schwartz@uw-wally (Michael F. Schwartz) (03/06/87)
CHALLAH-2(B) USENET Cookbook CHALLAH-2(B)
CHALLAH II
CHALLAH-2 - Braided egg bread
Challah (pronounced "hallah") is a type of braided egg bread
traditionally eaten on the Jewish Sabbath. It is eaten by
tearing off hunks rather than by cutting with a knife.
I got this recipe from a housemate a couple of years ago; I
don't know its origins before that, but it has become one of
my favorite recipes, and one with which I have experimented
a good deal. I've tried several other challah recipes, but
find I like this one the best.
INGREDIENTS (2 Large Loaves)
DOUGH
1/2 oz active dry yeast (2 packages)
2 cups warm water
4 tsp salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3/4 cup vegetable oil (or up to 1/4 cup more, to taste)
3 large eggs
9-10 cups all-purpose flour
GLAZE
1 large egg
sesame or poppy seeds
PROCEDURE
(1) Mix yeast in warm water. Let sit 5 minutes.
(2) In a large bowl combine salt, sugar, eggs, and
oil.
(3) Add yeast mixture.
(4) Slowly add flour, stirring until not too sticky.
When the dough becomes too thick to stir, turn it
out onto a floured board and knead, adding flour
as necessary. Scrape the working surface with a
plastic dough spatula from time to time, to keep a
dry skin from forming on it. You may find that
you need more flour, but don't add too much more,
or the dough will become heavy. Knead until the
dough is smooth and elastic (about 10 minutes).
(5) Form dough into a ball and place in a lightly
oiled large bowl, turning to coat the dough with
oil. A ceramic bowl is best. Cover the bowl with a
clean cloth and leave in a warm, draft-free place
to rise for 1 1/2 hours, or until doubled in bulk.
(6) After the dough has risen, punch it down and
divide it into 6 balls. Let the dough balls sit
for 5 minutes, covered.
(7) Keeping dough balls covered while working, remove
a ball and roll it between your hands (or on work-
ing surface) into a cord about 1 inch wide by 20
inches long. The dough is quite elastic, making
it nicely workable, yet also tending to make it
shrink back slightly after being lengthened. I
find it best to lengthen it in a series of passes.
Form 3 cords this way, and then start from the
middle and braid them into a single loaf. Tuck the
ends under. It's a little harder to figure out
how to start braiding from the middle, but the
loaves come out more even and attractive that way.
Don't pull the cords while braiding. Place the
loaf on a lightly oiled baking sheet, and cover it
with a cloth while you form the other loaf. Keep
the loaves well apart on the baking sheet, since
they will expand a lot.
(8) Cover the loaves and place again into a warm,
draft-free place to rise for 45-60 minutes.
(9) After the loaves have risen, gently brush the tops
with beaten egg using a soft brush, and then
sprinkle with the seeds.
(10) Bake at 350 deg. F for 30 minutes, or until golden
brown.
NOTES
The variation in oil makes quite a difference in the mois-
ture of the bread: If you use the larger quantity, the bread
comes out very nice and moist, but when it cools it becomes
somewhat oily.
The amounts of sugar and oil may sound high, but try it this
way once before cutting back. I have tried other recipes
that use less, and they don't taste nearly as good.
Here's the fun part: variations. Because this dough is so
workable, you can form it many different ways, limited only
by your imagination; I once made a whole collection of dif-
ferent shapes and sizes, for a festive dinner party. Some
of the variations I have tried include:
- Forming the braided loaf into a wreath-like loop (and
joining the individual ends)
- Braiding 5 ways instead of 3
- Braiding 3 braided loaves into a recursive loaf (this
actually didn't turn out very well: it ended up looking
knotty, rather than intricate, and being somewhat
tough)
- Baking a small loaf on top of a larger loaf (tradi-
tional)
- Varying the loaf sizes. One time I made individual-
sized loaves, so that everyone could have their own
loaf at dinner. Another time, I divided the dough into
2 halves, set one aside, and made a loaf out of the
other half. Then, I divided the remaining piece into 2
halves, and continued the process until I had an array
of loaves, each half the size of the previous. I
managed to get 9 loaves by doing this, the smallest of
which was about 1/4 inch by 2 inches
- Varying the length-to-width proportions; traditionally,
challah loaves are quite wide relative to their length.
I find that shorter, wider loaves are doughier (and
thus tastier), but longer loaves look more elegant.
- Adding extra ingredients, such as raisins and/or nuts.
RATING
Difficulty: moderate. Time: 30 minutes dough preparation, 1
1/2 hours first rising, 1 hour loaf forming, 1 hour second
rising, 30 minutes baking. Total: 4 1/2 hours. Precision:
Approximate measurement OK.
CONTRIBUTOR
Mike Schwartz
University of Washington, Computer Science, Seattle, Washington, USA
ihnp4!uw-beaver!schwartz schwartz@cs.washington.edu