Challah
Posted On 13 February 2021
Never did this before but had some fun doing it. Tried a couple of recipes and tweaked it a bit to get to this. The original dough was way too wet to work with and not at all like was described.
Challah
Equipment
- Stand mixer
Ingredients
Quick Starter
- 120 grams all-purpose flour (1 cup)
- 227 grams luke warm water (1 cup)
- 6 grams instant yeast (2 teaspoons)
Dough
- 420 grams all purpose flour (up to 60 grams more) (3½ cups – 4 cups)
- 11 grams salt (1¾ teaspoons)
- 67 grams sugar (⅓ cups)
- 50 grams vegetable oil (¼ cup)
- 2 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk (save the white)
Glaze
- 1 egg white (saved from dough)
- 4 grams sugar (1 teaspoon)
- poppy seeds (optional)
Instructions
Starter
- Mix the starter ingredients in a bowl of a stand mixer. Cover and let sit 45-60 minutes.
Dough
- Add to the starter all of the dough ingredients — start with the smaller amount of flour — and mix. Should make a smooth, supple dough. If too wet, add up to 60 grams more of the flour.
- Lightly grease a bowl and add dough. Cover with plastic and let rest for 1½-2 hours. Shouldn't be doubled in size but close.
- A couple of ways to form this — three strand or four strand is all I've done. Whichever one you decide on, deflate the dough, weigh it, and split it into X equal pieces and roll out to a 20" log and let rest — will probably relax back to about 18". See notes below about forming. Or check out any of about 4-million videos on YouTube about it.
- Make the glaze.
- After you've formed your braid and put it back onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, brush with the glaze, cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap, and let rest for 45 to 60 minutes until doubled.
- Preheat oven to 375°F
- Brush with the glaze again and bake for 35-45 minutes until a deep, shiny brown. If browning too much, tent with foil about half way through. An instant-read thermometer should register 195°F+.
- Cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before slicing into.
Notes
- I’ve used 480 grams of flour every time I’ve made this — at 420 the dough is way too slack and wet.
Four Strand Braid
- Lay your strands out in an upside down, four-legged V. Pinch the four together at the top.
- Consider each positition 1, 2, 3, and 4, left to right. That is, whatever piece of dough is at the far left, it’s #1. The one next to it is #2, etc.
- Take #4 and move it over to between #1 and #2, thereby making it #2.
- Take #1 and move it over to between #3 and #4, thereby making it #3.
- Take #2 and move it over to between #3 and #4, thereby making it #3.
- Repeat this — 4 over 2, 1 over 3, 2 over 3 — all the way down until you’ve got nothing left. Pinch together and tuck under.
Three Strand Braid
- Lay your strands out in a three-legged upside-down V, meeting at the far point from you. Pinch the strands together.
- Take the strand on the right and move it over the strand in the middle (making it the one in the middle.
- Take the strand on the left and move it over the strand in the middle (making it now the one in the middle).
- Repeat right-strand and then left-strand over the middle strand all the way down until you’ve got nothing left.
- Pinch together and tuck end under.
