Homemade Challah Bread Recipe - Self Proclaimed Foodie (2024)

FAQs

Is challah better with bread flour or all purpose flour? ›

Bread flour: bread flour has a higher protein content than all purpose flour, making for a chewier loaf of bread. If you do not have bread flour, all-purpose flour may be substituted in equal amounts. Yeast: I recommend using instant yeast for this recipe.

Challah is almost always pareve (containing neither dairy nor meat—important in the laws of Kashrut), unlike brioche and other enriched European breads, which contain butter or milk as it is typically eaten with a meat meal.

Amount of flour: The key to a soft loaf that isn't dense is to use as little flour as possible. I start with 930 grams of flour and add up to 70 more grams based on what the dough needs. The amount of liquid in the dough will vary from loaf to loaf because “large” eggs are similar but not uniform in volume.

Make it ahead: Prepare the loaf up to the point where it's braided and on the pan. Tent it with greased plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator overnight. Next morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator (keep it covered). Let it warm and rise at room temperature for 60 minutes before baking as directed.

In place of sugar, honey or maple syrup provide sweetness and moisture. Olive oil imparts a flavorful, herbaceous note to the bread — you can use a neutral oil, too, but the flavor of the former is truly something special. The focus on egg yolks, rather than eggs, ensures a tender, chewy crumb.

A crucial mistake that is often made is not passing the flour through a sieve before using it. If you don't sift the flour, the result is bread that is too dense and heavy. Sifting is what gives challah its soft, airy texture.

The term “challah” is applied more widely to mean any bread used in Jewish rituals. On the eve of Shabbat, two loaves are placed on the table to reference the Jewish teaching that a double portion of manna fell from heaven on Friday to last through the Saturday Shabbat.

The total lipid fats in a serving of challah bread is two grams, or three percent of your recommended daily value. The total saturated fat amount in a serving is 0.26 grams, and you will not find any unhealthy trans fats.

What is the meaning of "Challah" in Yiddish? In Yiddish: Braided Egg Bread eaten on Sabbath. In Hebrew: it means "Loaf"

The best baking temperature for *most* challahs is about 190°C / 365-375°F.

Can you let challah rise too long? ›

Overrising the first rise, which is when the dough is still just a dough, can occur. Usually if it overrose just a bit, say, for an hour extra in a cold kitchen, it doesnt really matter. You simply punch it back down and go on to the shaping.

If the area is too warm, bread will rise too fast and begin cooking before the yeast has finished acting. This will impart a "yeasty" taste to the dough that will be transferred to the finished baked loaf. Using old ingredients (rancid nuts, "old" shortening) will cause yeast breads to taste old or have an "off" taste.

Allow the dough to rest and rise for 8–10 hours—overnight is perfect! Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

You can divide up the process so you can make your dough in advance, and you can let it slow-rise in the fridge, which is what I really recommend people doing. And so basically you do half of the process one evening, and then the next day you do the rest of it.

Make sure the dough is in a large enough bowl or container and has plenty of room to rise, because it will. Refrigerate it overnight. When ready to bake, remove the dough from the fridge and let it come to room temperature. Braid it and let it do its second rise for 20 to 30 minutes before putting it in the oven.

Myrna's original recipe calls for all-purpose flour, and you can substitute that here. But I find bread flour gives the challah a nice chew without making it tough, and also helps the braided loaf maintain its shape after baking.

If you make a bread dough with all-purpose flour, the gluten network won't be as strong because of the lower protein content; this means the dough won't be able to stretch as much to accommodate those bubbles, resulting in smaller bubbles and bread with a tighter crumb.

You can use all-purpose flour as a 1:1 substitute for bread flour and vice-versa. For example, for 1 cup of bread flour, you can use 1 cup of all-purpose flour. Bread and pizza crust made with all-purpose flour may have a little less chew than those made with bread flour, but the results will still be good.

While bread flour is the best option, it can sometimes be used if you don't have bread flour. “Check the protein content,” advises Chef Jürgen, since it can vary from brand to brand, and an all-purpose flour that contains protein on the higher end of the range, 12 to 13 percent, will produce a better outcome.