Onions And Poppy Seeds and Babes

It's the 16th of the month so it's time to gather round the kitchen table and tell tales of the Bread Baking Babes. This month we are baking a delicious, round, chewy, onion filled, poppy seed embellished cross between a bagel and a soft pretzel called a Bialy. Our Kitchen of the Month is the lovely Judy at Judy's Gross Eats and she has given us two recipes for this baked savory personal sized bread.

Here is what she said when she introduced the recipes:

"This month, my friends, you will be baking bialys, a bagel-cousin from Bialystok, Poland.  This is only a one-step process – baking only – and instead of a hole, the bialy has a depression that can be filled with onions, cheese, or whatever you choose."

I chose the one with the poolish that you stir together the night before. It sits at room temperature and you make the dough the next day. Because I wasn't baking until late in the day, I added an additional flour/water mixture in the late morning to feed the yeasties and subtracted that amount of flour and water from the final dough.

I found that one large onion, minced and cooked, was more than enough for filling the bialys. For the salt topping I used a moist gray sea salt and sprayed the bialys with olive oil after adding the onion filling but before putting on the poppy seeds and sea salt. That seemed to work well, helping the seeds and salt stay attached to the little breads.

The only other real change was that I misread the recipe and completely skipped the two hour rise. That probably resulted in less light bialys but they were delicious and chewy like a good bagel, plus this way they were ready for dinner. It has been summer-time hot for the last few days, so I was happy that it cooled down last night (the fog came in) enough to enjoy baking.

These are really yummy and easy to make and fun to bite into since you get a nice crust on the bottom, chewy interior, soft onions, the pop of seeds and savory tang of sea salt.

Bake along with us and become a Buddy, with a badge for your post, by sending Judy an email with a photo of your finished Bialy and a short description of your baking experience for the round-up.

Be sure to check out the rest of the Babes, too. Bet you see some with whole grain flour and/or flax seeds!

A Messy Kitchen - Kelly

Bake My Day - Karen

Blog From Our Kitchen - Elizabeth

Bread Experience - Cathy

Judy's Gross Eats - Judy

Karen's Kitchen Stories - Karen

My Kitchen In Half Cups - Tanna

Notitie van Lien - Lien

Bialy
from Elizabeth Faulkner

Prep Time: 30 mins + 3 hours resting time

Cook Time: 15 minutes

Serving Size: 16 bialys

Ingredients

Filling

1 tablespoon olive oil

1 teaspoon poppy seeds

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1/2 onion minced, per bialy

Dough

17 ounces bread flour

9 1/2 ounces all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon kosher salt

2 teaspoons sugar

4 ounces starter or poolish*

1/2 teaspoon active dry yeast

2 ounces warm water

14 1/2 ounces cold water

Directions

*Make the starter or poolish the night before with 1/2 cup flour, 1/3 cup water and 1/4 teaspoon active dry yeast. Mix together and leave out at room temperature overnight.

1. Combine 2 ounces of warm water with the yeast to dissolve. Combine all dough ingredients together except the salt.
2. When dough comes together, knead for 6 minutes.
3. Add salt and knead for another 2 minutes. Set aside to rise for 2 hours.
4. Roll into a log on a flour dusted surface. Scale out dough at 3 ounces a ball (about 16 bialys total) 
5. Press each out to shape without overworking and leaving 1" lip around edge.
6. Proof dough balls (allow to rise again) in warm spot covered with a clean dish towel for an hour or until soft and airy.
7. Sauté onions in 1 tablespoon olive oil until light caramel in color but at higher heat. Make center depression in each one and fill with the filling.
8. Sprinkle bialys lightly with poppy seeds and salt. Bake at 450 degree oven, preferably on a pizza stone, for about 12-15 minutes.