Post Pesach/Passover Back to Making Challah Rolls

I must admit that I don't bake challah every week, though we do eat my challah rolls pretty much every week. That's because I bake batches that last sometimes even two months, depending on how many invitations we get and how many rolls in the most recent batch.

This year Passover ended rather late in the week, so with all the post Pesach chores, there was no way I could manage a batch of challah rolls. And for whatever reasons I couldn't find the time and energy the following week. Also my husband had bought enough rolls to suffice a second week. So this week I knew that I had to bake some.

I took down my simple recipe from the fridge and made sure I had enough flour. I prefer a very fine 70% whole wheat. It's "almost white" but much healthier. 

Ingredients

2 heaping tablespoons of dehydrated yeast
4 cups of warm water
1 cup vegetable oil of your choice
1 cup of sugar
pinch of salt
2 kilo (4.4 lbs) flour

Instructions

1. in a large bowl add almost all of the dry ingredients; just leave out some of the flour
2. add the water and oil
3. mix well, and then cover and leave until it rises (doubles in size)
4. then add more flour until the dough is "dry" enough to handle without it sticking to your hands
5. then knead, pound, keep turning over for over five minutes-- Yes, I do it by hand and don't have a mixer. If you have a mixer, make sure it can handle yeast dough and the quantity you're making. You may have to half or quarter the recipe.
6. Once you've kneaded it, coat it top and bottom with some oil, then cover again until it rises again.
7. Once it rises, pound it down, cover and let it rise again.
8. When it doubles, "take challah" according to these instructions or from another site, family or friend. 
9. Finally cover your baking pan with special baking paper, prepare a raw egg for "painting the challah."
   
10. Shape your challah or rolls, and place on the paper far enough apart so they won't get attached when baking.
11. "Paint" with the raw egg, and then let rise until close to double.
12. Bake in hot oven. Start at 180 C until brownish, and then lower to 160C until they look ready and there's a "hollow" sound if you tap.
13. Turn off the heat and then cool.

Yes, there are lots of different recipes. I used to bake with eggs and less water, but I changed it to what I wrote here. Enjoy, and tell me how they come out.

Honeyed Challah Rolls! Great Results

 

my latest batch of challah rolls
baked with the cheapest honey
rather than sugar

For decades I've been making challah rolls with whole wheat (now 70%) flour, never white. In addition I use brown sugar, which has a stronger flavor, much more suited to whole wheat flour than white sugar. Click here for the standard recipe. Since we're not big bread eaters, I bake challah rolls and freeze them. This way each batch will last for over a month. Last week my local store still hadn't gotten its new supply of brown sugar, and I really wanted to bake a Post-Passover supply of challah rolls. 

step 1

Since the honey I had bought before Passover was relatively cheap, probably not the greatest quality, I decided to do an experiment and use honey instead of sugar.

Now the dilemma was how to measure honey without wasting a lot or eating/licking what stayed on the measuring cup.

Luckily I remembered a trick/technique I had once read about. As you can see in the photos, it's really pretty easy.

First I put flour in the mixing bowl. Of course I had to calculate how much honey to use instead of sugar. I checked with Pâtissie (Pastry Chef) Google. Some experts said use half the quantity you'd use for sugar and others said three-quarters. 

step 2

My standard recipe calls for a cup of sugar for approximately two kilos of flour. So I placed a half-cup measuring cup in the flour and made sure that the flour indentation matched the measuring cup. I had a plan....

Finally I had a plan. I poured the honey into the indentation and let it overflow a bit, as you can see in the photo. Since there's disagreement among the expert Pâtissies, I figured it would be wise to be "generous."

My research also said to decrease some of the water, since the dry ingredients were less than usual, and honey is moist, but the truth is that I used almost the same amount of water and oil. And for some strange reason, I didn't need more flour. Just so you know, I knead by hand, since I don't have a mixer.

step 3

No doubt you are curious as to the success of my experiment. The challah was much lighter and rose a lot more than usual. Granted that I had a fresh package of dehydrated yeast, but over the decades a new package hasn't made any real difference in the density of the baked challah. 

In another couple of months, when it's time for a new batch, I'll try baking with honey again. Let's see if I get the same results...

Challah Baking Tips, New Yeast and Distract Yourself

At least from the looks of it, yesterday's challah batch was stupendous. There was no real difference in the recipe I used. Actually, I was more than relieved that they rose so stupendously.

My previous couple of batches could be described as "flat as pittot." I used the same basic ingredients. There was one big change. I threw out the old yeast and bought a smaller package. I bake challah with dehydrated yeast. In the past, it had stayed "active" for months, even over a year. I'd buy the 500 gram package, store in a glass jar in the pantry, and I'd always have good yeast. That's true until it isn't. So, I dumped what remained and this time bought a smaller package.

In addition, I made sure that I had time to spare when preparing the dough. I let myself get distracted in the den on the computer during the various rising times. I let the dough almost  spill out of the gigantic bowl. Patience and keeping busy with other chores certainly helped.


By the time these challot/rolls had finished baking, they had risen so much you had to tear them apart. Honestly, I was extremely relieved to see the finished product.  I had begun to fear that I had lost my touch.

Timing is so important when baking with yeast dough. If you leave it too long to rise, it can fall, too. No doubt that baking with yeast dough is a lot like life. We need both patience and common sense. It's all in the ingredients and the timing.

Enjoy in Good Health

Chag Sameach v'Shabbat Shalom

Have a Joyful Holiday & Sabbath

Double-Tweaked My Challah Recipe, Better Results

I made two changes to my usual challah recipe. One change I made in my challah recipe was intentional, and the other was accidental, but the results were phenomenal. For the longest time, even though my challot tasted great, the texture was problematic. My husband complained that the sandwiches I made him with the leftover challah crumbled terribly.  I tried leaving out the eggs, but there wasn't any real improvement.

On Friday, when I made my latest batch of challah (usually enough to last a month or more, since we don't eat much bread) I increased the water to four 4 cups. And for whatever reason, I forgot to add the pinch of salt*.   (*Due to various comments, I do add some coarse salt now.)

I used the same whole wheat flour as usual, but the challot ended up almost double the size, much softer and better texture.

This is the newly tweaked recipe:

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar (I use dark brown)
2 Tablespoons or a bit more of dehydrated yeast
approximately 2 kilo flour (I used 70% or 100% whole wheat extra fine)

*some people may still prefer a pinch plus of coarse salt for a bit more flavor
4 cups of warm water
1 cup of any vegetable oil
1 egg for painting to make a shiny challah

Instructions:
Mix sugar and yeast in large bowl.
Add the warm water.
mix
Cover with plastic.
When it looks all bubbly and has risen add the oil.
Mix
Gradually add flour, mixing all the time, until you can knead it.
Knead for about 8 minutes.
Coat completely in a bit more oil.
Cover and wait until doubled in size, anything from 20 to 40 minutes depending on the weather and quality of yeast.
Punch down, then cover and wait again.
"Take a piece of challah" for the blessing.
Punch down and then shape on baking pan, covered with baking paper. The shaping as you can see in my photos can be very simple.
Paint with raw egg and let the challot rise a bit.
Bake. *Start in a hot fan/turbo oven 180c (360f), and then lower temperature when you can see the challah begin to brown a bit 150c (300f).
It's ready when hard on the bottom and has a hollow sound when tapping the bottom.
Let cool out of the oven.

Enjoy for Shabbat, Jewish Holidays or whenever you want a special bread. PS They freeze well.

*There are too many factors to predict exact baking time.

Homemade Challah, Yes, Passover's Over

Yesterday I made a nice batch of challah, which should be enough for more than a month. I used a very simple challah recipe and no electric mixer. I knead by hand.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar (I use dark brown)
2 Tablespoons or a bit more of dehydrated yeast
approximately 2 kilo flour (I use whole wheat extra fine)
pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2 cups of warm water
1 cup of any vegetable oil
2 eggs (optional)
1 egg for painting to make a shiny challah

Instructions:

1. Put almost all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl; just use a cup of flour.
2. Mix
3. Add the warm water.
4. Cover with plastic.
5. When it looks all bubbly and has risen add the oil (and eggs).
6. Mix
7. Gradually add flour, mixing all the time, until you can knead it.
8. Knead for about 8 minutes.
9. Coat completely in a bit more oil.
10. Cover and wait until doubled in size, anything from 20 to 40 minutes depending on the weather and quality of yeast.
11. Punch down, then cover and wait again. 
12. "Take a piece of challah" for the blessing.
13. Punch down and shape. The shaping as you can see in my photos can be very simple.
14. Paint with raw egg and let the challot rise a bit.
15. Bake. Don't preheat oven. First I let the shaped challot, more like rolls, rise in 100c, 212f oven until doubled. Then I baked it at 190c, 374f until starting to brown. Finally lower heat to 160c, 320 until a sort of hollow sound when tapped on bottom. Times depend on size of challah and your oven. Mine is turbo/fan and I have heat from bottom. Usually I bake on two racks, also.
16. It's ready when hard on the bottom and has a hollow sound when tapping the bottom.
17. Let cool out of the oven.
18. Enjoy for Shabbat, Jewish Holidays or whenever you want a special bread.

Afterwards I bagged and froze the challah, since it was only Monday, but the house had that wonderful smell of home-baked challah for the rest of the day.

"How to Make Challot" in Pictures

You can get a more detailed challah recipe here/click.

Challah Baking Tip:

And a new "kneading technique" for those who knead by hand. Call a friend, talk via "speaker" while kneading and you'll find you can knead forever.

homemade challah

homemade challah

homemade challah

homemade challah

homemade challah
hafrashat challah, mitzvah

homemade challah
hafrashat challah, mitzvah

homemade challah

homemade challah

Another Batch of Challah in New Kitchen

My first batch of challah and rolls pretty much lasted until the end of the Jewish Holiday Season. Between being invited out for meals and buying just a few rolls to supplement, I only restocked/baked more challah yesterday.

My new Electrolux oven is large enough for me to get all the challot in at once, spread over two trays. I used the lower heat plus fan and just kept the upper tray in a bit longer. I experimented a bit with the recipe. This time I didn't add eggs to the batter. We'll see if the challah is less crumbly.

You must understand that my husband and I don't eat a lot of challah or bread. One smallish roll suffices unless we have guests. So, most of what I bake as challot are round rolls. Yesterday between the challot and rolls, there were about sixteen 16 pieces. That should hold us for awhile. I would have baked a bigger batch, but I don't have freezer space. We only have the refrigerator freezer. That's also why I didn't make cakes, too, when I was baking. Since I have plenty of the two types of 1, 2, 3 cookies I had made when the family came, I don't need cake to serve on Shabbat.

All we need now are guests.

Homemade, Handmade Challah So Simple

Above are the challah ingredients, written rather simply. I keep this note on the fridge. I used to have an index card box with recipes, but they got trashed long before the cookbooks. In all honesty, I don't remember where the recipe came from. It sort of evolved, and it's a bit different every time I make it. I don't have a functioning mixer and haven't had one for ages. I bake "by hand." And I don't have the strongest of hands. It's not all that hard, though you can use a mixer dough hook if you want. The kneading will just take less time.

A few years ago, when my friend got her "new kitchen," she did a chanukat hamitbach, kitchen dedicating/opening ceremony by inviting lots of friends to a challah-baking evening. It was led by a neighbor who showed us how challah-baking is a very spiritual time, and as we physically handle the dough we should be praying and blessing our family, our children and grandchildren.

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar (I use dark brown)
2 Tablespoons or a bit more of dehydrated yeast
approximately 2 kilo flour (I used 70% whole wheat extra fine)
pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2 cups of warm water (4 cups if no eggs)
1 cup of any vegetable oil
2 eggs (optional)
1 egg for painting to make a shiny challah

Instructions:

1. Put almost all of the dry ingredients into a large bowl, but just use a cup of flour.
2. Mix
3. Add the warm water.
4. Cover with plastic.
5. When it looks all bubbly and has risen add the oil (and eggs).
6. Mix
7. Gradually add flour, mixing all the time, until you can knead it, without getting your hands all sticky.
8. Knead for about 8 minutes.
9. Coat completely in a bit more oil.
10. Cover and wait until doubled in size, anything from 20 to 40 minutes depending on the weather and quality of yeast.
11. Punch down, then cover and wait again. 
12. "Take a piece of challah" for the blessing.
13. Punch down and shape. The shaping as you can see in my photos can be very simple.
14. Paint with raw egg and let the challot rise a bit.
15. Bake. *Start in a hot oven, and then lower temperature when you can see the challah begin to brown a bit.
16. It's ready when hard on the bottom and has a hollow sound when tapping the bottom.
17. Let cool out of the oven.
18. Enjoy for Shabbat, Jewish Holidays or whenever you want a special bread.

PS They freeze well.

*There are too many factors to predict exact baking time. For temperatures I think that I started baking close to 200c and ended more like 170c. But remember that each oven is different, and it depends on whether you're doing turbo and how many trays etc. Of course Farenheit numbers are different.

Amazing Challot, A Tip and Recipe

I always feel pretty pathetic having to look up my own recipe on this blog before baking challah. Yes, I have to go into the den and turn on the computer and do a search of the blog until I find what I think may be the best version of my challah recipes. It shows not only how infrequently I've been baking them of late, but how quickly even the written copy seems to disappear.

And another problem is that the dehydrated yeast I bake with lasts forever. I can't remember the last time I actually finished one of those 500 gram packages. I've always heard that its potency lasts forever, too, but when my last attempt, before last night that is, turned a hard low-rising dud, I threw what was left out. That meant that I could no longer just spontaneously bake challah, even if I had enough flour in the house.

So yesterday, after spending the afternoon in Ofra with some of the grandkids, I popped into the local grocery store, just for some milk, and low and behold I was seduced by the shiny packages of dehydrated yeast. This time, I got a small package, just 125 grams. And then I bought some whole wheat flour the very fine 70% type from the freezer section, so it doesn't need sifting. And since my dark brown sugar was in the freezer, I bought more of that, too. Yep, I was ready to rock 'n roll! And also all hepped up to knead the dough... I don't have an electric mixer, bread machine or any help...

The new package of yeast did the trick, and while the dough was rising, I even walked around the neighborhood. The new yeast seems to have helped. Look at the photos.

The hardest part was making room in the freezer!

And here's the recipe:

This is an approximation of the challah recipe:
1 c sugar (dark brown)
2 T dehydrated yeast
a pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2c warm water
1 c oil
2 eggs for dough (medium or smallish by American standards),
an additional egg to coat the challot before baking
2 kilo of flour, which could be any combination of white and wholewheat
It's hard to know the exact quantity of flour.

mix sugar, yeast, water, oil a cup of flour
cover with plastic and let sit until bubbly and rising
add the eggs and more flour plus the pinch of coarse salt, mixing as you go, then knead until it doesn't stick to your hands coat with oil, cover with plastic and wait until it's at least doubled
"punch it down"
then "take challah," (click for instructions)
optional let it rise again
shape the challah
brush with raw egg, or spread with your fingers
let it rise
bake, start in an oven hotter than for a cake and then lower the heat until cooler than a cake after the outside begins to get a light brown
It's ready when the bottom is hard and there's a hollow sound when you tap it.

Challah (Yeast Dough) Baking Tips

Since my phone has sent the pictures in the opposite order/sequence from when they were taken, I'll just give my explanations in the order of the pictures.

First of all, I baked more challah than I needed and froze the leftover. My recipe is simple, and I do it all by hand, though you can use a mixer dough hook or food processor if you have one large enough. This is a 2 kilo (almost two and a half pounds, 2 1/2 lbs.) recipe. Of course you can half it, but then you may not have enough for the "challah" bracha, blessing.

Here's my challah basic recipe, also posted here with more of a story. Yesterday, I used mostly 70% whole wheat flour. A kilo is 2.2 lbs or 2 lbs 3 oz

This is an approximation of the challah recipe:
1 c sugar (dark brown)
2 T dehydrated yeast
a pinch of coarse salt
3 1/2c warm water
1 c oil
2 eggs for dough (medium or smallish by American standards),
an additional egg to coat the challot before baking
2 kilo of flour, which could be any combination of white and wholewheat
It's hard to know the exact quantity of flour
mix sugar, yeast, water, oil a cup of flour
cover with plastic and let sit until bubbly and rising
add the eggs and more flour plus the pinch of coarse salt, mixing as you go, then knead until it doesn't stick to your hands
coat with oil, cover with plastic and wait until it's at least doubled
"punch it down"
then "take challah," (click for instructions)
optional let it rise again
shape the challah
brush with raw egg, or spread with your fingers
let it rise
bake, start  in an oven hotter than for a cake and then lower the heat until cooler than a cake after the outside begins to get a light brown
It's ready when the bottom is hard and there's a hollow sound when you tap it.

You can judge the readiness by checking the bottom and tapping hoping for a "hollow" sound. 

baked

They were this big when they were put in the oven.

punching down the dough the second time

soon after shaping, look at  how small they were

I prefer baking with dehydrated yeast. There are a couple of reasons for this.

• You can keep the yeast for even a couple of years in a glass jar in the closet. It stays good. Of course check the date on the package and even tape the expiration date onto the jar.
• Years ago, when there was only the pieces of live yeast on sale here, it didn't keep long, even when frozen, and if frozen it had to be thawed out.
• When using fresh yeast, I had to knead the dough wearing cotton gloves, because the yeast caused infections around my nails. I've had no problems with the dehydrated.
• Now in Israel you can buy little packets of yeast, but they go bad too quickly.

Totally Amazing Challah Shaping Tutorial

I found this on facebook.  It's making the rounds.  I hope this works for all of you.



I learned a lot watching it and didn't even put on my earphones.

Challah Baking Tips, Our Favorite Challah Shapes and Readiness Check

Our family's favorite shape for challah is one I once learned from an elderly neighbor when we lived in Bayit Vegan, Jerusalem.  I've never seen it any place else besides our home and that time she showed us how to do it.

Use any challah recipe, white, whole-wheat, spelt etc.  I've been "just winging it" not measuring exactly recently.  And I've also been using half whole wheat and half white flour in my challah.  This week, when I baked to freeze in advance, I didn't use my usual dark brown sugar.  I used white with some maple syrup. I just felt inspired.  I hope it comes out well.  There's no reason it shouldn't.

When it comes the time to shape the challah, after it has risen and been punched down,

• take six equal pieces and
• roll them into "strings"
• lay them on the table, baking sheet or whatever
• three horizontal and three vertical
• "weave"
• braid the ends
• tuck the ends of the braid underneath

Afterwards "paint" with raw egg and let the challah rise before baking.

When baking the challah, start on a higher than for a cake heat until it starts browning, and then lower the heat until it's lower than for a cake.

The challah will be ready when it's hard and brown on the bottom.

Here it is!

PS yes, it's a different shape from the one illustrated earlier in the post.  This one is the easiest and most fun.  This is the simple ball challah.  Just take pieces, roll them into balls and place them together in the baking pan or baking sheet.  The balls don't have to be exactly the same size.  Don't obsess, please.  It should be fun and easy to bake challah.

You let the guests or family just grab a ball when serving.  Don't cut this challah with a knife.