The Good New Method for Pillowy Delicate Challah

Challah, the ever present Jewish Sabbath and vacation bread enriched with eggs, oil, and sugar, has a shocking historical past. The candy, eggy bread is now commonplace in American tradition, however for almost all of Jewish historical past, the Hebrew phrase “challah” merely meant a small portion of the Sabbath bread’s dough that was burned as a symbolic reward to the kohanim (clergymen) in historical Israel. It wasn’t till the fifteenth century that challah started to consult with the loaf we all know now with its iconic braided form.

As we speak challah is eaten on Shabbat and Jewish holidays comparable to Rosh Hashanah, and its pillowy smooth texture and wealthy taste have additionally made it widespread for French toast and bread pudding in lots of US households—one thing that my Jewish grandmother by no means would have completed, however a wonderful use for the bread nonetheless! Making the show-stopping, mahogany braided loaf could appear to be an intimidating undertaking, however creating the supple egg enriched dough and getting an ideal braid are one thing you may simply do at house, and I encourage you to take action. Right here is my information to the important thing components and the blending and shaping strategies for making bakery-worthy challah at house.

The Key Elements in Challah

The Flour

Once I began devising my ultimate challah, I initially examined utilizing whole-wheat flour within the recipe. I like the nutty deep taste of baked items with entire wheat flour, however discovered early variations had been unappealing, flat, and gummy in texture as a result of lack of gluten within the flour. In my subsequent analysis, I discovered that white flour has been the perfect for Shabbat loaves for the reason that early medieval interval, in keeping with a number of sources, together with Gil Marks’ Encyclopedia of Jewish Meals. Newer recipes are divided between people who use all-purpose flour and better protein bread flour. I discovered in testing that bread flour, with its greater gluten proportion produces a stronger, extra manageable dough that’s simpler to form with a greater outlined braid. Challah made with bread flour additionally had a extra satisfying chewy texture.

The Sweetener

I initially needed to sweeten the loaf with all honey—challah is typically dipped in honey on Rosh Hashanah, and I needed to echo the floral candy taste within the dough. However I discovered that loaves made with all liquid honey had been too moist to form and braid. The answer was utilizing a mixture of each granulated sugar and honey; this created the sweetness I needed within the loaf with a touch of honey taste and gave the dough the perfect texture for braiding.

The Eggs

Eggs, and particularly their yolks, contribute taste, coloration, richness, and tenderness to challah. Moreover, as Harold McGee writes in On Meals and Cooking, eggs “complement [the] gluten construction with tender protein coagulum” and so they additionally “sluggish staling.” Egg advantages the bread when used each within the dough and as a last egg wash. When brushed on earlier than baking, the egg wash enhances the loaf’s deep amber hue and produces its signature shiny varnish.

The Fats

Not like many different enriched breads, a really kosher challah is made with out dairy or meat derivatives, counting on vegetable oils and egg yolks for fats—that are thought-about pareve, or neither dairy nor meat. It is a results of the kosher requirement that dairy not be served with meat (the latter of which is prone to seem on the normal Shabbat desk). Some recipes name for a neutral-flavored oil like canola within the bread, however I’m keen on the fruity, bitter notes that extra-virgin olive oil provides. It additionally enhances the dough with a refined green-gold hue that I like.

Key Steps within the Mixing Course of for the Greatest Challah

Positive, you could possibly combine your whole challah components collectively without delay, knead vigorously, form, and bake, and also you’d have a wonderfully OK loaf. However expertise has satisfied me that working the next steps into the pre-shaping course of ensures a next-level foolproof challah loaf everytime.

Depend on an Autolyse

After moistening the flour and yeast with water and eggs to type a shaggy mass, it’s essential to let the roughly blended dough sit for quarter-hour. This is named autolyse. In keeping with Ken Forkish’s Flour Water Salt Yeast, throughout this transient relaxation, the flour has time to hydrate and amylase enzymes start to interrupt down the advanced carbohydrates into easy sugars the yeast can feed on, with out salt interrupting this course of. It additionally offers gluten construction a kind of head begin, that means that the dough would require a lot much less mixing and kneading additional down the road; this additionally means much less work for us, the bakers. You may as well learn extra about autolyse in our breadmaking 101 guide.

Add a Golden Paste

For the reason that challah is enriched with liquid fat—oil and egg yolks—it may be difficult to knead the moist components into the dough with out the dough turning too smooth and slack. Sticky, moist dough received’t maintain its braided form as soon as baked. To keep away from this, as an alternative of simply including the liquid components suddenly to the dry components when mixing, I as an alternative incorporate what I consult with as a “golden paste,” a way I got here up with, impressed by the French approach for slowly incorporating butter into brioche.

I mix a small portion of flour with the oil, yolks, and honey till a manageable smooth paste is shaped. This paste can simply be blended into the dough in small items with out the dough turning too moist or greasy. It’s an identical approach to slowly incorporating softened butter into a conventional brioche dough, however as an alternative of butter, it’s the smooth golden flour and oil paste. That is a simple and mess-free approach to enrich the dough with oil and eggs, and it produces a dough that’s much less sticky and simpler to work with than if all of the components had been blended without delay.

Shaping and Braiding Challah

Jewish folks have loved recent bread at their Friday Sabbath, or Shabbat, meal since antiquity, however, in keeping with Gil Marks’ Encyclopedia of Jewish Meals, it wasn’t till the 1400s that “Jews in Austria and Southern Germany adopted…an oval, braided loaf, modeled on a well-liked Teutonic bread.” The stranded bread, with its resemblance to braided hair, was mentioned to chase away a demon-witch named Berchta, or Holle (the similarity between “challah” and “Holle” is coincidental, from what I can inform). Marks is fast to level out that “Though European Jews actually didn’t worship and even to a big extent know something about Berchta or Holle, they [nevertheless] assimilated the engaging bread.” 

Whereas some bold bakers go for a four- and even six-strand braid, right here I keep on with the fundamental three-strand braid. It’s nonetheless spectacular and lovely, however I can depend on muscle reminiscence to make it with no need to observe any YouTube movies to recollect the place every strand of dough goes. Must you wish to attempt a extra bold braid, know that many such movies exist!

To make an excellent challah braid that holds its form as soon as baked, there are just a few key steps. Begin by gathering every bit of dough into a good ball after which letting the balls of dough relaxation for not less than quarter-hour. This permits the gluten to chill out sufficient to be able to additional flatten it to a puffy pancake. After the dough has rested, roll it right into a log earlier than persevering with to roll it out additional. These steps additional develop gluten and type tighter air bubbles within the dough, which ensures that every braided strand may have the power to broaden with ease whereas holding its form when baking. When sliced open, the baked loaf will reveal an appealingly organized constellation of small air bubbles in its cross part, and when ripped aside, the bread will separate right into a collection of effective, velvety, elastic strips.

Proofing and Baking Challah

One of many beauties of this recipe is which you can resolve: challah at this time or challah tomorrow? I’ve written this recipe so the dough is proofed at room temperature for just some hours earlier than shaping and baking, however after its first proof, the dough could be punched down, lined, and refrigerated for as much as 24 hours earlier than shaping and baking.

 Breadmakers will usually insist {that a} longer chilly fermentation produces a extra flavorful and richly coloured, longer-lasting loaf than one proofed in much less time at heat room temperature. However I discovered that after making a number of loaves with each the shorter room temperature proofing and the longer chilly proofing time, I merely could not style or see a big distinction. The explanation I supply an in a single day chilly proof is that it lets you divide up the duties to suit into your schedule: Day one entails dough prep and bulk fermentation (first proof); day two is for last shaping and baking. But it surely’s good to know that whenever you wish to begin and serve a scrumptious loaf inside the span of some hours, it’s completely doable and can nonetheless produce a stunning loaf.

I’ve additionally included directions for making both one very massive and spectacular loaf that’s excellent for bigger gatherings, or two medium-sized loaves that may be served collectively. You may as well give the second loaf as a present or wrap and freeze it for later.