Homemade Bialy Recipe

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. If you like bagels (which I trust you do) you will LOVE their less popular but scrappier younger sister, the bialy.

Even Beau wants a bialy! “Can I haz bialy?” Photo by Veronica Meewes

What Is a Bialy?

Named for the Polish city of Bialystok, a bialy is a chewy, round yeast roll with a dimpled center filled with sweet cooked onions (and sometimes poppy seeds and garlic). This homemade bialy recipe is even easier to make than a bagel because it doesn’t require boiling before baking. Bialys are more or less the best roll you’ve ever had, 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.

Bialy vs. Bagel: What’s the Difference?

Bialys and bagels are both round Jewish breakfast breads, but they are not the same. A bagel is boiled and then baked, giving it that shiny, dense crust. A bialy skips the boiling entirely, so it bakes up softer and lighter, with a floury finish and an onion-filled indent instead of a hole. Think of the bialy as the bagel’s scrappier, less fussy cousin.

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 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).

How to Make Bialys

Onto the bialys! I adapted my recipe from Food.com, with some changes of course. First, make the dough. Combine 1/2 cup warm water, sugar and yeast, and let it sit until foamy. Then add the remaining water, salt and flours. Knead for 8 minutes by hand if you’re tough, or with a dough hook, until the 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 the dough in an oiled bowl and let it rise for 1 1/2 hours or until tripled in size. Punch it down and let it rise another 45 minutes until doubled. On a floured surface, roll the dough into a log and cut into eight pieces.

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper and place the rounds on them, flattening slightly. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise another 30 minutes. Meanwhile, make the filling by combining onion, poppy seeds, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper. With your fingers, make a 1-inch indentation in each bialy and divide the filling among them.

Bake for 6-7 minutes, then rotate the bialys front to back and bake another 5-6 minutes until lightly browned, careful not to overcook.

How to Serve Bialys

Oh yesss. These are best right out of the oven with cream cheese and lox. Or butter. Or both.

Make-Ahead & Storage

Freeze any extras wrapped in foil and placed in a plastic bag, and toast them before noshing. With lots of garlic and onions, you’d think these wouldn’t be good date food, but you’d be wrong. Just try to keep the boys away!

Bialy FAQ

What is a bialy?

A bialy is a chewy round yeast roll from Bialystok, Poland, with a dimpled center filled with cooked onions. It’s a classic Jewish deli bread, often eaten at breakfast.

What is the difference between a bialy and a bagel?

A bagel is boiled before baking and has a hole in the middle, while a bialy is never boiled and has an onion-filled indent instead of a hole. Bialys are softer and lighter than bagels.

Why don’t you boil bialys?

Skipping the boil is what makes a bialy a bialy! Without boiling, the bread bakes up softer and breadier, with a floury crust rather than the shiny, chewy skin of a bagel. It also makes them faster and easier to make at home.

What is a bialy filled with?

Traditionally, sweet cooked onions in the center indent. I add poppy seeds and garlic to mine, but you can keep it classic with just onions.

How do you store bialys?

Bialys are best the day they’re baked, but they freeze beautifully. Wrap them in foil, pop them in a freezer bag, and toast straight from frozen whenever a craving hits.

What do you eat on a bialy?

Cream cheese and lox is the classic move, but butter, whitefish salad, or an egg sandwich are all delicious. Anything you’d put on a bagel works on a bialy.

Homemade Bialy Recipe

Amy Kritzer

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.

4.85 from 13 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Cook Time 15 minutes mins

Resting Time 2 hours hrs 45 minutes mins

Total Time 35 minutes mins

Course Bread

Cuisine Jewish

Servings 8

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

• 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.

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Adapted from Food.com