Cebularz
Known as cebularz, it is a wheat dough roll of around 15-20 cm in diameter, topped with diced onion and poppy seeds. Cebularz is similar to bialy (Yiddish: ביאלי) from the region of Bialystok.
It is characteristic for the cuisine of Lublin and its surroundings and has its origins in the cuisine of the once big Jewish community of the area (before the WW2, almost 30% of Lublin’s inhabitants were Jews). The recipe for the speciality had been passed down the generations, and started to appear in written records since the nineteenth-century.
The topping, covering the whole roll but an external wrath, consists in chopped white onion, poppy seeds, salt and vegetal oil. The onion is chopped and mixed with salt at least one hour before baking in order to soften it and make it lose its juice, which is sieved away. The dough is made from wheat flour, sugar, vegetal fat, water, salt, and yeast.
After the Second World War and the Holocaust, Christian bakeries like „Kuźmiuk”, which reopened right in 1945, continued to bake the once Jewish speciality. But for years, inhabitants were remembering the Jewish bakers for the quality of their work (s. works of the local historian, Marta Kubiszyn).
The Jewish bakers sold cebularz rolls in Lublin Old Town, and it becomes a popular snack among all inhabitants of the city. A particularly picturesque aspect of the ancient times was selling cebularz and other specialities from chests by the itinerant sellers.
