Cream Cheese and Red Onion Bialys

Cream Cheese & Onion Bialy

This recipe is one inspired by our recent trip to the coast, where each morning we got a delightful cream cheese and onion bialy at Pacific Way Cafe Bakery. I made these the following weekend and I think they turned out very well — chewy, cheesy, onion-y. Ohmygod-y.

Mine had (maybe…maybe) too many onions on them (but, I like to over-fill things!), but that was the only issue. I divided my filling up between my bialys instead of measuring it. The wrong choice? Perhaps, but all things being equal, I might do the exact thing next time.

This recipe can be easily halved (which is what I did), because with only two of us, we really only needed four bialys. Really, probably only two, but there’s something fun about living bialy-dangerously.

Cream Cheese and Red Onion Bialys
Recipe adapted from King Arthur Flour
3 cups bread flour
1 tsp instant yeast
1-1/2 tsp salt
1 cup + 2 tbsp warm water
2 medium red onions
2 tbsp olive oil
salt & pepper
1/2 tsp dried thyme
1/2 cup cream cheese
poppy seeds
parmesan cheese

Combine the flour, yeast, salt and water. Mix until combined, then use a dough hook and knead till smooth, about 7 minutes in a stand mixer. You can also need by hand, about 15 – 20 minutes, until the dough is nice and smooth. Place the dough in a lightly greased container, and let it rise about 90 minutes.

Cream Cheese & Onion Bialy

Peel the onions and halve them, then thinly slice. If you prefer smaller pieces of onion on your bialy, you can also dice them. Heat a medium pan and add the olive oil. When hot, add the onions, a little salt and pepper and dried thyme and cook over medium heat, until starting to caramelize, about 15-20 minutes. Transfer to a small bowl to cool.

Cream Cheese & Onion Bialy

Preheat your oven to 450°F. Gently deflate the dough, and divide it into 8 pieces. Roll each piece into a smooth ball. Cover the balls with a towel while you shape each piece in a 4 to 5-inch circle with a small rim.

Cream Cheese & Onion Bialy

Place the shaped circles on a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet. Use a sharp knife or pair of scissors to snip a 1-inch hole in the bottom of each bialy; this will help keep their centers flat.

Cream Cheese & Onion Bialy

Place 1 tbsp cream cheese in the center of each bialy. Evenly spread about 1 tbsp of onion filling on top of the cream cheese, in the center of the bialy and arrange out to the rim. his is where I probably added almost double that amount. It certainly worked fine, but just aesthetically, you may want to stick to 1 tbsp.

Cream Cheese & Onion Bialy

Sprinkle the tops with poppy seeds and a little Parmesan cheese around the edges.

Cream Cheese & Onion Bialy

Top the bialys with a sheet of parchment or aluminum foil; then with another baking sheet. This is to weigh them down in the beginning of baking, so that they don’t puff up.

Cream Cheese & Onion Bialy

Place the bialys in the oven and bake for 4 minutes. After the 4 minutes are up, remove the baking sheet and parchment and bake an additional 7-8 minutes, until the tops are slightly golden in spots.

Cream Cheese & Onion Bialy

Oh, wow. Look at that. Yeah, they were super-excellent.

3 Replies to “Cream Cheese and Red Onion Bialys”

  1. I must make these! I read about Bialys for the first time a few years ago but i couldn’t find a good sounding recipe. This is it!!!!

  2. Sara: Yes you should! I was very pleased with how they turned out!
    Martin: Hmmm, you could try it. You probably want to drain some of the extra moisture out of the cottage cheese first. Put some in a fine mesh colander over a bowl and let it sit in the fridge for a few hours. I would just worry about extra moisture making the dough mushy. But, I would give it a try…you never know. It could not only work, but be really good!

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