Finally! My first post!

I can’t believe it took me this long. Can you imagine that I spent most of the time deciding colors, styles, logos, etc?? It’s the first time for me to design something and let’s say that creativity is not my strength.

Anyways, here we are! Holiday time! A time where I’m sure Pinterest is on fire with people looking for recipes, décor ideas, centerpieces… When setting the table for any event, I like it to be more functional. I don’t like to have things between the people at the table that will make conversations or interactions difficult. I like to make the food be part of the ornaments.

Last week I went to a Friendsgiving dinner, and I was assigned the bread. We all came from different places around the world, many of the guests weren’t used to crusty bread ( as a Spaniard, that would’ve been my first option). So, I decided to make some soft bread. But dinner rolls seemed so not-holiday-worthy. There’s nothing wrong with dinner rolls, but I wanted something different, and tasty but not too sweet either. And I wanted edible decorations! Something to complement the table but that it’ll eventually disappear.

My solution? A nice challah!

I love challah because with simple ingredients you can make amazing things! I particularly enjoy the shaping. The 6 strand braid is my favorite, I think. It took me a bit to learn because I kept getting lost midway!

The loaf was a success! Everyone was taking pictures; some people had never heard of challah before and they were pretty impressed. And all that just because of the shape! Of course, when they actually tried the bread, they were even more impressed with the taste!

This recipe is from “The bread baker’s apprentice”, by Peter Reinhart, it’s my go-to challah recipe.  I love this book, it has many different recipes, from different parts of the world.  The book has great tips and in general, the ingredient lists are simple. I think it’s a great book for beginners and home bakers.

I just changed the type of flour, the original recipe uses all-purpose flour, but I like bread flour better. Enrich doughs have to be strong to be able to “lift” all the eggs, fats, and sugar. And also, I always bake with the same type of flour, and I can anticipate the amount of water I’d need or how the dough will behave.

But this is up to you really. Changing the flour won’t make the bread better or worse, just different! 😊

The original recipe also calls for vegetable oil. I chose olive oil because I love the combination it makes with eggs. I think both ingredients complement each other perfectly! You can use other shortenings, but I wouldn’t recommend butter. The reason is that it has a strong taste, and challah is all about the egg, I don’t want the butter to hinder the taste of eggs. But again, this is my opinion. You can make it the way you enjoy it most!

To make  this challah you’re going to need the following ingredients:

• First, you need to activate the yeast. I like to use active dry yeast, but even when I use instant yeast, I activate it as well. Just to make sure it’s working well.

If your kitchen it’s cold, you can use lukewarm water to activate the yeast. If it’s hot, room temperature water works well. You can even add a teaspoon of sugar to the water. The yeast will feed on it, so it won’t add any extra sweetness.

Your yeast will be ready after a few minutes, and you should see some bubbles on top (maybe not as many as in my picture, I like to use a whisk to make sure the yeast dissolves completely, and that adds extra bubbles).

• While you’re waiting for the yeast, you can sift the flour, sugar, and salt into a bowl and stir it well to mix everything.
• Then add the yeast mixture to your dry ingredients

• And incorporate the eggs. You can whisk the eggs into the yeast mixture, or in a separate bowl and pour them into the flour, or like me, add them directly to your flour and yeast mixture.

Now it’s time for one of the most important steps, the autolysis step.

• Mix everything thoroughly, until you don’ see dry flour particles anymore and you have a sticky mess. If you think your dough is dry, you can add a little bit more water. Just 1 tablespoon at a time. Cover your bowl and leave it there for 20-30  minutes.

This step is important because it’ll allow the flour particles to fully hydrate before you start kneading. That means that the flour will work at full strength and the gluten network will be developed much easier.

After the autolysis step, the fun starts! Kneading time!

• Knead the dough in your most comfortable way. By hand or using a stand mixer with the hook attachment. At the beginning the dough will be sticky but don’t add more flour, keep kneading.

The dough is sticky because it has lots of eggs and sugar, So they get between the water molecules and the gluten proteins. So you must keep kneading to ensure all the gluten proteins get to link with each other and form the gluten network.

Regardless of your kneading method, eventually, you should see your dough coming together, getting more elastic, and getting some consistency.

• Now it’s time to add the oil (or any other fat or shortening).

If you’re not very used to adding the fat content midway, I’d suggest you add the oil little by little. One tablespoon at a time if you have to. Otherwise, you might get very frustrated.

Once the gluten network is halfway developed, it’s difficult to add fats, you have to keep kneading and squeezing the dough. It’ll eventually absorb the oil.

I like to squeeze the dough and turn it around and squeeze it again. I found that by doing this the dough absorbs the oil much faster. Also, trying to knead while everything is covered in oil… is not easy!

• After adding all the oil, keep kneading until the dough is not sticky anymore and the surface is covered by small blisters. At this point, the dough should pass the windowpane test. Remember to let the dough rest 5 minutes before you try to stretch it.

It took me around 20-25 minutes to get the dough ready. Your kneading time can be different, don’t worry. Your kitchen temperature, your skills, the stand mixer you use, or even the flour, play a role in the development of the dough. So don’t aim for time, but for dough consistency.

Look at the difference!

• Now you just need to put your dough in a bowl, cover it and let it ferment until it rises enough to be all puffy and about 1.5 times its original size. If your kitchen is cold, you can put the bowl in the oven with a pot with boiling water to create a warm microenvironment. Be careful not to turn the oven on!
• After the fermentation, deflate the dough and let it rest for a few minutes. Cut 6 pieces of equal weight and make small balls with each one.

You can use a little bit of flour for dusting, but try not to incorporate too much flour or your challah might end up dry.

You can shape your challah the way you like the most, a simple braid, 4 strands braid… you name it!

• Let the dough balls rest for 5 minutes. These resting times are important to let the gluten relax. 5 minutes can make a HUGE difference on your dough and it’ll be much easier to shape.
• After 5 minutes, take the first ball, flatten it with your hand, and with the help of a rolling pin, roll it into a 25 cm long oval (10 in approx) and 0.5 cm thick (1/4 in). Now, with the help of your hands, and starting on the widest part, roll it back to form a log. Repeat with each ball.

• Once the logs are ready, you just need to stretch them and make the strands. They should be about 50 cm (20 in) long. Start with the first log you made, since that one should’ve had more time to rest.

If at any point you feel that the strands keep getting back to their original shape, let them rest and come back a few minutes later. Try to make the strands in a way that is thicker in the middle and thinner on the ends. This way, the challah will have a beautiful shape, bigger in the middle and thinner on the ends.

• Time to braid the challah! I did not include a tutorial on the braiding part because I think it’s easier to understand if you see it in a video, rather than if you read it.

To avoid your challah from having a weird oven spring (meaning: end up with a terrible shape), try not to braid it too tight so you leave some room for the strands to rise.

• Put the challah on a baking tray and cover it with lightly oiled plastic wrap.

If you like a crusty challah, you can brush now once with the leftover egg whites, and a second time right before going into the oven. If you prefer it softer, just brush it once before going into the oven.

• Let the challah rise again until it’s puffy. It doesn’t have to double in size.
• Preheat your oven at 350 F (175 C)
• Once the challah has risen enough, put it in the oven and bake for about 20-25 minutes. After that time, turn the baking tray 180 degrees, so it gets to bake homogeneously.

If you think the challah is browning too fast, you can put aluminum foil on top and reduce the heat to 325 F (165 C).

Depending on your oven, you might need a bit more time, it’s okay. Just make sure that the inside it’s completely cooked.

And here it is!

I’m sorry I cannot show you how the crumb looked, but I can tell you it was awesome! Very soft, cohesive, and beautifully yellow!

I hope you enjoy the recipe. Below you can find a printable version with a detailed step-by-step.

Happy baking!