Challah anyone?

[Eat Dahlink Eat]

Hi,
I'm looking for a great challah recipe. Does anyone have one they love? I did a search and came up with nuthin'.
Thanks,
Lisa

[dorothyntototoo]

This was in my "yet to try" folder. If you try it, please report back so I'll know whether to try it or dump it. ;)

Sweet Challah – Cooking Light

1 package dry yeast (about 2 1/4 teaspoons)
1 cup warm water (100° to 110°)
3 tablespoons honey
Dash of saffron threads, crushed
3 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 teaspoon salt
1 large egg
3 cups bread flour (about 14 1/4 ounces), divided
Cooking spray
1 teaspoon cornmeal
1 teaspoon water
1 large egg yolk, lightly beaten
1/4 teaspoon poppy seeds

Dissolve yeast in 1 cup warm water in a large bowl; stir in honey and saffron threads. Let stand for 5 minutes. Add melted butter, 1 teaspoon salt, and egg; stir well with a whisk.
Lightly spoon flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Add 2 3/4 cups flour to yeast mixture, and stir until a soft dough forms. Cover and let stand for 15 minutes.

Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead until smooth and elastic (about 8 minutes); add enough of remaining flour, 1 tablespoon at a time, to prevent dough from sticking to hands (dough will be very soft).
Place dough in a large bowl coated with cooking spray, turning to coat top. Cover and let rise in a warm place (85°), free from drafts, 40 minutes or until doubled in size. (Gently press two fingers into dough. If indentation remains, the dough has risen enough.)

Punch dough down. Shape dough into a ball; return to bowl. Cover and let rise an additional 40 minutes or until doubled in size. Punch dough down; cover and let rest 15 minutes.

Divide dough into 3 equal portions. Working with 1 portion at a time (cover remaining dough to prevent drying), on a lightly floured surface, roll each portion into a 25-inch rope with slightly tapered ends. Place ropes lengthwise on a large baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal; pinch ends together at untapered ends to seal. Braid ropes; pinch loose ends to seal. Cover and let rise 20 minutes or until almost doubled in size.
Preheat oven to 375°.

Combine 1 teaspoon water and large egg yolk, stirring with a fork until blended. Uncover loaf, and gently brush with egg yolk mixture. Sprinkle evenly with 1/4 teaspoon poppy seeds. Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until loaf sounds hollow when tapped. Cool on a wire rack.

Yield: 1 loaf, 12 servings (serving size: 1 slice)

Allowing the dough to rise three times gives the yeast more time to develop, resulting in a rich, complex flavor. Although this bread is best eaten the day it's made, you can also bake it one day in advance. Cool the bread completely, wrap in plastic wrap, and then wrap in foil; store at room temperature. Leftovers make excellent bread pudding.

[Gilgamesh37]

here's my fave, I always do the dough in my bread machine, but you could certainly do it by hand.

CHALLAH

¾ cup milk
2 Tbs butter
2 eggs
¼ cup sugar
1 tsp salt
3 cups flour
1 ¾ tsp yeast
Egg Wash: 1 egg mixed with 2 Tbl milk or cream

Chuck all the ingredients (except egg wash) in your bread machine and run it through the dough cycle. Remove dough and divide into three equal pieces. On a lightly floured work surface, roll each piece into a long, slender rope. Braid the ropes together, place on a lightly greased baking sheet, cover and let rise in a warm, draft-free place for 1 to 1 ½ hours. Brush with egg wash (sprinkle with poppy seed if you wish) and bake in a preheated 350° oven until golden, about 25-30 minutes.

[lorilei]

My favorite comes out of BAKING WITH JULIA... I don't have the book by my side now, but I'd be happy to post it if you're interested and don't have the book.

I made this last year for Christmas and it was fabulous -- deeply browned crust, but very tender.

[Eat Dahlink Eat]

Lorilei, I would definitely love that recipe too. Thanks, everyone!
Lisa

[Lrimerman]

My favorite is from Fine Cooking, everyone raves and it is a beautiful loaf as there were diagrams on how to do the six-strand braids. I don't have the recipe handy right now, but can find it (or try to find it online with the braiding tutorial, they used to have it on their website) tomorrow evening.

Lisa

As an aside: In the near future I plan on trying a lot of the Challah recipes in my new cookbook "A Blessing of Bread". There are many variations, I want to work my way through them.

[NewMrsG]

I have tried many, many challah recipes, and the one below is outstanding. Although there are lots more to try, I think I'd be hard-pressed to try another recipe. It's melt-in-your-mouth good. It is a bit on the sweeter side.

ALMOST GRANDMOTHER'S CHALLAH
To make this bread easier to prepare, shape the dough into two loaves after the second rising instead of forming braided loaves, as is traditional. Place each loaf in a buttered 9x5x3-inch loaf pan and continue as per recipe.

1/2 cup plus 2/3 cup warm water (105°F. to 115°F.)
2 tablespoons dry yeast
1 tablespoons plus 3/4 cup sugar
5 large eggs
3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 teaspoon salt
7 1/2 cups (about) all-purpose flour
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon water

Combine 1/2 cup warm water, yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in large glass measuring cup and stir until yeast dissolves. Let yeast mixture stand at room temperature until foamy, about 10 minutes.
In large bowl of heavy-duty mixer fitted with whisk attachment, beat 5 eggs until blended. Add oil, salt and 3/4 cup sugar and beat until pale yellow and slightly thickened, about 4 minutes. Beat in 2/3 cup warm water. Add yeast mixture and beat until blended. Remove whisk and fit mixer with dough hook. Add enough flour 1 cup at a time to form smooth dough, beating well after each addition. Beat on medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 5 minutes, adding flour by tablespoonfuls if sticky. Turn out onto floured surface and knead 2 minutes.

Lightly oil large bowl. Add dough, turning to coat with oil. Cover with plastic wrap, then with clean kitchen towel. Let dough rise in warm draft-free area until doubled in volume, about 1 hour.

Punch down dough. Cover with plastic and clean kitchen towel and let rise 30 minutes.

Grease 2 large baking sheets. Turn out dough onto lightly floured surface. Divide dough into 2 equal portions. Divide each portion into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into 9-inch-long rope. Braid 3 ropes together; pinch ends together to seal. Repeat with remaining dough pieces, forming 2 braids. Place each braid on baking sheet. Cover with towel . Let rise in warm area until almost doubled, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 400°F. Whisk yolk with 1 tablespoon water to blend. Brush dough with egg mixture. Bake 10 minutes. Reduce oven temperature to 350°F. Bake until bread is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped on bottom, about 35 minutes. Transfer loaves to rack and cool completely. (Can be prepared 1 day ahead. Wrap tightly in plastic and store at room temperature.)

Makes 2 loaves.
Bon Appétit
The Cook's Exchange
March 1995

[lorilei]

I'll be away from my copy of the book this weekend -- but I PROMISE I'll post as soon as I can!! :o

[momqat]

This one uses a bread machine to mix the dough, but after that you're on your own. I've been making this for Shabbat dinner for quite a while now -- it works up wonderfully; is sweet and tasty and melts in your mouth. I highly recommend it!

Originally posted at Allrecipes (http://bread.allrecipes.com/az/BrdMchinChllhII.asp)

Challah
1 cup warm water
1/2 cup white sugar
1 tablespoon honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
2 eggs, room temperature
4 cups bread flour
2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1 egg, beaten
1 tablespoon water

Place warm water, sugar, honey, vegetable oil, salt, 2 eggs, flour and yeast in the pan of the bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough cycle; press Start.

After the machine is done, take the dough out, and place it on a very lightly floured board, punch the dough down, and let rest for 5 minutes.

Divide the dough in half. Then divide into 3 equal pieces, roll into ropes about 12 to 14 inches, and braid into a loaf. Do the same with the remaining other half. Gently put the loaves on a greased cookie sheet*, mist with water, cover loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours in a warm, draft free place, until double in size.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water.

Brush risen loaves with egg mixture. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. If it begins to brown too soon, cover with foil.
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED © 2005 Allrecipes.com

NOTES: This is a sticky dough, but try not to add any more flour when you knead it out, other than a little on the board and a little on your hands. The less you have to add, the lighter the finished product.
Also, I use egg sub for the eggs and egg wash, and it works fine.
*I don't grease the pan but use parchment paper instead.

[Eat Dahlink Eat]

I see that most recipes call for a second rising. That makes sense to me. But a few don't.
My good friend makes it every week and only lets it rise once and it's always like a brick. I, of course, would never tell her that. I don't understand how the recipes with only one rising would get fluffy the way I like?
Anyone have any input on that?
Lisa

[Sami]

This is the recipe i have used for years. It came from the DAK biik and I used to make it in the bread machine. Now I make in the KA. I make it the night before, put in the refrigerator, take it out in the morning, punch it down. Then I roll out the dough and braid it into 6 strands. The pictures were in the Washington Post years ago and I have followed those directions since. Without those, I would braid with 3 braids.

Challah

1 package yeast
3 cups bread flour
4 T sugar
2 eggs
6 T vegetable oil
1 1/2 tsp salt
3/4 cup warm water.


I now proof the yeast, and put it in the KA until everything is mixed.
I then let it do it's first rising before I put it into the refrigerator.


Sami

[lorilei]

*whew*
Here you go -- this is the best. And no worries about it being a "brick" :o

CHALLAH
"Baking With Julia"

2 tablespoons unsalted butter -- melted
1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
1/2 cup tepid water -- 80-90¡
1/3 cup sugar
1 stick unsalted butter -- at room temperature
1 cup whole milk
1 tablespoon honey
2 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 large eggs
6 1/2 cups bread flour -- or unbleached all pu

GLAZE
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 tablespoon cold water or heavy cream
sesame, poppy and/or caraway seeds
coarse salt

Brush a large mixing bowl with some of the melted butter; set aside. Reserve the remaining melted butter for coating the top of the dough.

Whisk the yeast into the water. Add a pinch of the sugar and let rest until the yeast has dissolved and is creamy, about 5 minutes.

Cut the butter into small pieces and toss into a small saucepan with the milk; heat until the milk is very warm to the touch and the butter has melted. Pour the mixture into a large mixing bowl and add the remaining sugar, the honey and salt, stirring with a wooden spoon to dissolve the sugar and salt. If necessary, let the mixture cool so that it is no warmer than 110¡.

Add the creamy yeast to the milk mixture, along with the eggs, and stir to mix. Add about 5 cups of flour, beat on low speed for 3 minutes or until the dough starts to come together. Beating on medium-low, add as much additional flour as needed to make a soft dough that will clean the sides of the bowl. Knead on medium-low for 8 to 10 minutes, until smooth, soft and elastic.

Form the dough into a ball and transfer it to the buttered mixing bowl. Brush the top with a little melted butter, cover the bowl with buttered plastic wrap and top with a kitchen towel. Let the dough rise at room temperature for 1 to 1-1/2 hours or until doubled in volume. When the dough is fully risen, deflate it, cover it as before and let rise until it doubles in bulk again, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Line two baking sheets with parchment paper. Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured work surface. Cut the dough in half and keep one piece of dough covered while you work with the other.

Divide the dough into three equal pieces. Roll each piece into a rope about 16" long; it should be thick in the center and tapered at the ends. Align the ropes vertically, side by side and start braiding from the center down. When you've reached the end, turn the loaf around so that the braided half is on top; braid the lower half. Pinch the ends to seal and tuck the ends under the loaf. Transfer the loaf to a prepared baking sheet and gently plump it to get it back into shape; cover with a towel. Braid the second loaf, put it on a baking sheet and cover. Let the loaves rise at room temperature for 40 minutes or until soft, puffy and almost doubled.

Glaze and topping:
Position the racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat to 375¡. Whisk the egg, yolk and water together in a small bowl until broken up, then push the glaze through a sieve. Brush the tops an sides of the challahs with glaze; let the glaze set for 5 minutes and brush again. Reserve the leftover glaze for brushing the loaves during baking. if you're topping the loaves, dust them with the seeds; sprinkle coarse salt over the loaves, topped or not.

Bake for 20 minutes. The loaves will expand and expose some of the inner dough. Brush the newly exposed dough with the reserved glaze and bake 15 to 20 minutes longer, or until the loaves are golden and sound hollow when thumped on the bottom. If they start to brown too quickly, cover them with a piece of foil. Let cool before slicing.