We Knead to Bake : May 2013. I am lagging behind, but I am finally done with the May bread baking project. Bialys(pronounced bee-AH-lee) are Polish bread, similar to bagels, but bagels are boiled and baked whereas bialys are just baked. A bialy is round, with a depressed dent in the middle, filled with caramelized onions and poppy seeds. We do not get poppy seeds in Singapore, so I made the filling with just onions and some tomatoes and yellow pepper. A good bialy should have springy soft crumb and chewy and soft crust with holes inside. Bialys are eaten slathered with butter or with cream cheese. Here is a Video which shows how bialys can be eaten :) It's best to consume them within 5-6 hours of baking. I had them after 5 hours, I reheated in the microwave and they were good as when they were freshly made.
Bialys are best made with bread flour, but if you do not have it, they can be made with regular all purpose flour with a tbsp of vital wheat gluten for every 3 cups of flour. I didn't have either the bread flour, nor the wheat gluten (I do not know what that is, need to search in the baking section)... I made it with regular all purpose flour and they seemed ok... just like other bakers of the group(similar to their pictures, I mean). I haven't tasted an original bialy ever... :)
