Bialy Recipe - From The Naked Elm

A bialy is a weird little roll that is sort of a cross between an english muffin and a bagel. They have a depression in the middle that is filled with chopped onions and they are chewy and soft and delicious and perfect. They originated in Bialystok Poland in the mid 1800's with Jewish bakers and were thinly spread around the world with the Jews that were driven out of Poland. I had my first one last summer at The Naked Elm in Blue Mounds Wisconsin before they were open. The Naked Elm is my sister's bakery, and she was testing out all sorts of bread in her new wood fired oven. I fell in love with bialys at first bite and finally demanded that she give me her recipe. The recipe she gave me was the small version of the one she uses in the bakery and made about 24 bialys. That's still way to many for me to make to eat at home so I cut it to a 1/3 recipe. I also converted it from grams to normal measurements because that's the kind of baker I am. So what you've got here is a recipe that has been divided and converted and baked in a different kind of oven than it is intended for with inferior ingredients.  They're still incredible.
The recipe is after the jump, a little advanced maybe, totally worth it.



Bialystoker Kuchen - The Naked Elm Bakery, Blue Mounds Wisconsin

The day before you want bialys, mix up your dough - 
For the starter -
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup water
1/2 tsp yeast
Mix together and let sit in a covered bowl for about three hours, until bubbly and active.

Dough
2 1/2 cups flour
3/4 cup water
1 1/3 tsp salt
1/4 cup sourdough starter (optional, it adds another flavor which I like, and that's how the Elm does it)

Mix everything and the starter you mixed before in a big bowl. Knead it all together for a few minutes. This is a sticky dough so I actually like to knead it right in the big bowl. That keeps me from having to scrape it off the counter. You don't need to knead a lot, just a few minutes to get it all mixed up completely and coming together. Cover and let sit 3-4 hours until doubled. Punch it down and put it in the fridge until you want to bake them the next day.
The next day, about two hours before you want to bake, finely chop half and onion, let it sit. An hour before you want to bake, get out your dough and punch it down if it's risen. Let it sit out covered. Preheat your oven with a pizza stone (you really need one for this) as hot as it will go. Most kitchen ovens will go to about 550, give it all she's got. Divide your dough into 8 balls, cover them until needed. This is a sticky dough so you need a floured surface to work and floured hands. You need to shape each ball, one at a time into something like a little pizza crust about 5 inches in diameter. This is best done by holding it up and pinching it between your thumb and index finger with both hands and working your way around. You're trying to get a rim of dough with a thin center, but not tear through. You'll get better as you do more. The good news is that even if your bialy is ugly, it's still delicious. Smear a spoonful of onions on the center of the bialy and use a big spatula, or a peal if  you have one, to transfer the bialy directly to the pizza stone. I cook them two at a time for somewhere around 10 minutes, until they look medium brown and done.  Shape the bialys as they're needed to go in. Cool them on a rack.
Eat them warm. Store uneaten bialys in a paper bag. Throw them in a toaster oven for a minute to warm them back up for eating. They shouldn't be around long enough to go bad. If you like onions that are a little more browned, you can cook them a bit beforehand in a little butter. You can also do the same with garlic if you prefer garlic to onion, though onion is traditional. You can make one hell of a bialy in your kitchen with a little practice, it's well worth it. If you want to taste a real bialy, baked in a wood fired oven with that perfect smokey flavor and chewy dough and perfect onions, you need to look hard for a bakery that makes them. If you happen to be near Madison Wisconsin for any reason, you can get them at The Naked Elm Bakery. If you can prove to the baker there (4 foot 11, tattoos, looks angry like all bakers everywhere, she's my little sister) that you got the recipe here and tried to make them at home first, then she'll let you try one for free just so you know how they are supposed to taste. Tell her to put it on my tab.