baking your own challah
introduction to my tools, ingredients and considerations
kitchen machine
I have a longtime experience with mixers for my breads. For little less than 2 decades i used a Kenwood Chef, the last couple of years an Ankarsrum Original.
There is a lot in common, but sometimes the procedures differ. Where necessary I will differ between top-motor machines TM which are the most common (KitchenAid, Kenwood, Baer, Bosch, Solis etc. etc.) with a flat beater and a dough hook. For the bottom driven Ankarsrum with both a roller and a horizontal dough hook I'll use AR where apt.
proofing container
For proofing I use a transparent polycarbonate GN 1/4 15cm box with a tightly closing lid.
It has some advantages over the usual bowl:
you have the shape already formed, when forming the loaf needs a folded rectangle
it's way easier to cut equal portions
the container fits rather tightly between refrigerator shelves, thus keeping the lid in place when the yeasts get aggressive.
If you don't have a container with a lid, use household plastic wrap. If the dough tries to escape before you can use it, simply push it back but make sure the saranwrap still fits tight.
oven
I have two compact ovens, a combine baking oven and microwave and a combine steam and baking oven (circulation only). The latter is smaller even, fitting a GN 2/3 baking tray.
For that reason I bake my challah at their full size on a static in the combine baking without steam. The challot don't really need steam anyway, but if you have such a nice and modern full size oven with steam injection, don't hesitate to use that option.
For nice challot preheat your oven at 230°C, instantly turn back and bake on 200°C
utensils
a set of precise, standard kitchen spoons (5, 7½, 15ml needed)
a precise kitchen scale
a peeling knife to exactly level the ingredients
a dough knife
optional a 50ml grocer's scoop or a ¼cup/60ml measuring spoon
some people very disagree with me on hybrid measuring, but with a good set of spoons you will get constant results; the comfort in measuring (and dishwashing) is apparant.
wheat
take a good type of wheat flour, with as high a percentage protein as you can get.
My usual flour has 11.5%, that's the highest I can get in organic types (from the region; imports from far outside , against principles of organic ingredients, offer higher).
It could be used as such, but I prefer to add 1 tbs. of wheat gluten. If you can get a <11% only, do use extra gluten.
oil
For challah you need a lot of oil.
Usually one uses sunflower seed oil, or something as odour- and colourless1).
That gives a bread as white as a toothpaste commercial.
My ingredients are all organic, thus unbleached, which gives some grayish result. To be honest, it looks less appetizing that way.
Of course I could try and colour it with a thread of saffron soaked in the water. That however slightly changes the taste as well.
My solution is the use of cold pressed rapeseed oil (canola). That gives a slight yellow glow on the inside, enough to give the looks a boost.
Cold pressed rapeseed oil may never be heated, or it will loose all the beneficial properties. Moreover, heated over 70°C it will give both an abhorrent smell and taste.
Within the bread however, though the center temperature will rise up to 98°C, the taste and smell remain neutral. Even the rather recognisable taste of rapeseed oil is neutralised. Alas, that may also go for the superior properties.
For greasing the proofing container I use sunflower oil.
1) A very good alternative would be olive oil. Personally I'd go for refined oil, for processing reduces it's distinguished taste.
water
The amount of water is essential for the result you desire:
when adding 300ml on 675g of flour, which is about the default, you will recognise the strands after baking.
This has an advantage, when you break the loafs, plus it looks a lot nicer once broken.
When adding 350ml you will get some equal structure, more standard-bread like.
This has an advantage when slicing the loafs, the slice won't tend to fall apart; breaking is still possible, of course.
The amount of water influences baking time. For a 4-strand/300ml approx. 25' will do, for a 6-strand/350ml I set my oven to 30 minutes.
imho the 300ml combined with a 6-strand plait gives too tight, too small loafs.
The 6-strands with 350ml is the combination you'll see in the examples.
milk
There are many recipes for challah to be found.
Some of them even use milk when they point to the Jewish origins of the bread.
Now that is strange, because challah is usually baked for Shabbos: Friday evening and Saturday. Shabbos is pre-eminently the day of the week when meat is eaten; that would imply your challah couldn't be eaten or even not be shown on the table with that meal, according to Jewish law with it's strict separation of milk and meat.
Maybe for the feast of Shavuot, where milk meals are due, that combination may be made by some, but I never saw or heard of someone actually using milk.
From a Jewish bakery you'll only find pareve (no milk, no meat) challah for sure.
In Amsterdam challah (spelled either challe or galle, as it is pronounced in Yiddish transcribed to Dutch) is common at non-jewish bakeries too. While the kosher bakeries (very few remain) sell their challah on Friday morning, Saturday morning it is a common bread found in (still) many Amsterdam bakeries. Tradition remaining from a long gone era.
For as far as I know, they stick to the water only based recipe.
But plaited breads of enriched dough are not solitary confined to Jewish cuisine or tradition born from that influence. There are known recipes from Middle and Eastern Europe, so feel free to experiment (3½ parts water on 1 part milk, for example, as i found in a bread baking book ).
challah
What is challah?
The first portion of your kneading, you shall separate as a dough offering (challah)... In all your generations, give the first of your kneading as an elevated gift to G‑d
(Numbers 15:20-21)
That by the way is the sole place where the word 'challah' is to be found. It's origins are unknown, it's meaning expanded from the sole offering to the well known two breads baked for Shabbos and holidays.
Taking challah is done for any other bread, matzos or whatever bread-like baked as well, but then - obviously - in the original meaning.
Now the obligation of taking challah has a minimum amount of 1666g meal.
Not exactly something one will reach in usual household situations.
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