Bialys

A thing of beauty.

Bialys ( bee ah lee ) are so often said to be "like a bagel" they are in that they are also round.  Bialys are chewy, airy and have a little raft-like cavity which holds whatever you'd like in there.  They haven't the girth or time bending density of bagels - They are a kind little thing.

Traditional fillings will be a smattering of garlic, or onions, poppy seeds or any mixture of these.  You can make them sweet instead of savory and you can make them cheesy or meaty.  They have a short baking time so the only rule to what goes in them is that it should either be somewhat previously cooked or cook within the same time as the bialy.  For these I very gently cooked minced onions in olive oil on low until translucent and then added a pinch of salt and poppy seeds to them.

For these little guys I make a dough that goes into the refrigerator and sits at least overnight.  This same dough is the base for a lot of delicious things.  I'll mention those later.  I start the dough just like a quick bread; so flour(s), salt,water, yeast which is spoon blended for a couple minutes.  Scraped out onto a floured surface and kneaded for another 4 minutes and then a sealable container with twice the volume of what you are putting into it.  Cover the bottom of the container with olive oil and coat the sides and the interior rim of the lid.  This will make sure the sough releases from the container when you remove some for rising.

What you need:

2 Cups whole wheat flour
2 Cups unbleached white flour
1 and 3/4 cups lukewarm water
2 tsp yeast
1 heaping tsp sea salt

Mix thoroughly the flours.  Sprinkle salt in and mix.  Put yeast into the lukewarm water.  Combine all to make a dough and if a little wet add some flour or if a little dry sprinkle touches of lukewarm water in until mostly just held together.  Knead the dough on a floured surface until smooth and balled up well.

Your fridge container should have double volume of your dough for expansion.  Oil it and the lid and place dough inside container.

Let stand overnight.  Or at least 2 hours.  Planning ahead always makes it quicker.
 ...
After a couple hours in the fridge you'll notice the dough getting softer and happier.  The next day the dough will be full of lovely holes. You can leave the dough in the refrigerator up to 3 days before who knows what happens.  After that it could turn into running shoes, I don't know.  It will gain in a "sour" flavor.  Which I LOVE, but isn't for everyone. The first few days wont be an intense flavor, just more like a real bakery's bread rather than the pale versions that quicker breads give. 1-3 days and it is chewy, moist, and steadily becomes more like a sourdough.  Now you have enough dough to make 2 batches of bialys. Or 1 batch of bialys and really 2-4 kick ass pizzas, flatbreads, pitas.  This dough is amazing.  Airy and chewy.  Either way you choose to go it is nice to leave at least half the dough for the following day.  No matter what if you use up the second half take a small handful of dough from it and leave it in the container.  This is your poolish.*

The best thing about this is that you will have bread ready to start anyday you want it by keeping some in the fridge!  Every other night I make a batch and put it in the fridge.  Each time I take out some for a recipe I make sure I always leave at least a handful of dough to "start" the next batch with.  *This is a poolish.  The poolish makes a safisticated bread always lending it's wisdom to the next batch making sure to pass on its flavor.  This is another thing bread bakers use to make such tasty bread. *

If/when you go straight from the fridge this dough will be approximately halved for the following photos and the remainder put back into the fridge.  You'll knead and shape it on a floured surface, let it rest while you work on other things for a few minutes under a towel (15 or so to take the chill out)  then pat and shape into a square like below to measure out however many bialy you wish it to make this does 16, 2 inch bialy or 8 monster bialy.  

This tool is for dough cutting and is worth every penny.  I recommend them, they also scrape clean your work surface.

I bundle the shapes from squares into circles.  Watch the video for a more detailed explanation.

My monkey mitten working it's magic.

Holy crap, I'm a wizard.

These will now rise for 30-45 (it likes longer - upto an hour and half but this can be rushed if you need. Longer equals softer) minutes in a warmish kitchen (or place near a warming oven).  The dough will crust over a touch, I ignore it but you can sprinkle/mist the tops with a little water or oil to prevent this.  A few (10-20) minutes before shaping PREHEAT OVEN TO 480

I lightly flour the pan with unbleached flour and then shape the bialy.  I simply press my thumbs into the center of the ball and scoot the ball around in my hand like a teeny tiny steering wheel keep a fat ring around the outer edge and making a thin center well.  The center will be very thin and translucent when held up to the light.  Tears in the dough don't matter too much and you can stretch it to make the bialy a touch wider.  The center should be an inch - two inches. 

Bialy, like most bread loves a hot oven.  These since they are so tiny will only take 5-7 minutes max.  Always check around 5 to make sure they aren't in there up to no good.  They should feel a touch firm when poked and have nice coloring.  The flours browness is a good indicator too.  It will be russet where the bread isn't.  After a few moments out of the oven the once firm bialys become soft and chewy.

Herb bread

For this recipe you can make small double loaves or dinner rolls (and about a million variations beyond that, but for now we're keeping it simple).

This recipe can be halved if you find it makes too much.

Ingredients:

• 1 package of yeast or 1 heaping tsp  (adding a touch more yeast if doing more whole wheat than white wheat so it will help the heavier wheat rise well)
• 1 Cup warm water (you may need a standby 1/4 - 1/2 Cup warm water for later when mixing)
• 1 tsp vegan sugar or granulated
• 1-2 TBSP olive oil
• 1 tsp or more of each favorite herb if dried,  Unless your herbs are especially potent then cut in half -1 TBSP of each if fresh
• (basil, oregano, sage, rosemary, thyme nearly anything)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 slightly heaping Cups unbleached white flour (you can do a whole wheat version by doing 50/50 or 75/25 whole wheat -white but adding a touch more yeast to help the heavier whole wheat rise well)
• 1/2 Cup whole wheat flour
• Small amount of cornmeal --  I use polenta cornmeal grits, to keep bread from sticking to the pan while cooking.  You don't need more than a sprinkle and the extra will just burn around the bread smelling like burnt popcorn.

This bread can have cured olives, red pepper, hot pepper flakes with seeds and/or feta worked into the dough and voila! Mediterranean table bread for kings! Get freaky and make it "wow wee" (said like Christopher Walken).

You can leave out the herbs and add a dominant other ingredient to gear it towards whatever your meal may be.  This dough makes an excellent Soft Pizza Dough and a wonderful Stromboli (both coming soon).

Preheat oven to 200 degrees to create a warm environment for the dough to rise on and to help the yeast be happy.

In the 1 (or more as needed) Cup of warm water, add your yeast and within 5-10 minutes the yeast will become frothy and foamy.  You can add the sugar to the water and yeast or you can add sugar to the flour.  It doesn't matter so much in this case.

In a bowl, mix flours, salt, herbs, olive oil and then the water and yeast. Stir with spoon until a silky ball starts to try to form.

If a lot of the flour is on the sides of the bowl, add a touch more water and press into the dough.  On a floured surface, turn out your dough.  Knead the dough by bringing in the outer edges to the center and then with the heal of your hand work gently in towards the table and away from you.  Repeat this motion until a ball forms collecting light amounts of flour from the surface and a silky dusty dough ball is within your hands.  The underside will not be so pretty, but that is fine!  In a clean bowl large enough for the dough to double in size, pour a TBSP of olive oil.  Put the ugly side of dough down into this and gently slide and swirl the dough around the the bowl to coat the sides in the oil and now as the dough rises it will not cling to the bowl and will come right out for your next step.

Cover with a clean towel and place in a warm spot to rise for 45 minutes.  I usually use the stove top since the oven is already heated to 200 degrees.

Nearing the last moments of the rise, preheat your oven to 400.

Make sure the oven rack is in the middle of the oven.

On a lightly floured surface, cut the dough ball in half.  Form it into the final result (a silky dough ball, a tad tighter feeling than the first time) slicing an X on top of the bread.  You want to make a shallow cut so the bread doesn't spill out of itself as it bakes.  The X gives it room to grow, helps it bake thoroughly and makes it look pretty swell.  Place onto the cornmeal grit coated baking sheet with good space between the loaves. I wet my clean hands with water and just touch the tops of the loaves with my wet hand.  It helps the crust to not burn and also helps it get crispy.  Bake at 400 for an uninterrupted 15 minutes. Check and cool, or check and add 5 minutes.  When the bread crust does not yield to your touch and it sounds hollow when knocked on it's bottom then it is done.

This is a very moist bread and keeps for a couple days easily (unless its eaten).  I just slice pieces off as needed then keep the cut side flat against the counter or cutting board. This keeps the crust crusty and the inside moist where bagging it can ruin the crustyness.  ENJOY!