Comments on: bialys

By: Marcela

Marcela — Sun, 11 Oct 2009 05:42:51 +0000

I’m really excited to try this. Among Argentinean Jews we call them “Pletzalech” and we eat the with mayo, smoked beef brisket and sliced pickles. If you make the bialys small, these little sandwiches can be great finger food.

By: Marushka

Marushka — Thu, 07 May 2009 22:55:51 +0000

Omg Deb! I’m actually from Bialystok, where these originated, yet I never heard of them… must make them :)

By: Rachel

Rachel — Sun, 19 Apr 2009 21:35:23 +0000

Love your site, and your recipes.. but, uhm… gosh, there IS a world outside of NYC?! Yes, in fact bialys *are* well known outside of NYC. Especially in Chicago – given the vast Jewish population here. Some of the best Jewish deli’s outside of NYC are here. (Skokie anyone?) I grew up on onion bialys, and they were always my favorite choice.. I just always wished I could get more of that onion center, that I had to ration out so carefully for each bite. This post is nice encouragement to now make my own. Keep up the great work… and don’t forget about the rest of us out in the land-beyond-NYC.

By: Jeanmarie

Jeanmarie — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 21:35:39 +0000

Eastern Europe – that’s the birthplace of all these wonderful breads. I recall my grandmother making bialy’s, pierogis, (nothing like the fresh one) beet soup iwth sour cream, and potatoe pancakes and kasha. There is no way they are as good unless the come from raw grated, small grate, potatoes.

Most of all is the dark rye bread. As a child we would go a distance to the only place that made is authentically. I believe the bread had to rise in wooden kegs. Not sure what they were, the kegs, I seem to reacall they had been previously use.

By: Erin

Erin — Tue, 14 Apr 2009 02:42:42 +0000

There are a lot of Jewish people on the north side of Chicago, and I first encountered Bialys when we moved here. I haven’t tried one yet, but being the bagel addict I am, I think I need to!

By: Jennifer from stuffgirlswant.com

Jennifer from stuffgirlswant.com — Fri, 10 Apr 2009 21:04:27 +0000

These look absolutely scrumptious! I think I need to go buy the ingredients now so I can make them today! I have tried to make bagels and they turn out alright. These look easier.

By: samantha from maine

samantha from maine — Wed, 08 Apr 2009 19:26:21 +0000

We can get pretty good ones here from our little Mr. Bagel chain. I wonder though…is there a “right” way to eat them? I don’t toast them, cream cheese, piece of lettuce, thin slice of tomato, and a paper thin ring or two of red onion…with a grind or two of salt…it’s what I’ve always done and loved…

By: quiltcat

quiltcat — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 18:15:39 +0000

wow, talk about timely! My father is getting ready to retire from NJ, where i grew up, to VA, where i live now. One of our regrets is that he won’t be able to get bialys down here. (The other is an abscence of good Jewish seeded rye bread.) In NJ you walk into the grocery store and buy them from the freezer case with no special effort. Here i haven’t found them for years. Wegmans grocery store just came to the area and sell bialys, but they’re like glorified “kaiser rolls,” nothing like real bialys should be. My father has baked bread before and so have i, so i sense a wonderful family baking experience in our near future! Thank you for this fine article.

By: Elise

Elise — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 16:40:34 +0000

I made these yesterday… I was certain that I’d mess them up somehow, because it was only my second time making bread, but oh my goodness these are AMAZING. I’m a third-generation native New Yorker so I know my way around a bialy, and one of these, still warm from the oven, slathered with butter on top? Best bialy I’ve ever had. This recipe must be foolproof if I was able to obtain these results!

One note — I think my oven tends to run hot, so for the first batch (I baked in two sets of three) I had the dial set to 450. Those bialys turned out perfectly shaped, but they took more than 10 minutes to bake through. So for the next batch, I turned the dial up to near 475 — the bialys baked in the appropriate amount of time, but the centers puffed up and the filling spilled out. So it seems that temperature has something to do with whether the centers puff up, as well.

By: Marga

Marga — Mon, 06 Apr 2009 04:05:44 +0000

Thank you so much Deb for posting this recipe!

I followed the link for the book and read- in disgust- that the comment was that this lady who wrote the book “went to Poland” and to “Argentina” (MY HOME COUNTRY) and “couldn’t find the true Bialy!” I was so disgusted I will definitely NOT buy the book! In Argentina we call them PLETZE/PLETZALAJ and they are THE BEST. And a dear friend who traveled to Poland and to Lithuania DID find them and they were great! So I am dissapointed that an “american-centered writer” who believes that HER take on how a bialy should be like is THE ULTIMATE one (and can’t find any that compare to that) is just a self-centered pompous ass!

And HOW LONG did that lady spent in Buenos Aires in order to FIND OUT if there were there or not? Shame on her! But she probably made some money and as some reviewers said- got some free trips- just so she could criticize anything that was not like what SHE expected to be? What a silly woman!

The only thing I would be interested about the book- for if anyone cares for commenting on that- is where in Miami they can be found. I know the ones at “epicure” (they go under a different name) but they are kind of hard, hard to split in half and not that great.

Anyhow- maybe you liked the book and it is not that bad. I hope it is not as badly researched as the review made it look!

Most important than all the above: I very much enjoy your blog- thanks for it!