Something Like Polish Bread

I've never found a way to recreate the taste of European bread at home. When I was a lad in Pittsburgh, there was a bakery in the Lower Hill area. I think it was called The Mayflower Bakery. They made bagels and rolls that were like heavenly delights. My dad used to go there early on Sunday mornings and bring back a bag of each for breakfast. The rolls were the true European style bread with a crisp crust and a soft, sweet interior. I know that the texture of European flour is a little different from the flour we buy in the supermarket. I've tried some different bread flour and some day I'll get around to trying the King Arthur European-Style Artisan Bread Flour. Some day I might even make it to Vermont for the King Arthur factory tour. But it takes more than European flour to match the texture of European bread. A run-of-the mill kitchen oven won't do it. I've tried the tricks to create steam in the oven, but it really doesn't help much.

I wish I had a picture of Tom's face when he bit into his first bread roll in Krakow. We had no problem locating a bakery by scent alone. It was a good one too. Just around the corner from the main square in central Krakow and literally in the shadow of the Basilica of the Holy Trinity. This was really a religious experience. I was afraid that maybe I had talked the bread up too much and that Tom might be disappointed. No problem! His eyes widened and he drifted into ecstasy with a single bite. We went back there every morning. Sometimes more than once.

BIALYS
Bernard Clayton has a recipe for bialys, a Polish bread roll. They won't carry you away to Krakow, but they're pretty good. The recipe calls for onion flakes. I've made them with dried onion flakes, with chopped onion and without any onion at all. I've liked them each way, but the dried onion flake form seems to have the most unique and memorable taste.

Reprinted for educational purposes from Bernard Clayton's New Complete Book of Breads.
Enough for 2 dozen rolls.
Ingredients:
Filling
2 tablespoons onion flakes
2 teaspoons poppy seeds
1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt (Kosher salt is better)

Dough
4 1/2 cups flour
5 teaspoons sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 package dry yeast
1 3/4 cups hot water

Soak onion flakes in water for about 2 hours. Drain and press out the water with a paper towel. (You can probably skip this step if using fresh onion.) Combine minced onion in bowl with poppy seeds, salt and oil. Set aside for later use.

Combine 3 cups of flour in a bowl with all of the dry ingredients for the dough. Stir together and form a "well" in the flour. Pour in the hot water. Mix together to make a dough batter, adding small amounts of flour until the dough begins to pull away from the sides of the bowl. This can be done by hand or with a Kitchen Aid style mixer.

Knead the bread for about 10 minutes using the Gallant Method.

Place the kneaded dough into an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and allow to rise at room temperature for about one hour.

Punch the dough down, re-cover and allow it to rise a second time for about 45 minutes.

After the second rise, divide the dough into 24 relatively even pieces. The quickest way to do this is by dividing the dough ball in halves, then in halves again. Then divide each of the four resulting balls into 6 same-sized pieces. I generally just eye-ball this, but they can also be weighed out.

With your hand or with a rolling pin, press each of the 24 small dough balls into flat, round circles. They should be about 1/2 inch thick and 3 to 4 inches in diameter.

Allow the dough circles to rise another 30 minutes

After the 30 minutes, very carefully depress a small area at the center of each circle with your thumbs. Try to not deflate the surrounding dough. Stretch the flattened area outward into a well that is about 1 inch to 1 1/2 inch in diameter. Place about a 1/2 teaspoon of the onion filling into each well.

Allow the dough to rise yet another time for about 25 minutes.

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Bake for about 15 to 20 minutes. I have found it best to bake one dozen at a time in a regular-sized kitchen oven. Check frequently after about 13 minutes since 450 degrees can burn quickly. After baking, place on wire cooling rack. Use pot holders!