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...

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

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.

Cooking in New Kitchen, B"H

Yesterday, although it's still a mess in my house, I began cooking for Shabbat. I used both ovens, though not simultaneously. Since they are large and have a turbo setting I could even use more than one tray at a time. That's a timesaver for sure. I bought Electrolux which is larger inside than the Sauter.

Some of the cooking/baking was done in bulk so I won't need to do it weekly. Challot and cakes freeze well for sure. I may have enough challah rolls to get me through most of the fall Jewish Holidays, Rosh Hashanah, pre/post Yom Kippur meals, Succot and Simchat Torah, depending on how many guest we have and meals we're invited out. The cakes will be enough for a few weeks, especially if I make my traditional Rosh Hashanah Applesauce Cake. And I already froze some of the baked chicken breasts.

So, yesterday's cooking/baking was truly a time investment, besides learning how to use the new ovens.

For those wondering about oven temperatures, something I never paid attention to with my old oven,* I sort of followed the guidelines on the inside of the oven doors:

To whet your appetite, here are some photos of my cooking/baking experiments from yesterday:

Challah recipe

Simple Basic Cake**, with blended banana and mango rescued from the freezer

These Chicken Breasts were simply layered over sliced onion and topped with tomatoes, dehydrated basil and coarsely grated pepper. I baked them covered with foil. I could see their cooking progress, since I used a pyrex baking pan. (Recipe)

Oven Baked Chicken, the food my kids consider my specialty

Besides enjoying the ovens, I'm super happy to be finally cooking on gas after almost two years of using an old two burner electric "hot plate."

The kitchen is almost completely organized. I think that all of the chametz dishes and pots are stored, but I will need help with the Passover things which will be on higher shelves. More updates, Gd willing, in future posts.

Bottom Line:

Was the expense and chaos of a new kitchen worth it?
YES!

*The numbers had long been rubbed/cleaned off the old oven, so it was like telling time from a sundial. 

**I made a few small changes, cinnamon instead of vanilla, and the blended banana and mango instead of some of the water. That's the beauty of the recipe; it's very adjustable.

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.

Challot Were a Success and a Prayer

Among other things, mainly vegetables and grapes, we brought challot I had made a couple of weeks ago to our married daughter and the grandkids.

 

I must admit that I didn't quite follow a recipe.  I concentrated on positive, good thoughts and prayers as I mixed and kneaded and tried to get the dough just right.  It's generally recommended to knead at least six minutes.



 

 

And I prayed for my kids that they would rise to all occasions, be healthy and strong and connected to G-d. 

 

Raising kids is much more difficult than making a beautiful tasty challah.

 

 

We do our best, and hope the recipe is good and the temperature right and our hands strong enough.  A challah is just a challah, made for eating, but our kids are our real treasures.  May G-d help us.

 

This is an approximation of the challah recipe:

1 c sugar (dark brown)
2 T dehydrated yeast
3 1/2 c warm water
1 c oil
 2 eggs (medium or smallish by American standards)
1 kilo or more of wholewheat flour

1 kilo or more white flour, alternate flours when adding to get a mix

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 flour, 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

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