From The Bialy Eaters, The Story of a Bread and a Lost World. Mimi Sheraton 2000. A good book to have.

Izaak Rybal, now deceased, on Bialy made in NY. "Bialystoker kuchen were bigger, crisper in the middle, and had lots of (mohn) poppy seeds, and brown onions."

Book Introduction from Samuel Pisar NY.

"When I was an adolescent in Auschwitz lying on the hard shelf that was my bed and hallucinating from hunger, I would often try to recall the shape and savory aroma of the kuchen we used to eat at home in Bialystok. By then I had lost all of my family and school friends.

Years later, when I was in New York, I would often watch those street-corner wagons that sell coffee and bread in the morning. I marveled at the whites, blacks, Asians, and latinos as they munched on their bialys. I felt as though I was from another planet.
To each of them, it was simply a tasty snack. How could they know they were partaking of something sacred, a bread that evoked bittersweet memories of a culture and tragic corner of eastern Poland? A bread that, in my psyche, summons up even today the mystical dream world of Marc Chagall and Isaac Bashevis Singer.

Letter from Pesach Szmusz to Mimi Sheraton.

In June 1941 the Nazis came to us, and since then, there are no bakeries and no more of our Bialystok Jews.
The Nazis killed almost all of us. I was in Auschwitz and other concentration camps with Samuel Pisar, and I was liberated in Dachau, then spent four months in a tuberculosis hospital. I went back to Bialystok and left shortly with a curse on my lips and a promise never to return to that cursed land and people again.

Poland was the only country where young Jews were killed after the war. I don't forgive the Nazis, but I don't forgive the Poles either. When the Nazis came to Bialystok on June 27th 1941, Poles showed them where the Jews lived and Poles robbed the Jewish houses. The Nazis did not build Auschwitz, Treblinka or Maidanek in France, Belgium or Holland. They built them in Poland because they knew the Poles would help them kill the Jews. The Poles were partners in our destruction.

Please forgive me for expressing my thoughts. I was 20 years old in the Bialystok ghetto, 23 years old in Auschwitz, and 100 years older after the liberation. I am still not liberated and I will not be free until my last day.
And this is the story of the bialystoker kuchen. I do not think any Bialystoker can tell you more.

Bialy recipe from Mimi Sheraton, devised with the help of the bakers at Kossar's bakery NY, with bakery stating the recipe would not get the results that exactly matched thiers, as they bake in a brick lined convection oven with revolving iron shelves, & Kossar bakery recipe uses 100 pounds of flour, 7 gallons of water, 2 pounds of salt, and 1 pound of yeast for a yield of 70 to 80 dozen bialys.

Recipe for Bialys.

To make 12 to 14 bialys, each 3 1/2 to 4 inches in diameter, you will need about 1 1/2 to 2 pounds or about 5 to 6 cups of high - gluten bread flour, about 3 cups very cold water, tap or bottled, 2 tablespoons non-iodized kosher coarse salt, or coarse sea salt, and 1/2 ounce of fresh bakers yeast.
For the topping, 1 medium size sweet white onion (a scant cupful when finely chopped) and about 2 tablespoons of coarse, toasted bread crumbs. (Kossars bakery NY, uses crumbs made of dried, ground bialys.)

The onion topping is best prepared 3 to 5 hours before it will be used, so that it will soften slightly, and the harshest aroma and flavor of the onions will evaporate.
Peel and chop onion fine. For best results, do this with a chopping knife or, as a second choice, throught the fine blade of a meat grinder. Do not use a food processor or blender, as the onion will become too liquid.

Thoughly mix 1 tablespoon of crumbs into the chopped onions and set the mixture aside, loosely covered; reserve the extra crumbs. After about 3 hours, check to see if the mixture has thickened to the texture of loose wet sand. If it is too liquid, add more crumbs a half teaspoonful at a time, waiting 10 minutes between each addition.

To prepare the dough, mash yeast into 1/2 cup cold water. When dissolved, stir in the remaining cold water. Turn 5 cups of flour and the salt into the bowl of an electric mixer and, using the dough hook, beat in the yeast water. Slowly beat flour and water, adding more flour gradually only if the mixture is too sticky, or a little more water if it is too stiff, but err on the side of stickiness.
Raise the mixer speed to medium, and beat only until the mixture holds together but is still sticky.
Gather the dough and place in a clean, large, unoiled glass or ceramic bowl. Cover the bowl loosely with a towel and set it in a warm, draft free corner. let it rise for three and a half hours, or until double in volume, or until an indentation made with a finger springs back into place. (Time will vary with the warmth in the room. If it is a very cold day, place the loosely covered bowl in an oven that is turned off but that has a pilot light.)

At this point, you can try to knead the dough with the dough hook of the mixer for about 10 minutes. However, because the dough is thick and sticky, some older models of home mixers should be run only at the first or second speeds to avoid burning out the motor. After 10 minutes, or instead of using the dough hook, turn the risen dough out on a lightly floured board. Knead by hand for 5 to 10 minutes, if you have used the dough hook, or 15 to 20 minutes, if you have not.
A dough scraper is essential for this. The dough should be smooth, elastic and blistered. Work in additional flour only if needed.

Shape it into a ball and place back in the mixing bowl and cover loosely with a towel. Let it rise in a warm, draft free corner for about 1 1/2 hours, or until a depression made with a finger springs back into place.
Punch down the risen dough. divide into four portions and roll each of these between the palms of your hands into ropes that are about 2 inches in diameter. From each rope, cut or pinch off three or four pieces. Roll each gently but firmly into a ball between lightly floured hands. Cover the shaped rolls to prevent them from drying out as you work the remainder. When all rolls are formed, cover them with a kitchen towel and let them rest for 45 minutes.

Slide baking stone or baking sheets onto shelves in the lower third of the oven and preheat to 450 degrees.

To form the center indentations on the rolls, work with well floured hands and lift each round of dough slightly off the work surface and slip the index and middle fingers of both hands underneath, with both thumbs working on top. Press and lightly stretch the center bottom dough, forming a well (but not a hole) and leaving about a 1 1/2 inch rim of unpressed dough. Or, using a small glass or jar with a completely flat bottom, that is 1 1/2 to 2 inches in diameter, press down very firmly in the center of each flattened round and twist to spread dough, then spread lightly with your fingers.
Using the sides of your hands, reshape the rims of each bialy. Keep the bialys covered until all are shaped.

When all bialys are formed, add the onion topping. If you are going to use poppy seeds, brush the top of the bialys with water so that the seeds will stick; this is not necessary if you are using onions only.

Dip your slightly cupped index, middle, and fourth fingers into the onion crumb mixture and smear about a scant teaspoonful over each bialy, being sure to get a thin coating in the well and around its top edge and spreading the well again. Then sprinkle about 1/2 teaspoonful of poppy seeds over each bialy.

Using a flat, wide spatula as a peel, place the bialys on the preheated baking surface, leaving about a 1 inch space between each on all sides.

Bake 15 to 20 minutes, or until the bialys are as golden brown as you want them to be. Remove from the baking surface. Eat them (or sell) then as soon as you can. If you plan to freeze any bialys, let them cool on a rack for 10 minutes before wrapping.

Note: If you use baking sheets or a pizza tile, you will be able to change the position of the bialys easily during baking. Start them in the lower third of the oven and, after 10 minutes, slide the sheets onto a shelf in the upper third of the oven. That way the onions are less likely to burn and bottoms become crisp.