I was inspired to try Dan Lepard’s black olive bialy recipe by the gorgeous Sally at Bewitching Kitchen.
Mine turned out a little chubby, but so delicious. A cousin of the bagel, but much easier to make, the bialies were chewy and flavoursome, and attained a surprising amount of rise from just half a teaspoon of dried yeast and minimal kneading.
Dan’s recipe specifies Kalamata olives – make sure you use the full amount of pitted olives in oil, as they contribute to the liquid content of the dough. I had Sicilian green olives as well, so I used a mix of both. It’s a very easy recipe, and a great combination of flavours, with the olives and dough well matched to the onion and poppy seed topping.
The instructions are here, and I hope you enjoy making these as much as I did. It’s always a good day when you can take a batch of bread out of the oven before 8am!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Hehe chubby bread is a good thing! You know I don’t know if I’ve ever tried a biali but a cousin of a bagel has got to be good right? :)
They look and sound delicious! Would they meet small man’s criteria for olive bread rolls for his lunchbox? :)
My very Jewish partner would be horrified by olives in a bialy. But not me! I’m with you–these would be killer any day of the week.
We LOVE bialy’s and I have been looking for a recipe….so …thank you very much!!!
Lorraine, it’s amazing how similar the texture is to a bagel, despite being made in a completely different way!
SG, don’t know yet. I’ve made one without onions on top to see if they’ll fly – he’s pretty fussy though! :)
Mark, my apologies to Bruce – but these aren’t my recipe, and it’s also the first time I’ve tried a “bialy”. Having said that, they were spectacularly delicious – I’m heading out to buy more olives now!
Jude, hope you enjoy them. Dan’s recipe is very good, but make sure you use enough olives, and they have to be in oil, not brine. It’s a very dry dough, but worked surprisingly well nonetheless!
Those look brilliant and must be next on the list to bake, they look a bit easier than bagels too! We love onions so your pictures are inspiring!
I made the wild garlic rolls last night, had to use it as it had sat in the fridge for a few days.
Jo, they are much easier than bagels and would probably be very nice with your ramsons through them!
Oh, how cool! I’m so glad you made them and loved them too….
I gave some to my Jewish (and New Yorker) friend, and she said she prefers the “original”, of course. I guess sometimes it’s hard to mess with tradition.
But, since I’d never had one before, I thought the recipe was perfect, and it is true that the dough seems pretty dry, but works well in the end, even if only a small amount of yeast is present. The overnight in the fridge must be the reason.
Thanks for linking my baby blog to yours…. ;-)
Thanks for the headsup, Sally! I’ve been out to buy more olives, the first batch was demolished last night at dinner!
Thats an excellent day when you can take a batch of bread out of the oven by 8am! I have never heard of them, but they look delicious :-)
These look fantastic Celia. I’ve never heard of them, but based on the look of yours, and my love of a good bagel (which is usually unmet in the effort of baking other things, and the poor bagel supply in Aus) I look forward to giving them a go.
Thankyou!
Craig
[…] a go….Here’s one done in cups. And here is a Dan Lepard version which Celia has tried here and made an excellent job of! If you want Mr Hamelman’s version you might have to get the […]