Homemade Challah

My first few attempts at baking bread were based on simple recipes that didn’t require a starter or sponge. I started with bread that has a tight and fluffy crumb, a thin and soft crust and can be made in about three hours. These early experiments gave me a feel for the science and rhythm of bread-making. In time I took on more advanced recipes and baked my own baguettes, bagels and sourdough breads. But my favorite soft bread recipe is the one I turn to first when I want fresh bread. It’s eggy, buttery and light and as my father-in-law likes to say “it looks like bread but eats like cake”. It’s challah and this recipe actually comes from "Baking With Julia", the companion book to the PBS series written by Dorie Greenspan. 

I also consider this braided beauty a touch point to my heritage as a third generation American Jew; it is closely associated with Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah. The Sabbath and other holiday meals start with two loaves of bread, a gesture that commemorates the manna from heaven sent by God to sustain the Jewish people in the dessert after their exodus from Egypt.  According to scripture, manna didn't fall on holy days.  But the day before Sabbath or a holiday, a double ration would fall, thus the tradition of the "double loaf" at the holiday table. After my father retired, he took up bread baking as a hobby and became expert at challah. His perfect braided loaves were always the star at the Thanksgiving table and I feel honored to be carrying on that tradition.   

CHALLAH:

1 ½ tbsp. active dry yeast

½ cup warm water (90-110 degrees)

1 cup whole milk

1 stick unsalted butter

1/3 cup sugar

1 tbsp. honey

2 ½ tsp salt

4 large eggs

6 cups bread flour

Before you begin, take the eggs out of the fridge so they come up to room temperature. This bread starts like any other bread recipe by proofing the yeast in the warm water with a pinch of sugar or dollop of honey. I do this directly in the bowl of my stand mixer. Yeast is a live culture, a living organism that needs to be treated with a little care.  You don’t want to get it too hot or too cool and it needs a little sugar to eat as it comes to life. I use my meat thermometer to make sure the water is just the right temperature, between 90 and 110 degrees. It won’t take more than about five minutes for the yeast to bloom. You’ll see it get foamy and rise to the surface of the water. While the yeast is proofing, get your wet ingredients ready. Put the milk and butter into a small saucepan over low heat until the butter melts. Then stir in the sugar, honey and salt and mix until they dissolve. Let the milk mixture cool to about 90 degrees so you don’t kill the yeast, then add it to the yeast along with four large eggs and start mixing. Once the milk and eggs have come together, you can start adding the flour a cup at a time until it is all incorporated.  Usually I will stop the mixer and get my hands in there to make sure all the flour is getting absorbed properly.  When the dough comes together, it’s ready for some vigorous kneading.

Sure, you can knead the dough in your stand mixer.  However, if your mixer doesn’t have enough power, it can overheat if your dough is too stiff.  This dough is relatively soft, but I still enjoy kneading by hand and it’s a great workout! This dough needs about 15 minutes of kneading.  A good kneading technique is to fold the dough onto itself, turn it slightly and using the heel of your hand press down and stretch the dough out in front of you.  If it starts to stick to your work surface, sprinkle a little flour on it and keep going. As you knead the dough, you’ll feel the texture change from somewhat stiff and lumpy to soft and smooth. It will be done when it has a perfectly smooth and light texture and when you stick your finger into the dough and the hole doesn’t close up right away.

This recipe makes enough dough for two large loaves and will need a large container for the nest step – the rise. I suggest a kitchen tub or a huge glass bowl.  Oil the inside of your container lightly, just to make sure your dough doesn’t stick, drop the dough in and roll it around a little to get it covered with a thin sheen of oil. You may want to put a little extra oil over the surface of the dough. Now cover the container with plastic wrap, drape a towel over the top and find a warm spot for your dough to rise.  Give it about ninety minutes to rise, allowing it to double in volume, then reach into the container and just move the dough around a bit to deflate it. Cover it again and let is rise for another 45 minutes and it will double in size again. The multiple rise technique allows the yeast to create lots of air bubbles in the dough, resulting in the classic fluffy, airy texture that is the hallmark of great challah. After the second rise, turn the dough out onto your floured work surface and shape the dough.  

Cut the dough in half with a bench scraper.  Each piece will be divided into thirds and each of those thirds will be stretched into long strands and braided together. Braiding dough is a lot of fun, but is a little challenging to master.  Each piece of dough needs to be as close to the same size as possible so you get an even braid. You can to use a ruler to measure the dough and cut equal pieces. You can use a scale to get each piece the same. I just eyeball it and it do my best. Pat the dough out into an even rectangle and cut each rectangle into thirds. Using your hands, roll each piece of dough against the work surface, stretching from the middle outward toward the ends as you roll. Each strand should be about 16 inches long. Line the three strands on the board in a W shaped pattern and press them all together at one end.  A braid is made by laying each side of the W over the middle. Take the right strand of dough and lay it over the middle strand. Now take the strand on the left and lay it over the middle.  Keep moving in this fashion until you get to the end. Press the ends together and tuck them under.  Move your braided loaves to a baking sheet and set them fairly far apart so they won’t touch while baking. Cover them with a towel and give them their final rise of about 30 minutes and set your oven to 375.

After the final rise, the loaves are puffy and full and ready to be baked. Make an egg wash with one beaten egg and a little bit of water and generously paint the surface of the loaves with the egg wash. This will give the challah its characteristic golden, shiny exterior. At this point, I like to sprinkle the loaves with seeds or coarse salt. Sesame seeds, poppy seeds, even fennel or caraway seeds are lovely or you can just sprinkle some plain kosher salt on there and it’ll be delicious.  After 20 minutes in the oven you’ll see that exposed surfaces of the dough that don’t have egg wash on them.  Give the challah another coat of egg wash and let them bake for another 15 minutes.  To check for doneness, tap the loaf on the bottom with the back of a spoon. If the bread is done, you’ll hear a hollow thump. The crust should be dark brown and shiny. I dare you to let it cool completely before you cut into it, I guarantee you won’t be able to wait that long. I usually let it cool for about 20 minutes and slice a couple pieces off while it’s still warm.  I’ll tell you, a slice of warm challah with a smear of butter is like heaven on earth.  This bread disappears quickly. It’s very difficult to keep it around more than a couple days, so you have to make French toast out of it the following morning before it gets devoured.  Not a fan of French toast? I strongly suggest you change your mind because French toast is one of the best things you can do with challah…..but that’s a recipe for another post.