Lemon Poppyseed Challah

This past weekend, I attended a wedding of a friend's younger sister.  One of her bridesmaid, it turned out, is a reader of The Challah Blog (hi, Lizzie!).  She has been making the challah recipe of my friend Hannah (mom of these cute challah helpers) and started talking about a challah blog she enjoys -- mine!  My first non-hometown fan that I got to meet in real life!

Anyway, Lizzie suggested I make a Lemon Poppyseed Challah.  So, I complied.  Here it is!  Just for you, Lizzie.  Tell me what you think!

I've used lemon twice before in my challah, and one thing I've struggled with is the balance of enough lemon flavor and enough sweetness. I think this is my best balance yet of sweet and tangy.

1/2 c water
1 1/2 tsp active dry or instant yeast
1/2 tsp plus 1 tbsp sugar
1 egg plus 1 more for egg wash (you can also reserve a bit and just use one)
2 tbsp neutral oil such as canola or vegetable
2 c bread flour
1/2 tsp salt
zest of about 3/4 of a lemon, finely chopped
1 tsp fresh lemon juice
1 tbsp poppyseeds

For the frosting...

1/2 c powdered sugar
2-3 tbsp milk, unflavored soy milk, or non-dairy substitute
1/4 - 1/2 tsp vanilla, to your taste

This is a low yield recipe, because it's really different. I figure, you'll probably want to pair it with something more traditional or bake it as special morning treat. Yield is 2 quite small loaves or 1 smallish loaf with a few rolls.

Proof your the yeast in warm but not hot water with 1/2 tsp sugar.  While the yeast is proofing, zest your lemon and squeeze out the lemon juice.  When the yeast is foamy (about 10 minutes), mix in the egg, oil, zest, and juice.  Mix with a wooden spoon.  Add the flour, salt, and poppy seeds.

Mix by hand or on a stand mixer until a the ball holds together. Knead as normal. This dough is a bit wetter than most of your doughs and may feel heavier, but it should not feel sticky. Place in an oiled bowl and let rest until doubled in size, about an hour and a half.

When the dough has doubled, punch down and braid as normal.  I chose to make one six-stranded braid and four rolls (so we could do some sampling).

Let rest an additional thirty minutes. Egg wash and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, turning halfway. While your challah bakes, you can make the drizzle frosting if you like. Since these were just for noshing, I made the frosting dairy, however non-dairy milk will work just fine. (This will probably make you too much frosting, but you can always use on cookies! Yum!)

Drizzle the frosting over your challah with a teaspoon and admire your handy work!

Thanks so much to Lizzie for not only reading my blog, but making a request and inspiring me to make this delicious treat! It's definitely a keeper. Shabbat Shalom from our bayit to yours!

Lemon and Lavender Scented Challah

Garden Season continues!  The basil, thyme, and sage are going crazy.  The tomatoes are starting, and the peppers are gaining color.  When we first planted our garden, I added a little lavender plant.  One year later, the plant has increased in size probably ten-fold and I've never used it for anything.  Time for that to change.

Most lavender recipes out there are for fresh or dried lavender flowers.  I had a great time exploring all sorts of different recipes and information links here, here, and here.  I ultimately decided that I wanted to use various Lemon Lavender muffins as an inspiration.  I've used lemon once before, although the result wasn't very successful.  Last time, I used so much lemon juice that the dough was extra soft, and the lemon scent was overpowering.  This time, I decided to pair the lavender leaves with the zest of a lemon.  Additionally, I added quite a bit of sugar to this recipe and used warmed milk instead of water to proof the yeast.  I think the yeast may have under-proofed a bit, because my resulting challah was dense, almost like a tea biscuit... which was really my goal.  This is the kind of challah that I want to slather with lemon curd and serve with Earl Gray tea.

1/2 c milk (I used skim)
1 tsp active dry or instant yeast
1/4 c plus 1/4 tsp sugar
1 egg (split, I beat it then used "most" in the dough)
2 c flour
1/2 tsp salt
Zest of half of 1 lemon
Leaves of 1 sprig of fresh lavender

I based this recipe off of my REALLY Small Batch Challah, as I did earlier this month with Strawberry Basil Challah.  One small-size loaf.

Finely chop the lavender.  Place lavender and milk in a small sauce pan on the stove and warm.  Add the yeast and 1/4 tsp sugar.  Let rest for about 10 minutes.  Add the egg, rest of the sugar, and lemon zest.   Add the flour and salt.

Knead with a dough hook on 2 or by hand until the dough holds together as a ball.  {You can see how small this batch is here.}

Cover and place in a covered, oiled bowl. Let rise until doubled bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. As I said, the dough didn't seem to really rise... but I just went with it.  Braid as normal.

The Hazz also made me a little "A," perfect for a pre-Shabbat sampling...

Let rest for about a half hour. Egg wash with the reserved egg and sprinkle with sugar. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, or until internal temperature reaches 180 degrees.

I love this challah. It's surprising. It smells like tea time. It just feels fancy. I'm calling it a success. Can't wait for more challah from the garden throughout this summer.

Shavua Tov, from our bayit to yours!!!

Shavuot Recipe Book: Dairy Challah

There are many stories that explain the tradition of eating dairy foods on Shavuot, but none are truly conclusive.  Some simply connect it to the idea from Exodus that the Israelites would leave Egypt and go to the land "flowing with milk and honey."  Here's another interesting tidbit if you like gematria...

A sage discovered that the initials of the four Hebrew words in Numbers 28:26, which describe the sacrificial meal offering on Shavuot, spell mei halav (from milk), suggesting that dairy food is the acceptable dinner for the festival. At Sinai, the Israelites were considered to be as innocent as newborns, whose food is milk. {Source}

Cool, right?  There's more on that link that talks about halav (milk) having the same gematria value as the number of days that Moses spent on Mount Sinai... a stretch?  Perhaps, but I do love puzzles!

(Yup!  That's a puzzle.  We're become a little... obsessed with puzzles.)

I've made challah with milk before... Sprouted Wheat with Milk and Honey Challah included milk because I read (somewhere) that milk helps relax the wheat.  I wasn't honestly convinced that it made much of a difference, but it was a fun experiment anyway!

This recipe will yield one large or two medium-size loaves.

2 1/4 instant yeast (1 packet)
3 c bread flour
1 tsp salt
1 c milk, slightly warmed (I used skim)
1 heaping tbsp basswood or other dark honey
2 eggs plus 1 more for egg wash

This challah was the first one that I actually used instant yeast like one is supposed to use instant yeast... I just mixed it in with the flour. Normally, I've been afraid of that and proof it just like active dry yeast, although you don't have to do that.

Mix together the yeast, flour, and salt.  Can you spot the yeast here?

Yeah, me neither.

On the stove in a small pan, warm the milk and honey, stirring constantly. Add the milk/honey mixture and the eggs to the flour/yeast mixture.

Blend with a wooden spoon and then knead by hand or on the stand mixture until a ball forms.

While you're mixing, you can use this time to catch up on your favorite shows... Downton Abbey, anyone?

Let rest in an oiled bowl for about an hour and a half or until doubled in bulk.  Braid as normal and allow to rest an additional 20-30 minutes.  Egg wash and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Now, here's the part where I get honest.  I have no beautiful pictures of this challah to share.  I got a little... cavalier... with my challah shape.  I read a lovely little story in Maggie Glezer's A Blessing of Bread on Ladder Challah.  Glezer writes:

The ladder-shaped challah, which is served on Shavuot, the holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah to the Jewish people on Mount Sinai, symbolizes spiritual ascension and Mount Sinai because the Hebrew words for "ladder" and "Sinai" have identical numerical value (as shown in the mystical study of Torah called gematria).  {A Blessing of Bread, 79.}

So, I set to work.  I started with a flattened disk and added the rungs.

It looked pretty great! I was very proud.

And oh dear. What a disastrous result.

With the popularity of Pinterest, there have also appeared a lot of Pinterest Fail Blogs that will show a picture of the goal and the picture of one's own result with the phrase, "Nailed it." I think I nailed it.  Oy.

Luckily, I also made some rolls that DID turn out quite lovely.  This challah has a sweetness to it that's a bit unexpected.  It also has a darker color, which I suspect is from the basswood honey.  It's a bit tough to work with... I think it's the lack of oil.  But, overall, I wouldn't change a thing.  It was a really nice dairy challah!

We'll be tweaking our Shavuot recipes over the next few weeks!  Have a recipe to share?  A request for something special?  Send to it me at themrs {at} thechallahblog {dot} com or leave a comment here!

Sprouted Wheat Challah with Milk & Honey

I'm pretty excited about this challah. It's a start on a venture I've been really looking forward to which is really tweaking with recipes as opposed to just doing delicious add-ins (which I love... and I have a few great ones planned for the next few weeks!).

Back in September, I made a big order from King Arthur Flour that included Sprouted Wheat Flour.  Here's what KAF says about the product:

Sprouted wheat is the best way to access the grain’s nutritional benefits. As the wheat berry grows, vitamins are formed that greatly enhance the nutrition and digestibility of the wheat. Sprouted berries are dried, then ground into flour.

I was surprised that it's not actually a KAF product. The flour comes from Lindley Mills, an organic speciality flour mill located in piedmont North Carolina at the site of the 1755 water mill built by Pennsylvania Quaker and settler Thomas Lindley.

As I did with Spelt Challah and Kamut Challah, I wanted to do my homework about this grain before I really got going with the baking. I knew (because I read it on the label) that sprouted wheat is high in protein but what else? The more I read, the more I realized how great it is... high in B6, niacin, and lower on the glycemic index. Nice! Plus, they say it has a nice, sweet flavor. Score! I told myself. Then, I read how it can be really difficult to work with. Trying to remain unfazed, I saw a few suggestions about using milk instead of water to proof the yeast... I did a bit of experimenting and here's what I came up with...

3/4 c milk (I used skim because it's what I had, but other recipes suggested whole)
.6 oz fresh yeast or 2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 1/2 tbsp honey plus drizzling
2 eggs plus 1 for wash
1/4 c canola oil or other neutral oil
1 1/2 c bread flour
1 1/2 c sprouted wheat flour
1 1/4 tsp salt


In a small sauce pan, mix together the milk and 1 1/2 tbsp honey. Warm to about 100 degrees, stirring constantly, until the the honey has dissolved. When I proof yeast in water, I just turn my hot water faucet on for a bit and use water right out of the faucet, so the 100 degree thing is really a guess... I just stick my finger in it to check if it is hot enough and that's what I did with the milk. Add the yeast, stir gently, and let rest for about 10 minutes or until foamy.

Proceed as normal. Add the eggs and oil and mix with a wooden spoon or spatula. I usually just dump the flourin next and then sprinkle in the salt. Coincidentally, I recently learned (the hard way) that salt kills yeast. The purists will tell you to premix the salt and flour together. But, I just dump the flour in a put little spoonfuls of salt on top.

During the mixing process, I added a healthy additional squeeze from the honey bottle. Add a little bread flour and/or water as needed and knead with stand mixer or by hand until a ball forms. Have no fear if it's a heavy, heavy dough. Mine was, and my experience is that most whole wheats are. Don't worry, the end result is worth it!

Let dough rest in an oiled bowl (covered) until doubled in bulk, about 1 1/2 hours. You can punch down and let rise again or skip it. I usually don't. Braid as normal. Since this dough isn't very stretchy, I just did a 3-strand braid and some little rolls. Let rest additional 3 minutes. Egg wash and drizzle with honey and your favorite toppings such as sesame or poppy seeds. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Shabbat Shalom from our bayit to yours!