Bialys with Caramelized Onion

Before you start

A bialy is a round, chewy roll from the Jewish baking tradition of Białystok, Poland, carried to New York by immigrant bakers. It shares a bagel's lean, flavorful dough but skips the boiling and the hole. Instead, the middle is pressed into a thin, crisp well and filled with cooked onion and poppy seeds, while the soft, floury rim puffs up around it.

The dough should be moist and well developed so the rim bakes up airy and blistered. Forming the well is the step that makes or breaks it: press it nearly paper-thin and wide, about 5 cm, since it shrinks as the dough springs in the oven. Cook the onion until soft and just golden; fully caramelized onion burns at bialy temperatures. Bake on a preheated stone or steel for a crisp bottom.

Ingredients

• Dough450 g (3¾ cups) bread flour
• 5 g (1½ tsp) instant yeast
• 1½ tsp (9 g) fine salt
• 300 ml (1¼ cups) cool water — about 24°C (75°F)
• Filling1 medium (about 150 g) yellow onion — finely chopped
• 1 tbsp neutral oil
• ¼ tsp fine salt
• 1 tsp poppy seeds
• 1 tbsp semolina or cornmeal — for the peel

Method

1. Combine the flour, yeast, salt and water in the mixer bowl. Mix on low for 2 minutes, then knead on medium-low for 8 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth, elastic and slightly tacky.
2. Place in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise at room temperature for 1½ to 2 hours, until doubled.
3. Meanwhile, cook the onion with the oil and salt in a skillet over medium heat for 8 to 10 minutes, stirring often, until soft and lightly golden at the edges. Stir in the poppy seeds and cool.
4. Divide the dough into 8 pieces of about 95 g and shape each into a tight ball. Set them on a floured towel or parchment, cover, and proof for 45 minutes until puffy. Place the stone on a middle rack and heat the oven to 240°C (475°F).
5. Pick up a round and, holding it like a steering wheel, press your thumbs into the center while stretching outward with your fingers. Make a well about 5 cm (2 in) wide with a base nearly thin enough to see through, keeping a plump 2 cm rim.
6. Set four shaped bialys on a semolina-dusted sheet of parchment. Fill each well with about 1 heaped teaspoon of the onion mixture, keeping it off the rim.
7. Slide the parchment onto the stone. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes, until the rims are lightly browned with a few blisters and the onion edges look toasted. Bake the second batch the same way.
8. Cool on a rack for at least 15 minutes before splitting or eating whole.

Tips for success

• Press the wells thinner and wider than seems right. In the oven the dough rebounds and a shallow well disappears.
• Do not split a bialy like a bagel; toast it whole or eat it fresh with butter or cream cheese.
• For more flavor, let the dough rise overnight in the refrigerator after kneading, then shape it cold and add 15 minutes to the proof.

Substitutions

Bread flour

High-gluten flour gives a chewier, more New York-style result. All-purpose flour makes a softer, less chewy roll; reduce the water by 15 ml.

Yellow onion

Shallots give a sweeter, more delicate filling. Dried minced onion rehydrated in hot water works for a classic deli flavor.

Poppy seeds

Use sesame or leave them out; the onion is the defining filling.

Variations

Garlic and onion bialys

Stir 2 minced garlic cloves into the onion for the last minute of cooking.

Everything bialys

Mix 1 tsp everything-bagel seasoning into the onion in place of the poppy seeds.

Troubleshooting

The well puffed up and vanished

The center was not pressed thin enough or the dough was underproofed and sprang hard. Press until almost translucent and proof the rounds until they are clearly puffy.

The onion burned

It went in already browned or was piled too high. Cook it only to soft and golden, and use just a teaspoon per bialy.

Pale, soft bottoms

The stone was not hot enough. Give it 45 minutes of preheating and bake on the middle rack.

Storage

Bialys stale quickly. Keep them in a paper bag at room temperature for 1 day, then freeze in a sealed bag for up to 1 month. Toast whole from frozen or warm at 180°C (350°F) for 8 minutes.