Kossar's Bialys
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The oldest bialy bakery in the United States [1][2], Kossar's Bialystoker Kuchen Bakery on Manhattan's Lower East Side has been handcrafting its bialys, bulkas, pletzels and sesame sticks since 1936. A bialy is short for Bialystoker Kuchen (roll) from Bialystok, Poland. Polish Jewish bakers who arrived in New York City at the end of the 19th century and beginning of the 20th took their recipe for what were essentially the mainstay rolls that were baked in every household and made an industry out of it. A bialy is similar to a bagel, in that it is a round, chewy roll. But it is unlike a bagel in three important ways: 1) it does not have a hole in the middle, but a depression; 2) It does not have malt or sugar in the dough, and has more yeast than a bagel; and 3) bagels are boiled and then baked but bialys are only baked. The indentation in the middle of the dough is filled with onion, garlic, or poppy seeds. They can be modest in size, 3 to 4 inches, or the size of a small pizza. Similar to the bialy is the onion pletzel and the onion board, popular Ashkenazi breads from other countries.
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[edit] Baking Method
The process is a simple one, yet it is labor intensive. Using top quality high gluten flour, brewers yeast, non-iodized salt and freshly ground onions; every aspect is hand made in an authentic bialy. Old-fashioned brick ovens create an old-world flavor.
[edit] Background
Morris Kossar was one of many bialy bakers back then, and his bakery is now the last remnant of what was once a major industry. Beginning on Clinton Street, it relocated to its current location at Grand and Essex Street in the early 1960's after a union dispute and subsequent fire destroyed the building. Bialy baking was so big, in fact, bialy bakers had their own labor union, as did bagel bakers, other bread bakers and cake makers. Today, the sole union that covers them all is a conglomerate of just about every baking trade and some others too - The Bakery, Confectionery, Tobacco Workers and Grain Millers International Union (BCTGM).
[edit] Current
In 1998, two entrepreneurs purchased the bakery from Danny Scheinen, husband of Gloria Kossar, daughter of Morris. After 62 years, this New York City landmark establishment passed from the Kossar family to Juda Engelmayer [1] and Daniel Cohen, brothers-in-law. They reincorporated the bakery as Kossar's Bialys LLC.
[edit] Interesting Facts
In 2002, former New York Times food writer Mimi Sheraton [2] wrote a book dedicated to the bialy, called the The Bialy Eaters: The Story of a Bread and a Lost World.[3] She reflected on the ancient art of bialy making and used Kossar's Bialys as the background, and its long-time union bakers as key references for her research that took her to Poland in search of the original bialy bakers. She never found them because they had perished or fled during WWII.
Kossar's Bialys wins rave reviews from just about every food and market rating service and is part of the Lower East Side and Lower Manhattan tour circuit. Its breads are found in many of New York City's gourmet markets, delis, and fish stores, and is shipped nationwide through Internet orders.
Like the famed pickle stands that once graced the market-like streets of the old Jewish Lower East Side, the bialys are part of Manhattan's culinary history.
Kossar's Bialys is certified kosher, under the auspices of the Central Rabbinical Congress (CRC) of the U.S.A. & Canada, a relatively small anti-Israel Haredi organization, consisting only of Satmar and other like-minded Hasidic Jews.
[edit] References
- ^ Lower East Side Tenement Museum. Retrieved on January 14, 2007.
- ^ New York Magazine
