mariadnoca
Moderator
This recipe is from my online friend Dianne who got it from a rabbi in Salt Lake and his wife who shared this recipe for challah handed down through multiple generations of their family. Diane used to work at a bakery and they used this recipe after the rabbi came in and gave it to them after tasting their version(!) My main reaction to it is, wow this is sweet, almost cake like in it's sweetness, but if you are good with that - wow this is yummy. Recipe follows at the end.
My fail is the rise, in that it didn't really happen. A novice fail, but I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong or how I could do better next time. Challah Fail Slideshow (the dough photo is pre-rise)
Mistake one, is I weighed the flour and I expect she scoops as the dough was a bit wet and I had to add additional both in mixing and on the board to divided/braid.
Mistake two, I started late in the day and the house was a cool 65F. Finally around 9pm I heated the oven for about 30 seconds and stuck the trays in for 15-20 mins. I did that twice, I dunno I expect it could've over proofed that way, but I was just trying to get it to double in size and by that time I was tired. The first tray went in to bake at 10pm.
One of the things I like about Challah is how pretty it looks with the multi-dimensional braid, and well as you can see I didn't get that.
My bread, btw hers looks wonderful, so this is user error.
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Challah%20Bread/IMG_2586_zps2d007237.jpg
My rise fail:
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Challah%20Bread/IMG_2592_zps264d925a.jpg
Challah Bread
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup cream (some extra for wash)
11 TB of butter
3 packages of Fleichmans rapid rise yeast
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs (and one extra for egg wash)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon of salt
7 cups of flour
What you want to do first is scald the milk, cream, and butter. Get it in a pan and bring it right up to boiling but not actually boiling. There should be a decent froth of bubbles around the edge of the milk.
Throw the scalded milk mixture into your KA mixing bowl with the dough hook on, four cups of flour, and start mixing it in on low.
While that is mixing for about ten minutes, get your yeast ready. Take a half cup of warm water, not hot or you will kill the yeast, pour in a teaspoon of sugar to feed the yeast and the yeast itself. Stir it and set it aside. Depending on your yeast, the temperature of the room, your water, your yeast may rise out of the container you are doing this in so put it on a plate or large bowl.
While the yeast is developing, and your dough has been mixing for ten minutes, add the sugar and one more cup of flour and mix again for two to three minutes.
Now add the salt, eggs, and another cup of flour and mix again for two to three minutes.
Then add the yeast and the last cup of flour and mix for ten more minutes on low.
The dough is done so you now can do whatever the hell you want with it, be it rolls, braided challah, loaves, whatever.
This recipe makes three loaves of four braided challah. For that, divide the dough in three equal parts. Each of those parts you need to separate into four equal parts. Roll those 4 parts into long strands on a lightly floured surface to use for the braid that’s about an inch or two in diameter. Line strands up next to each other to start the braid in a bit of a fan shape, lightly smoosh the top of strands together to gently secure and then start braiding by taking the outermost strand, crossing over two, then twisting that strand with the one next to you just crossed over. So the rhythm is: go over two strands, then cross the middle two strands, go over two, then cross the middle two, go over two, then cross the middle two, and so on till it’s all braided. Tuck top/bottom ends under.
TIPS:
* Bread is easier to handle if you let it sit for a couple of minutes.
* If it starts to spring back on you when trying to roll/stretch it, let it sit for about 10 minutes to let the glutens relax.
Once you have braided your bread, place it on a greased sheet or parchment lined sheet. Spray with water and let them rise. Depending on the temperature in your house, this can take 30 minutes or three hours. When the challah is almost risen to the point of doubling in size, I brush it with a cream egg wash mixture. Then when it is ready to go in the oven, I brush it again and bake it at 350F degrees for 20 minutes.
My fail is the rise, in that it didn't really happen. A novice fail, but I'm not exactly sure what I did wrong or how I could do better next time. Challah Fail Slideshow (the dough photo is pre-rise)
Mistake one, is I weighed the flour and I expect she scoops as the dough was a bit wet and I had to add additional both in mixing and on the board to divided/braid.
Mistake two, I started late in the day and the house was a cool 65F. Finally around 9pm I heated the oven for about 30 seconds and stuck the trays in for 15-20 mins. I did that twice, I dunno I expect it could've over proofed that way, but I was just trying to get it to double in size and by that time I was tired. The first tray went in to bake at 10pm.
One of the things I like about Challah is how pretty it looks with the multi-dimensional braid, and well as you can see I didn't get that.
My bread, btw hers looks wonderful, so this is user error.
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Challah%20Bread/IMG_2586_zps2d007237.jpg
My rise fail:
http://i788.photobucket.com/albums/yy163/4ebay_bucket/Food/Challah%20Bread/IMG_2592_zps264d925a.jpg
Challah Bread
Ingredients:
1 and 1/2 cups whole milk
1/2 cup cream (some extra for wash)
11 TB of butter
3 packages of Fleichmans rapid rise yeast
1 tsp of sugar
1/2 cup warm water
4 eggs (and one extra for egg wash)
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 Tablespoon of salt
7 cups of flour
What you want to do first is scald the milk, cream, and butter. Get it in a pan and bring it right up to boiling but not actually boiling. There should be a decent froth of bubbles around the edge of the milk.
Throw the scalded milk mixture into your KA mixing bowl with the dough hook on, four cups of flour, and start mixing it in on low.
While that is mixing for about ten minutes, get your yeast ready. Take a half cup of warm water, not hot or you will kill the yeast, pour in a teaspoon of sugar to feed the yeast and the yeast itself. Stir it and set it aside. Depending on your yeast, the temperature of the room, your water, your yeast may rise out of the container you are doing this in so put it on a plate or large bowl.
While the yeast is developing, and your dough has been mixing for ten minutes, add the sugar and one more cup of flour and mix again for two to three minutes.
Now add the salt, eggs, and another cup of flour and mix again for two to three minutes.
Then add the yeast and the last cup of flour and mix for ten more minutes on low.
The dough is done so you now can do whatever the hell you want with it, be it rolls, braided challah, loaves, whatever.
This recipe makes three loaves of four braided challah. For that, divide the dough in three equal parts. Each of those parts you need to separate into four equal parts. Roll those 4 parts into long strands on a lightly floured surface to use for the braid that’s about an inch or two in diameter. Line strands up next to each other to start the braid in a bit of a fan shape, lightly smoosh the top of strands together to gently secure and then start braiding by taking the outermost strand, crossing over two, then twisting that strand with the one next to you just crossed over. So the rhythm is: go over two strands, then cross the middle two strands, go over two, then cross the middle two, go over two, then cross the middle two, and so on till it’s all braided. Tuck top/bottom ends under.
TIPS:
* Bread is easier to handle if you let it sit for a couple of minutes.
* If it starts to spring back on you when trying to roll/stretch it, let it sit for about 10 minutes to let the glutens relax.
Once you have braided your bread, place it on a greased sheet or parchment lined sheet. Spray with water and let them rise. Depending on the temperature in your house, this can take 30 minutes or three hours. When the challah is almost risen to the point of doubling in size, I brush it with a cream egg wash mixture. Then when it is ready to go in the oven, I brush it again and bake it at 350F degrees for 20 minutes.
