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How to Make Bialys: A Step-by-Step Guide
By Alexandra Stafford
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Last Updated: 01/21/2026
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
Bialys are often likened to bagels, but they are so much simpler to make. This post outlines how to make a simple and delicious bialy at home using a no-knead, overnight method.
A bialy is a type of bread, originating from Bialystok, Poland, containing a depressed center, which is filled with sautéed onions, poppyseeds, and fresh bread crumbs. While they are often likened to bagels, they taste more like a roll — they’re not as chewy, and they are much lighter in texture. Best of all, they are much simpler to make than bagels, as they don’t require boiling.
I learned this recipe from a man named Len, who attended several of my cooking classes many years ago and always showed up a few minutes early, ready to help with any remaining prep work, always with some sort of baking adventure to recount. Len learned the recipe at a “bagels and bialys” cooking class held at the local community college and kindly shared it with me.
I adapted the recipe to work with Jim Lahey’s No-Knead Bread method, which cuts back on the yeast and extends the rise. I love making this dough on a Friday or Saturday evening, and serving a bialy brunch the following morning. Find step-by-step instructions below.
How to Make Bialys, Step by Step
First, mix the dough and let it rise at room temperature for 12 hours.
Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface.
Portion the dough into 18 (roughly) equal pieces.
Ball each piece up.
This process goes more quickly with a helper by your side.
While the balls rest for another 45 minutes, get on with the filling:
Sauté an onion.
Then add poppy seeds and bread crumbs.
Make a well into the center of each bialy.
Fill each will with the poppyseed filling mixture.
Transfer to preheated Baking Steel or pizza stone and bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly golden.
Eat as you wish. Here are a few ideas …
… topped with cream cheese, gravlax, capers, onions, chives, lemon.
… or melted cheddar, fried egg, and sriracha:
How to Make Bialys: A Step-by-Step Guide
- Total Time: 13 hours 22 minutes
- Yield: 18 bialys 1x
Description
Bialys are often likened to bagels, but they are so much simpler to make. This post outlines how to make a simple and delicious bialy at home using a no-knead, overnight method.
Notes:
Recipe slightly adapted from Paul Krebs of Schenectady County Community College. Method adapted from Jim Lahey.
Krebs recommends using a high-protein flour. For the Lahey dough and for these bialys, I am partial to Tipo 00 flour. As always, SAF instant yeast is my preference.
Notes: You don’t have to make these bialys using the no-knead, long, slow rise method. If you want to make them in the same day, increase the yeast to 2 teaspoons, and decrease the water to 2¾ cups. Knead the dough by hand or in a mixer until smooth and elastic. Let it rise for two hours, then proceed with the recipe.
Ingredients
for the bialys:
- 1000 g (7.5 cups) bread, all-purpose or tipo 00 flour
- 20 g (5 teaspoons) kosher salt
- 4 g (1 teaspoon) instant yeast* (see notes above)
- 3 cups (680 g) water** (see notes above)
for the filling:
- 2 tablespoons olive oil or neutral oil (grapeseed, canola, etc.)
- 2 small onions, diced
- kosher salt
- ¼ cup fresh bread crumbs
- 1 tablespoon poppy seeds plus more for sprinkling
Instructions
- Whisk the flour, salt and yeast together. Add the water. Stir with a wooden spoon until combined, then knead gently with your hands to make sure all of the flour is incorporated. The dough should stick to your hands.
- Cover bowl with plastic wrap and let rest at room temperature for at least 12 hours. When dough has risen, remove plastic wrap, and turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Portion dough into 90 g pieces.
- Using lightly floured hands or enough flour to keep dough from sticking to you and your work surface, shape each portion into a ball. Cover balls with plastic wrap, then let rest for 45 minutes.
- Meanwhile, place a baking stone or Baking Steel in your oven. It’s OK if you don’t have one. Preheat oven to 450ºF if you’re using a stone or Steel, otherwise, preheat to 500ºF.
- Make the filling: Heat the oil over medium or low heat. Add onion and sauté slowly until translucent. Add a pinch of salt. Continue to cook until onion is only slightly brown — I always overdo it…better to err on the side of underdone because the onions burn quickly once they are in the oven. Add breadcrumbs and poppy seeds to the pan. Stir to combine. Set aside.
- Shape your bialys into 5-inch rounds with a raised rim and thin center: I do this by first punching down in the center of each dough ball when it is resting on my work surface. Then I lift up the round and with my thumbs in the center of the dough, I gently stretch the dough out so that the center begins looking paper thin, while the rim stays ballooned. It will take a little practice getting your shaping technique/method down, but the truth is that it doesn’t really matter unless you are looking for that really traditional bialy shape — they will taste delicious regardless of the shape.
- After shaping each one, place it on a parchment-lined baking peel. When you have five or six on your peel, brush each ball lightly with water. Sprinkle sides with extra poppy seeds. Spoon filling into center or scatter it over the top of each. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes depending on oven, baking vessel, etc.
- When lightly golden, remove bialys from oven, let cool on wire rack and repeat baking process with remaining dough balls.
- Prep Time: 25 minutes
- Cook Time: 12 minutes
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
121 Comments on “How to Make Bialys: A Step-by-Step Guide”
I’d love to make these with sourdough starter. Can you tell me if I can do that and if so, what would be the exchange for the yeast?
Hi Lori! I love this idea, and I think it would be pretty straight forward: use 100 grams of starter in place of the yeast. Use 50 grams less flour and water each. Follow the process as outlined in the recipe.