Honey Wheat Challah

I do lots of experimenting in the kitchen and my family has learnt to put up with it. Earlier this year, I went on a mission to find a new chulent. They went right along with the experiment. I like to cook weird vegetables and have even gone so far as to create a meatball recipe with no meat or tomatoes. They've stuck with me through it all, and have even learned to like some new foods.

But there is one thing I hadn't dared to mess with. Challah. I have been making the same homemade challah for years. It's eggy. It's sweet. It is just right. 

Yeast. Look carefully and you'll see my reflection!

My kids have warned me. "Ma," they say. "Experiment with anything you like. But DON'T mess with the challah. Don't experiment with it. Don't change the recipe. And whatever you do, don't make it healthy." 

Well, folks, I went and did it. I made my challah with part whole wheat flour this week. And it came out really nice. A bit more dense and earthy than the all-white challah. A lovely, healthier version of our favorite Shabbos bread.


Honey Wheat Challah
Makes 6 large loaves; 5 hours prep time

4.5 tablespoons dry yeast (5 small packets)
3 1/4 cups water
6 eggs
11 cups white flour
8 cups whole wheat flour (or use one 2-lb. bag)1/2 cup sugar
1 cup honey
3/4 cup oil
3 tablespoons Kosher salt

Mix the yeast and water together in a large mixing bowl. Add a drop of honey. Let sit for about 5 minutes till it starts bubbling.

Add the remaining ingredients. Mix well. If you're using a mixer (I use a Bosch mixer which handles five pounds easily), mix for about five minutes until smooth. If you're kneading by hand, it'll take more like ten minutes (sorry!) but you'll get such satisfaction it'll all be worth it. 

Find a warm toasty spot (I use my bedroom!) and let the dough rise for 1-2 hours, till doubled. Take challah, with a blessing. Braid into six or seven loaves (I make mine with four strands of dough), lay the loaves on baking sheets, and then let rise for another hour. 

Prepare an egg wash using 2 eggs and about 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the loaves with egg. Preheat the oven to 350* and once it's hot, bake the challah for about 45 minutes until golden. Let the Challah cool completely on cooling racks before wrapping in bags and using or freezing.

See my post on Yeast Spotting.

Linking this up to KOAB Recipe Exchange and Real Food Digest.

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Challah Decorating

My friend Jill just tried my challah recipe and added a wonderful twist! She decorated the rolls with a combination of black and white sesame seeds! I'm posting her picture here for all of you to see. The black sesame seeds are a bit harder to find, but they are a wonderful touch. (You can also try poppy, if you like the taste.)

Jill's challahs. The one on the right has all black sesame
seeds. The one in middle is a mix of black and white. 

Do you decorate your challah or leave it unadorned? Share your tips here.

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Four Braid Challah

Challah braiding is one of those things that people can get very passionate about. Do you make your challah using three, four, or six strands? Do you bake your challah on baking sheets or in oval shaped challah pans? Water or egg? Fresh yeast or dry?

I make a four-braid challah, and I bake my challah on the heaviest baking sheets I can get my hands on. But I confess that I don't feel really passionate about my technique. When my eleven-year-old daughters braid the challah for me (which is almost every batch) one of them does it my way, and the other one prefers a three-strand braid.

You can read my challah recipe here. Tonight's topic is braiding, though. I asked Sarah and Malkie, my wonderfully helpful eleven-year-old twin daughters, to walk us through the process while I snapped away. Here's our lesson.

Step 1: Make your favorite challah dough. My recipe, for a sweet eggy challah, is here.

Step 2: Divide your challah into even portions. I make six challahs out of five pounds of flour.

Step 3: Divide each portion of dough once again into four even portions.You don't need to bring out the measuring scale, but do try to make them as even as possible.

One portion of dough, divided into four even pieces.

Step 4:  Roll each portion of dough into a long rope that is not at all lumpy. (My daughters do a much better job at this than I do. I rush this part and mine come out looking like a snake who just feasted on whole eggs.) We make ours about 12 inches long but you can make them longer if you like long and skinny challah, or shorter if you prefer yours more wide and squattish. 

Sarah's delicate hands rolling the dough into ropes.

Step 5: Once you have four ropes that are pretty even in length, line them up next to each other and pinch them together at the top.

Step 6: Take strand 1 and put it over strand 2, then under strand 3, and then over strand 4.

Step 7: Next, take strand 2 (which is now the first in line) and put it over strand 3, under strand 4, and over strand 1.

Steps 8 till whatever: Keep at it until you've worked your way through the entire length of each of the four strands.

Pinch the ends together tightly.

Finally, let it rise and brush with egg as directed by your recipe.

Malkie's challahs all in a row (these are three-strand braids)

Bake as directed.

See my post on Yeast Spotting.

Braiding

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Homemade Challah

A round challah, although we usually make the traditional long shaped ones.

I know that homemade Challah may seem like a luxury. But believe it or not, the reason I make Challah is really and truly to simplify my life! Five pounds of flour yields six or seven loaves, and saves me a Friday bakery run for three weeks. It's simply easier to bake my own Challah than it is to fit in yet another Friday errand. (Especially because I have a terrific electric mixer which does the kneading, and my wonderful daughters do all the braiding for me!)

If you've never made Challah before, you should really try it. Homemade challah just doesn't compare to the store bought stuff, and it's nowhere near as daunting as you might think. If you are mixing by hand and want to make things easier, make just a half recipe with a yield of three loaves. Adjust the flour to 6 1/2 cups, and use half of all the other ingredients.

Challah
4.5 tablespoons dry yeast (5 small packets)
3 1/4 cups water
6 eggs
5 pounds flour
3/4 cup sugar
3/4 cup honey
3/4 cup oil
3 tablespoons Kosher salt

Mix the yeast and water together in a large mixing bowl. Add a drop of honey. Let sit for about 5 minutes till it starts bubbling.

Add the remaining ingredients. Mix well. If you're using a mixer (I use a Bosch mixer which handles five pounds easily), mix for about five minutes until smooth. If you're kneading by hand, it'll take more like ten minutes (sorry!) but you'll get such satisfaction it'll all be worth it.

Find a warm toasty spot (I use my bedroom!) and let the dough rise for 1-2 hours, till doubled. Take challah, with a blessing. Braid into six or seven loaves (I make mine with four strands of dough), lay the loaves on baking sheets, and then let rise for another hour.

Prepare an egg wash using 2 eggs and about 1 tablespoon of water. Brush the loaves with egg. Preheat the oven to 350* and once it's hot, bake the challah for about 45 minutes until golden. Let the Challah cool completely on cooling racks before wrapping in bags and using or freezing.

See my post on Yeast Spotting.
I shared this post on Countdown to 2011!

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