Challah Recipe

I’ve been asked by a few friends to share my challah recipe.  Really, it’s not mine but I got it from a blogging friend, Maya, and then modified it a bit.  Not only did I get the recipe from her but she has an amazing video that teaches how to braid a six strand challah.  Maya is amazing!

The recipe (how I use it):

 

Yeast Mixture

1 Pkg dry active yeast OR 4 1/2 tsps of loose granulated dry active yeast

1/3 cup honey

3/4 cup warm water

Bread Dough

1 1/4 cups warm water

4 tsp salt

1/3 cup honey

2/3 cup olive oil

6 egg yolks, beaten  (set aside the whites for later)

5 1/2 to 7 cups flour

Optional:  Saffron water or yellow food dye (12 drops) can be used to make the Challah dough a golden color if that is desired.  Our home grown eggs have very orange yolks so the dough is golden without anything added.

Egg Wash & Topping

Beaten the egg whites (you will only need two egg whites so should you use the remaining whites for another dish, please do so)

Kosher salt

1.  Place yeast, honey and warm water together in a small cup or mug.  Mix with fork and let sit while you prepare the wet mixture or for about five minutes.  The mixture should foam and is done to make sure that the yeast is good and will become active to make the bread rise.

2.  Place salt, honey, oil and eggs in bowl.  Add saffron water or food dye.  We raise our own hens and the egg yolks are an orange color so we do not add any coloring of any kind, the yolks are color enough.

3.  Add foamy yeast mixture

4.  Add one cup of flour at a time until dough can be turned out of bowl onto kneading surface.

5.  Sprinkle flour on kneading surface and place dough onto it.  Begin kneading.  The dough will feel very sticky.  Knead flour into dough until dough can be handled without sticking to your hands and is smooth and elastic to the touch. To keep the dough from sticking too much to my hands, I flour my hands by putting my clean hands into the flour and grabbing a handful of flour then let it go back into the bag.

6.  Place kneaded dough in a lightly greased bowl, cover with a dishtowel and put in a warm, draft free area.  I microwave a cup of water for 2 minutes while I clean up my work space.  When the 2 minutes are complete I move the cup of water to the back corner and let the bread proof in the warm and moist microwave.

7.  Let dough rise for two hours.

8.  Punch down risen dough.  Take your fist and punch it down in the middle of the dough while still in the bowl.  If the yeast has worked it has caused a lot of gas to build up in the bread and it should have doubled in size.

9.  Knead the dough once more for a few minutes.

This recipe makes two large loaves.  For three strand Challah, cut the dough into two halves first, then cut each half into three equal lumps.  Roll each lump into a foot long “rope”.  Braid it as you would braid hair.  For a six-strand Challah, cut the dough into two halves first, then each half into six equal lumps.  Watch Maya’s amazing video above and see how to braid the dough with six strands.

10.  Put braided loaves on baking stone or oiled long cookie sheet.

11.  Beat egg whites and brush both loaves with the beaten egg.  I sprinkle course salt on top of the challah while Maya uses sesame seeds.

12.  Place challah in oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees.  I also place in the oven an oven-safe bowl of water to provide moisture to the oven while the bread is baking.  When the oven is pre-heated, I set the timer to between 25 and 35 minutes.  Some weeks the challah is ready in 25 minutes, other weeks it will need the full 35 minutes.  I take the challah out when there it is a nice golden brown.

13.  Let challah cool on a wire rack, covered with a light weight towel or cloth.  My family prefers our challah served warm, right from the oven.

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Maya is no longer blogging so there is no link to her blog that I can give you.  Blessings to you, Maya. May you live and be well!