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Bookmarked! On my to-do list. Just in the middle of Hamelman’s Five-Grain Levain which is about to be shaped and refrigerated (otherwise I would have made these my first bake of 2021) but I’ll aim to make these next. They look delicious and look forward to trying them.
Happy New Year @Fermentada and may it bring only good fortune. Heres to 2021 being a heck of a lot better than 2020 
Thanks, Abe, Happy New Year to you too! Enjoy that first bake of 2021 
it sounds good.
I’m probably doing a pasta and a tart (poached pear & frangipane) as my first “doughs” of the year. Not sure what my first bread will be yet.
Oh I’ve never heard of these before, but I love the flavour of onion and poppyseeds and realize that I haven’t had a good onion poppyseed bun in many many years. These look like they’d be a nice bake to do thanks Melissa for the research and wonderfully detailed write up as you always do. This has been added to my list of things to bake in 2021.
My last bake of the year was the baguettes but my first might be another miso furikake loaf as I try to bring out the miso flavour more.
Happy New Year
Benny
Happy New Year to you too, Benny. I think you’ll like the bialys. I have some in the freezer from recipe testing, but I might make a fresh batch to go with some smoked salmon I remembered I have in my basement refrigerator.
Yum on the miso furikake bread!
Thanks, Melissa. These look wonderful, and what a history. I’ve printed the recipe and it’s in my “to bake folder.” I’m not working on anything fancy for my first loaf of the year, my go-to sourdough sandwich bread made with whole grain and high-extraction Yucoro Roho, HE Edison, and whole grain rye, all from local organic farmers in the Pacific Northwest.
Happy New Year to the Breadtopia community,
Richard
Happy New Year to you too. Your go-to sandwich bread sounds amazing. Enjoy!
Your “flat” ones, Melissa, were not too flat at all! In my experience, they were not sliced horizontally. You just pushed some butter or farmer cheese down on top of them. Your bialy was always heated a bit, in the oven, but not toasted. In fact, my father and grandmother never sliced bagels either… just heated them in the oven and broke them up with their fingers eating them with farmer, “pot” cheese (like a dryer cottage cheese) or cream cheese.
I grew up eating bialys and bagels both. (And I loved Mimi Sheraton’s book about their history.) I have made bagels a lot, but never bialys, and I will try these soon. Thank you.
Betsy Weinstein (I live in Central New York but grew up in New Jersey)
I’ve always been a bit sad that I wasn’t able to enjoy bialys because I don’t like onions in bread, the smell as much as the taste. Actually I’m a little nuts about it to the extent that if my raisin bagel has been in the contact with an onion bagel, I won’t eat it. Many a heated conversation with the bagel bakery about keeping their bagels separate! So, I was thrilled to see your date and goat cheese variant.
Are knishes next? I spent a summer in Far Rockaway, New York where strolling vendors on the beach sold knishes and bialys! A different world.
Good to know my flat bialys were actually true to style. I’ll edit my wording in the recipe!
I can’t remember if bialys were mostly ordered unsliced at the diner where I worked (so long ago now!) – quite possibly they were mostly toasted whole and butter was placed in the onion well. I more remember that ordering a “buttered muffin” meant it was cut on the horizontal, both sides were smothered in butter and then they were placed butter down on the hot grill until a little crispy 
I hope you enjoy the recipe. I’d love any feedback.
My sister loves knishes so much. I should figure out how to make them. Sounds like a wonderful summer.
I hope you like the date-cheese version. I bought brie last week to try it instead of goat cheese, but someone in my house ate the entire wedge, I think while I was sleeping.
Do you like fennel? I think that would be a neat onion replacement. lol at the heated conversations about bagel separation.
Sourdough bialys did end up being my first bread bake of 2021 (pear frangipane tart my first dough).
I was mixing a little early in the evening, so I used ice water in the dough to help ensure it wouldn’t be over-fermented by the morning.
These are 25% whole grain Kamut flour, same hydration as the recipe above that’s 40% yecora rojo. The dough was a tiny bit wetter feeling.
I’ll bet those don’t last long! I just moved Bialys to the top of my “to bake list,” which will have to be next weekend, although my mouth is watering for them now.
Richard
Fennel would be an interesting alternative.
Perfection! My mouth is watering. IMHO can’t beat an onion topping. It’ll make a nice cheese sandwich. Something like a mature cheddar will go nicely with those onions.
In the US a pletzel is more like a focaccia with onion but in the UK it’s a word more interchangeable with bialys.
https://www.thejc.com/lifestyle/recipes/onion-pletzels-1.65591
These are my bialys. I like to slit them but toast them whole then smear with whipped cream cheese and chives. Love them but simple KAF bread flour
I’ve been waiting for this one
On my list to bake… It’s funny how your write-up mentions “kuchens” as I have recently made a sourdough version! I used my great-grandmother’s recipe and my mother helped with the conversion into sourdough. I love mixing history with baking
Kuchen! Now there’s another trip down memory lane. This whole post is very nostalgic. The typical kuchen we would have was like a rugeleh except it was shaped like a Swiss Roll.
My great-grandmother made a streusel kuchen, much like a coffe cake. Your version sounds interesting! Time to do some research
Very similar to this type of kuchen except it had the same filling as a rugeleh. Combine a babkeh recipe with the method of this kuchen recipe and you’ll have the same result.
