Sooner or later it had to come to this.
The new world we live in has made bakers of us all with millions joining the floury ranks each day. In supply chain economics, upstream runs on young spring wheat and precious yeast have sparked near-Talmudic debates on the ethics of how to feel OK with the 20 kg sack of something you were able to procure.
Over the past few weeks I’ve made my way through the standards; Lahey’s Pugliese (a consistent winner), Smitten Kitchen’s star-studded line-up of cookies (word to the wise, substitute chocolate chips for the raisins) and just about anything from my late Aunt Edna’s cherished collection of baking hits.
But something has been missing . . . until now.
This weekend, my nine-year-old daughter and I took a shot at baking hand-forged bialys. Having lovingly shaped thousands of the bialys as an able baker at Noah’s New York Bagels in the late 1990’s I confidently predicted I’d be right back in game shape. Our bialys would be expertly crafted in a way that would make this guy from Kossar’s proud.
There is some tinkering to do (mostly with the “pinch, pinch, pinch”), but I can report with confidence that the first bialy ever to hit Tokyo (pictured above) was a hit!
The Tokyo Yenta 