Honeyed Challah – as pictured 2 posts below.
Makes 3 loaves or 6-8 rolls. The recipe can be doubled or tripled.
I start my bread the night before I intend to bake, for best taste and crumb texture. If you want to do it all the same day, use 1 whole cube of yeast, allow the sponge to rise 1 hour, and proceed.
You will need 5-6 cups flour for the dough and 1 beaten egg plus 4 Tblsp. of softened honey for glazing the finished loaves.
Before going to bed, make the Sponge:
1/2 cube fresh yeast
2 cups water
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup neutral-tasting oil (corn, canola)
1 beaten egg
1 Tblsp. salt
3 cups sifted flour
1. Rehydrate the yeast in all the water. Allow it sit for 5 minutes.
2. Add the rest of the sponge ingredients, in order, and mix very well. This should take maybe 5 minutes.
3. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and put it in the fridge overnight or for 8 hours. It can sit in the fridge even longer, but it might rise up and overflow like the mighty Amazon (don’t ask).
Next morning or 8 hours later, mix the Dough:
1. Stir the sponge down. Allow it to reach room temperature again: about 1 hour.
If you have started with a whole cube of yeast, let the sponge rise 1 hour.
2. Start adding flour by half-cups, mixing till you have a firm mass that holds its shape. This will take 2-3 more cups of flour, depending on how firm you like your dough and how long the sponge sat in the fridge.
I like a very tender crumb with some holes in it, so I add only up to 2 more cups. The dough is sloppy, but it can be shaped with sprinkles of more flour later on.
If you have made a firm dough, knead for 10 minutes or until it “talks back.”
If you have a softer dough for a very light challah, flour your working surface and plop the dough onto it. Stretch it into a plump rectangle, pushing the dough lightly with your fingertips. Fold the edges of the dough over to make a package, then stretch it out again and repeat the folds. You will see all kinds of descriptions of the stretch-and-fold method, but it doesn’t really matter how the dough gets folded, as longs as it does get folded. Stretch and fold the dough 5 times, sprinkling in more flour as needed to keep manipulating it. You will see that it works just as well as kneading. The dough should still feel loose in the hand, not dry.
Cover the dough and let rest for 15 minutes.
Now shape the challas. For Rosh HaShannah, it’s traditional to make them round, representing wholeness and the cycle of the year.
If your dough is firm, cut it into thirds (or whatever fraction you want). Roll out the dough into a long snake. Roll the snake up into a circle, pinching the bottom sides to keep the baked loaf shapely. Push the top down a bit with the palm of your hand, so it doesn’t rise like a cone in baking.
If you have a soft dough, just push it into a circle shape, pinching any seams shut with your fingers.
Either way, let your round challas rise, covered, till very light, with a few blisters visible under the surface skin. In a warm kitchen, this may take only 1 hour.
20 minutes before you figure on baking, preheat the oven to 350 F – 180 C.
For soft dough: About 15 minutes into preheating time, slash circles around the top of the challas. Use your sharpest knife or a clean retractable razor. Let the bread relax for 5 minutes.
Brush the loaves with beaten egg. Bake. Large loaves will take 45 minutes to 1 hour. Smaller loaves need from 30-40 minutes. Rolls have to be watched after 20 minutes to determine doneness.
When the challas are golden and baked through, remove from the oven and place them on a rack to cool off. BUT while they’re still hot, brush honey over all their surfaces. It will melt and drip, glazing the challas attractively.
Done.
I suggest measuring the oil first, then using the same cup for the honey. It won’t stick.
Yes, that’s a good point.
Mimi
Very good blog. Excelent. Best regards from Germany
I use that same trick when I am measuring honey.
This bread looks delicious. I will have to try it. Can you freeze it? I assume you would then thaw the bread, warm it in the oven and then drizzle it with honey.
Hi, Baroness,
I froze that challah just as it was, honey glaze and all. I don’t intend to heat it after allowing it to thaw.
If I intended to serve it warm, I wouldn’t glaze it. I would wrap it in tin foil, heat it, and then, as you say, drizzle the honey over it. Only I would have the honey warm and in a liquid state. I’m not sure how readily the honey would melt if the bread were just warmed through – not hot out of the oven.
Shana tova!
This recipe sounds great. I have two questions. First, can it be made with whole wheat bread? Second, does it work will in a complex braid structure, say six strand? Thanks in advance!
Yes, it will work with whole wheat, but as usual when converting from white to whole wheat flour, take care to make a somewhat softer dough so that the crumb will be tender. Meaning, use a little less flour (or a few tablespoons more water).
I haven’t made a six-strand challah out of this dough, but I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t work.
Hi Mimi,
And this time after this recipe.
Here again.
Is the salt added into the sponge or only afterwards with the flour?
S., hi,
Happy to see you here.
Add the salt right in with the sponge. Today’s commercial yeast is strong and isn’t at all harmed by early contact with salt.
I’m not sure about sourdough. With sourdough, I add the salt withe second half of the flour after the sponge has risen. But I really don’t know if that’s just me adhering to the old theory that salt damages yeast. Sourdough yeasts are plenty strong – although a little more vulnerable to damage than modern baker’s yeasts.
At any rate, the idea that salt destroys baker’s yeast and should be mixed with flour first, is outmoded.
Mimi, I owe you once more thanks!! I made challah following this recipe (and added the salt to the sponge!) and it came out sooooo tasty!! Husband just came home from work (night shift) when I had taken the challahs out from the oven and glazed them with honey. You should have seen how much he ate!
Not to mention how much he praised the tastiness of it… Next Friday I’ll do this again. I hadn’t baked challah at home for ages and had forgotten how much fun it is; both baking it and eating it hot fresh from the oven! Thanks again!
S.,
You’re so welcome, and thank *you* for letting me know. Love comments, any kind, but especially this kind
.
Hot bread is divine, I know. But its true flavor is tasted when it’s been allowed to cool down. Some, like potato bread, are even better the next day….Just a side thought, here.
Of course if your husband comes home next Friday morning longing for hot challah, you’d be totally right to let him have some!
I made this recipe for Rosh Hashana Shabbat last week and it came out so tasty! I went for the loose dough you described, but I think I let the loaves over-proof before baking because they hardly rose at all in the oven, but they did taste great! I also missed the line about slashing the top of the loose loaves… do you think this is why they didn’t rise in the oven? Can you either post photos or describe in more detail the slashed “circles” ? Also, do you bake your challah in a steamy or dry oven? I have read that slashed loaves rise better with steam… do you know if this is true? Thanks so much for this recipe!
Hi, Denise,
Great to hear that your challah turned out well.
It seems to me that the loaves simply rose to the most they were going to rise before you put them in the oven. In other words, the yeast was played out and had given all it could by then. If they were so light, it might have deflated them to slash the tops, so maybe it’s just as well you didn’t.
The coils of my round loaves had grown together and didn’t make a pretty braided look, so I took a sharp knife and cut a round slash around the tops.
I do like to shpritz water into the oven just as I put the loaves in, and again 5 minutes later. I do this to get a thin, flexible crust and golden color. I’m not really sure what role steam plays in oven rise. But in your case, I think the yeast wasn’t going to give any more and that if left out much longer, the loaves would have over-proofed and collapsed.
Hi Mimi, Sadly I don’t live in Israel and when you say a half cake of fresh yeast I don’t know the weight you get there. Here it comes in 0.6 oz packages AND I don’t know if I can easily find it here (we live in Toronto). Is it possible to replace it with active dry yeast and if so how much?
I really appreciate your input with this. I have printed out the recipe and am ready to get the sponge going tonight!
Thanks, Chana
Hi Chana – it was lucky I saw your question – my blog moved to http://www.israelikitchen.com. For up to date posts, please go there. But to answer your question, for this recipe you’ll need 2 oz. or 60 grams fresh yeast. To convert to active dry yeast, use 1/2 package or 1-1/8 teaspoons. It’s not exact but it will work.