Bialys - The saga continues
So, I was home sick for four days, Sat-Tue this past week and on saturday, my daughter says you have to make more Bialys, because she has them for breakfast EVERY morning. So I decided to give ITJB recipe one more try. I was hoping they wouldn't puff up into softballs. I did something different. I made a poolish the night before. Stuck with the same amount of grams of flour and water, but subtracted 100 grams of water and flour, with 1/2 teaspoon of yeast and put in fridge next morning. Took it out and let it sit to get to room temperature. Then added the rest of the ingredients to equal 680 grams of flour, 370 water with 1 tsp eyastand 2 1/4 teaspoon of salt and let it sit for 2-3 hours. Then made round balls and set them on pan with dusted cornmeal. Let them doubled in size, about an hour.
But, I remembered something very important Stan G had told me from one of his posts... the bialys have to reach full proof, i.e., just about at the point of collapse, before you "pull" them into their flat-bottomed ring shape. if you don't let them go to near-collapse, you get softballs. What I did was cut them into 12 3 oz pieces and shaped them into bialys. And yes, brushed flour on top to get that golden brown look. Coveredred them with plastic and towel. I then put the sauteed onion in the middle and let it sit for like I think it was 4-5 hours, until as described above...point of collapse. Cooked them and here are 12 light delicious perfect bialys. I was estatic. ITJB's water to flour ratio is 54%. My daughter loves when the onion spills over on top. so do I. Perfect for when I was home on monday and tuesday with butter and tea to make me feel better.
Those look wonderful, hlieboff59! I hope you are on the mend.
Paul
These are soooo beautiful and professional looking. I was raised on Bialys in NYC. Can't eat them anymore due to Celiac disease but I have been slowly working on a gluten-free sourdough bialy. I'm getting closer, taste is close, texture is closer. I usually make the indents pre-rise but next time I will try your tip about making it nearly after the full rise. Thanks for that great photo!
would be proud of those little round gems of yours I am sure. Very nice biayls. Bet they taste great too.
I think they're gorgeous
SG
You've really mastered the long final proof and shaping- congratulations!
Thank you everyone for your compliments. I've only been trying to make bialys since last June. Because when my Aunt passed away last June 2011, we had company stay over and I tried making Bialys for breakfast, but they were softball shaped and I was embarassed. They were half way decent. But I just kept at it.
I asked Stan (ITJB) a question this morning and thought I'd share this with you. Now taking this Bialy formula and increasing the water to flour hydration 60% or 65%, . Here is his response and I can't wait to really try it...
"Increasing the hydration (water) would make a huge difference. First of all, the dough would be much softer and stickier and the resulting bread would also have a softer, more open crumb. If I were you, I'd experiment a little bit and see which dough you like better."
Have a great weekend everyone, Howard L
So last weekend, I made the bialys with water to flour hydration at 65%, just out of curiousity. After I let them proof to the point of collapse, I tried to pick them up and put on the peel with corn meal to slide onto pizza stone, I couldn't. They were to weak and soft to pick them up. So I baked them in the pan. For some reason the onions didn't cook fully like above. I forgot to take a pick of them, so I took them out of the freezer and took a pic of them. Like Stan said, they were softer and more open crumb, but still good. My wife's only complaint was the onions of course. Here's a pic of them.