As I work on baking - specifically breads - I thought it would be worth a try. There are TONS of recipes online, but Tori Avey's version really spoke to my soul. I can hear her speaking through her writing (which I love) and she gave great background and information through the whole process - including a page all about different braiding techniques.
Challah Recipe from Tori Avey
Dough Ingredients
1 1/2 cups lukewarm water, divided (~110°)
1 packet active dry yeast
1 tsp sugar
1 egg
3 egg yolks
1/3 cup honey
2 tbsp canola oil
2 tsp salt
4 1/2 to 6 cups flour
Egg Wash Ingredients
1 egg
1 tbsp cold water
1/2 tsp salt
- Mise en Place. (Get your stuff together!)
- Wake up the yeast.
- Put 1/4 cup of the water in mixer bowl with yeast and sugar. Let it sit for 10 minutes.
- The mixture should be all foamy and bubbly. If it ISN'T, your yeast didn't wake up; dump it and try again.
- Make the dough.
- Add the rest of the water, all the eggs, honey, oil, and salt.
- Mix until thoroughly blended. At this point, I'm using the whisk attachment on my stand mixer.
- Add flour. I added 1 cup at a time and whisked for a minute or so until combined. Once I got to the 4th cup, I started adding just 1/2 a cup at a time until the dough was ... well... doughy. Not batter-y or sticky.
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| 1 Cup |
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| 2 Cups |
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| 3 Cups |
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| 4 Cups |
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| 5 Cups |
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| 6-ish Cups |
- Switch out to the kneading hook and knead for a few minutes until it comes together and is smooth and elastic-y. You can also do this by hand, which some bakers prefer. I know myself, if I did this by hand I would give up. So, I do a mixture of both: I let my machine bring it all together, and then I knead it a few times by hand, too.
- Rise #1
- Put a saucepan full of water on and bring to a boil.
- Meanwhile, put the dough into a greased bowl and flip once to make sure the whole dough is covered with oil. Cover with a towel and place in the oven. The oven is OFF! We are NOT COOKING yet!!
- Once the water in the saucepan is boiling, place it on a shelf lower than the bowl of dough and close the oven door. LEAVE THE OVEN OFF! The heat and steam from the boiling water will aid in the rise.
- Let rise for 1 hour.
- Rise #2
- Punch down the dough while in the bowl and put the covered bowl back in the oven which is OFF.
- I reboiled the water to encourage this second rise, too. Put it back below the covered bowl of dough.
- Let rise for 1 more hour.
- Make the braids
- Split the dough. If you're making 2 medium loaves (like I did), split it in half and then each half into as many pieces as you are going to braid (3, 4, 6, etc). I did 3-strand braids this time.
- Roll them into equal lengths and braid. If you don't know how, check out Tori Avey's post about braiding Challah.
- Put the braids on baking sheets with parchment paper or silpats. Make sure they have room to spread and grow.
- Egg wash
- Mix the egg wash together and brush each loaf with it.
- Keep the extra egg wash - there are 2 more times you'll use it.
- Rise #3
- Let rise another 30-45 minutes.
- Brush with another coat of egg wash.
- Bake
- Bake at 350° for a total of 40 minutes.
- After the first 15-20 minutes, bring them out and brush the centers with egg wash again. This is where the bread has risen and is very light.
- Put them back in for another 20 minutes. Keep an eye on your bread. If it starts getting too dark, tent them lightly with foil.
- Cool
- Let the Challah cool for a minute or 2 on the baking sheet.
- Transfer to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Clearly, my oven is running a bit hot right now. These turned out really dark.
Oh! Make French Toast with the leftovers - you can thank me later.
Look for a bonus post later tonight or tomorrow with a quick recipe that is decidedly not Kosher! I hope you're having fun practicing with me in my kitchen! Tell me what you'd like to see me try!
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