poppy seeds |
2 Tbsp |
30 ml |
| Salt |
1 Pinch |
|
Method
- Make the biga a day ahead and let it develop in the refrigerator overnight. How to make a Biga
- Mix all ingredients except salt together, knead the dough for a minute or two. Then set dough to rest for 20 minutes.
- Add salt and knead for 5-7 minutes, until the dough is smooth and only slightly sticky.
- Set the dough to ferment for 30 minutes. It may expand enough to almost double.
- While the dough is rising, cook the topping. (See below)
- Fold the dough and divide into 3 1/2 ounce / 100 gram pieces.
- Work the pieces into a circle with a definite rim. You may have to let the pieces relax a bit during the shaping.
- The doughs should be about 4 inches / 10 cm in diameter and thin in the middle.
- As you finish shaping a group of bialys, say 6 or 8, spoon a bit of the topping into the center and press it down a bit with a spoon.
- Just before baking, pierce the rim of each bialy with a fork in a lot of places.
- Let the bialys rise for about 10 minutes, then bake on stones in a 450 F / 230 C oven without steam.
- They should cook in 15-20 minutes.
- Cook the onion and poppy seeds in some oil until the onion is cooked but not browned.
- Add a pinch of salt during the last minute or two of cooking.
- Let cool.
Here We Go! Send out for the cream cheese!
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