Challah

 

Winston Knot Challah baking in the oven.

 

Challah is a Jewish Celebration Bread and has much significance to the culture. It is often braided with three strands standing for truth peace and justice. Twelve humps on a braid stand for the miracle of 12 loaves for the 12 tribes of Israel. If you shape your braid into a circle it means no beginning and no end. Each style are used in different celebrrations. The cultural meaning of so many breads gives us much to learn. Wait until I do the white bread post!

For a spiritual meaning of the ingredients I found one from a web site: https://www.ohelsara.com/women-and-the-home/hafrashat-challah/the-symbolism-of-challah/ which reviews the ingredient and the significance of each. It is interesting, but the main point of bread for most is that we share it, it tastes great and it fills us. Challah has loads of protein because of the milk and eggs, which makes it especially perfect for sharing and filling you up. It makes a beautiful french toast on day two.

Please read through the entire recipe before making. Using a kitchen scale is prefered. For each cup, I have measured 140 grams. There is such a variety in many cookbooks ranging from 113 grams per cup to 160 grams per cup. After many times measuring with three different cups it seems that 140 grams works best for the recipes I post. Holding back a little flour to add after the frist minute of combining wet and dry is also a good way to ensure you get the right consistency. The other thing about flour is that during the humid days of summer your flour absorbs some of that humidity and you may not require as much wet ingredient. Flour acutally evaropates some of the humidty during the dryer winter days. 

The Challah Recipe Makes 3 boules or 3 braided bread.

Bread flour      1000gms         7 ¼ cups

Instant yeast   8 grams           1 tbsp

Warm milk      480 mls           2 cups

Salt                  15 grams         2 tsp

Sugar               100 grams       ½ cup

Large Eggs      3                      3

Egg yolks         3                      3

olive oil           120 ml             ½ cup

 

(Rum Raisins are optional. Put 1 ½ cup of raisins in a tight container with ¼ cup of rum to soak overnight to be drained and added to the dough after 7 minutes of kneading, ensure all are well distributed). You can add dried fruit soaked in orange juice if you like.

1.      Put warm milk, half of the flour, yeast, sugar, eggs, yolks in the mixer and stir. Let it sit for a minute then add the salt olive oil and all remaining flour but 1/3 cup.

2.      Mix in stand mixer with a dough hook for 1 minute then adjust for proper consistency with the last third of flour.

3.      Continue mixing for another 7-8 minutes. If you use the raisins drain and add at this time incorporating well.

4.      Allow to rise for approximately 1 hour or until double in size.

5.      Punch down and divide for desired braided shapes making 3 loaves approximately 575 grams each.

6.      After shaping cover, allow to rise until double in size, about 40-60 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350F and apply an egg wash gently with a pastry brush. You can use some of the left over egg white with a little water added as your egg wash.

7.      Add toppings such as poppy seeds or sesame seeds or pearl sugar if desired.

8.      Place braided bread on a parchment lined baking sheet.

9.      Bake 15 minutes then rotate and bake about 15 more minutes. You can place a peice of parchment paper on top of your bread while in the oven if you find the crust is getting too dark before it reaches proper internal temperature.

10.   Internal temperature should reach 190- 195F. Cool before slicing and enjoy!

Rum and Raisin Challah Bread

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