If you love bagels (which you do) then you’ll love their rebellious sister the bialy! I bring you a homemade bialy recipe so good you won’t even need a toaster.
It’s the end of Labor Day aka the unofficial end of summer aka end of bikinis and the start of ALL THE CARBS! Bread lovers rejoice. I’ve made you bagels before (here, here, here and definitely here), and I hope you’ve had the chance to make your own bagels. If you like bagels (which I trust you do) you will LOVE (what’s with the capitals today? I’m just so excited!) their less popular but scrappier younger sister (according to Irvin), the bialy.
Even Beau wants a bialy! “Can I haz bialy?” Photo by Veronica Meewes
What is a bialy? I’m so glad you asked. This homemade bialy recipe is even easier to make than a bagel because it doesn’t require boiling prior to baking. They really are quite different than bagels, except for the fact that they are a round breakfast bread loved by Jews. Bialys are more or less the best roll you’ve ever had, with an indent filled with naturally sweet onions. They are chewy, in the best way possible. And because I’m rebellious too, I filled mine with some garlic and poppy seeds as well. I do what I want! Within reason of course.
I met my friend Veronica, a super talented food and travel writer and all around fun gal, over a year ago at the BlogHer conference. She isn’t a MOT, but she is from New Jersey, so pretty much the same thing. We have been talking about making bialys pretty much since the moment we discovered our mutual love for deli food. We had met for bagels…
And falafel…
But never made our own. That is, until now.
Veronica came over my house and we drank mimosas and gossiped and made the best bialys I’ve ever had. And it was glorious. Then we ate said bialys slathered with cream cheese and lox and drank more mimosas and then I took a two hour nap and wondered where my day went and then I ate another bialy for dinner and watched Bachelor in Paradise (not sorry).
Onto the bialys! I adapted my recipe Food.com, with some changes of course. First, make the dough. Combine 1/2 cup warm water, sugar and yeast. Then sit until foamy. Then add remaining water, salt and flours. Knead for 8 minutes by hand if you’e tough or with a dough hook on an electric mixer until dough is soft and not sticky and roll into a ball. Add a tiny bit of flour if your dough is sticky or water if it seems dry. Place dough in an oiled bowl and let rise for 1 1/2 hours or until tripled in size. Punch down and let rise another 45 minutes until doubled in size. On a floured surface, roll dough into a log and cut into eight pieces.
Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, and place rounds on the cookie sheets flattening slightly. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make filling by combining onion, poppy seeds, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. With your fingers make 1-inch indentation in each bialy and divide filling amongst bialys.
Bake for 6-7 minutes and then reverse bialys around in the oven from front to back and bake another 5-6 minutes until lightly browned, careful not to overcook.
Oh yesss. These are best right out of the oven with cream cheese and lox. Or butter. Or both.
Freeze any extras wrapped in foil and placed in a plastic bag, and toast those before noshing. With lots of garlic and onions, you would think these wouldn’t be a good date food but they are you’d be wrong. Just try to keep the boys away!
Have you made your own homemade bialys?
Homemade Bialy Recipe
Ingredients
- For bialy dough:
- 2 cups water warm divided (110 to 115 degrees F)
- 2 teaspoons sugar
- 1 packet 7 grams active dry yeast
- 2 1/4 teaspoons salt
- 3 cups bread flour sifted
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour sifted
- Oil for bowl
- For filling:
- 2 tablespoons oil vegetable or olive works well
- 1 medium onion, minced minced
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 large garlic clove minced
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds
- 1/4 teaspoon freshly cracked black pepper
Instructions
- First, make the dough. Combine 1/2 cup warm water, sugar and yeast. Let sit until foamy. Then add remaining water, salt and flours. Knead for 8 minutes by hand if you’e tough or with a dough hook on an electric mixer until dough is soft and not sticky and roll into a ball. Add a tiny bit of flour if your dough is sticky or water if it seems dry.
- Place dough in an oiled bowl and let rise for 1 1/2 hours or until tripled in size. Punch down and let rise another 45 minutes until doubled in size. On a floured surface, roll dough into a log and cut into eight pieces.
- Preheat oven to 425 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper, and place pieces on the cookie sheets flattening slightly into rounds. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise another 30 minutes.
- Meanwhile, make filling by heating oil in a medium saute pan. over medium heat. Saute onion and salt for 4-5 minutes until translucent. Then add garlic and cook for 1 more minute. Combine with poppy seeds and pepper.
- With your fingers make a 1-inch indentation in each bialy and divide filling amongst bialys.
- Bake for 6-7 minutes and then reverse bialys around in the oven from front to back and bake another 5-6 minutes until lightly browned, careful not to overcook.
- Freeze any extras wrapped in foil and placed in a plastic bag, and toast those before noshing.
Adapted from Food.com
24 Comments
Oh I haven never made these…I need to change that!
They are surprisingly easy! I bet you could do an delicious twist (bacon maybe?)
I ran out of regular flour but have plenty of bread flour. Can I use old bread flour instead of mixing?
Typo. Not old bread flour.!
Sure!
These bialys need a quick brush with an egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tbsp water) before baking to make them glossy and not anemic looking.
[…] lox is smoked after the curing process. Just plain lox is the simplest but also just plain tasty. Homemade bialy sold separately. Here is all Jew […]
[…] Homemade Bialys […]
First, maze too on your engagement! Second, any suggestions for making bialys wheat-free?
Thanks! Not sure about bialys but check out Yiddish Kitchen for a gluten free bagel recipe!
Love this recipe! My local shop has been closed due to the pandemic, so I turned to the internet for a bialy recipe. I’m in NY, so I do go with the slightly flattened version, and this recipe CRUSHES the bodega near my office. I cut these smaller than recommended, and make 14 bialys every two weeks now and they freeze so well. Thanks for a great recipe!
So glad you liked it, Matt!
I’m from Brooklyn, but I live in AZ. It’s so hard to find bialys, I began making my own decades ago. Skip the aluminum foil. If you want them simple, diced onions with olive oil is enough. Use a shot glass instead of your fingers. I bake them at 425° for 7 minutes before turning and changing top to bottom. I get 8 per sheet. Also, sprinkle corn meal lightly to keep them from sticking instead of parchment paper. Take out when they begin to turn golden. Keep it simple. So nice to see other people bake bialys too. My hamburger buns turned blue, so we had burgers on bialys. My hubby says to forget buns and always make them this way.
Burgers on bialys sound great!
The BEST Bialy recipe!!
Husband loves it!
I’ve shared your recipe with my friends.
8 -perfect Bialys which I make every week.
Thank you!
So glad you enjoy them!
You don’t caramelize the onion before filling the bialy? Also, can a portion of the dough be frozen – if so, at what point would you freeze it?
Hi Sue- you can caramelize them if you like! You can freeze the dough before the last 30 minute rise, or after they are baked of course. Let the dough come back to room temperature and rise before baking.
The onions will caramelize during the baking, so you don’t have to do it ahead of time. I’m down to 4 and a half so I have to make more tomorrow.
Thanks so much for the Bialy recipe! My favorite breakfast, a bialy with cream cheese and chives and a scrambled egg sandwich.??
Thank you so much! Yum that sounds perfect.
[…] simple yeasted bialy dough, filled with cream cheese and the perfect bialy topping- caramelized onions and poppy […]
thank you so much for this recipe
bialys enjoyed by all especially granddaughters
Glad they all liked it!