Roasted Garlic and Rosemary Challah

One of the first "fancy" challot that I ever made was a Parmesan Roasted Garlic Challah.  It was really, REALLY garlicky... and delicious.  This challah is a variation off of that very recipe.  I love savory challot, especially when they involve herbs from my garden, like Rosemary Olive Oil Challah, Pesto Challah, and Pizza Challah (the Hazz's favorite).

This challah takes a bit more time because you have to roast the garlic in advance before preparing the dough, but trust me.  It's worth it.

3/4 c water
2 1/4 tsp active dry or instant yeast (1 packet)
2 eggs plus 1 more for egg wash
2 tbs extra virgin olive oil, plus more for roasting
3 to 3 1/2 c bread flour
1/4 tsp sugar
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 head of garlic
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

First, you'll roast your clove of garlic.  I run the clove under water and pull off any skin with dirt on it.  Then slice off the top of the head, drizzle with a little olive oil, and wrap in foil.  Bake in 425 oven for 20-25 minutes.  When your garlic is roasted and cooled to handle, squeeze out the garlic with a tongs or by hand and mash with a fork.

When your garlic is ready, start with very warm (but not hot) water in mixing bowl. Add yeast and 1/4 tsp sugar, mixing lightly. Allow to sit for 10 minutes or so, until yeast is foamy. Add 2 eggs, 2 tbs olive oil, and garlic in the bowl and mix with wood spoon.

Add flour, salt, and finely chopped rosemary and beat with dough hook on standmixer or by hand. If the dough is not holding together as a ball, add a bit more oil or water. If the dough is very sticky, add more flour. The dough is ready when it sticks together as a ball and is not sticky to the touch when you poke your finger in (5-10 minutes of beating). Turn the ball out onto a floured work surface and punch a few times until very smooth.

Place in oiled bowl and cover in plastic wrap or a towel.

Allow to rise at least one hour, preferably more (usually about an hour and a half), until dough has doubled in size. Punch down the ball in the bowl. Braid in your preferred method. Allow to rise 20-30 minutes. Top with an egg wash and a little more olive oil and a few sprigs of rosemary if you like.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, rotating 180 degrees after the first 15 minutes. You can use a bread thermometer (180-200 degrees) or poke at the seams. Foil if browning too quickly on top.

I just love how aromatic and savory this challah is. Yes, I'm usually a sweet challah gal, but I love variety now and again! The olive oil also makes the dough light and fluffy.


Shavua Tov from our bayit to yours!

Vanilla Challah

As I posted a few weeks ago, our life has been pretty sweet lately.  Exhausting, yes.  But pretty sweet.  We've been enjoying our little girl tremendously.

So where have I been?  Well, I've been around.  If you're not interested in personal details, you can skip to the recipe... But here they are: This past fall was incredibly challenging, because I began a PhD program that involved a 90 minute commute and my mother, of blessed memory, was in hospice for nearly two months after a six year battle with pancreatic cancer.  And I was in first trimester of pregnancy.  And then, this winter and spring, we ate a lot of plain challah, Nutella challah, and fresh herbed challah.  Whatever tasted good, and whatever was easy in a busy, busy time.

So, needless to say, things are a lot brighter and a lot sweeter now after a tough fall.  They're no less busy... in fact, they're kind of completely insane.  This recipe was prepared with a baby in an Ergo (save the oven opening... be safe folks), so please bear with me if anything doesn't make sense!  We're not working with too much sleep here!  In honor of this new sweetness in life, here's a sweeter challah that I tried out this past Shabbat!

3/4 c water
2 1/4 tsp active dry or instant yeast (1 packet)
2 eggs plus 1 more for egg wash
1/4 c neutral oil like vegetable or canola
3 to 3 1/2 c bread flour
3 tbsp + 1/4 tsp sugar plus additional 1/2 tsp for egg wash
1 1/4 tsp salt
1 tbsp vanilla plus additional 1 tsp for egg wash

Place very warm (but not hot) water in mixing bowl. Add yeast and 1/4 tsp sugar, mixing lightly. Allow to sit for 10 minutes or so, until yeast is foamy. Add 2 eggs, 1 tbsp vanilla, 3 tbsp sugar and vegetable oil and mix with wood spoon.

Add flour and salt and beat with dough hook on standmixer or by hand.  If the dough is not holding together as a ball, add a bit more oil or water. If the dough is very sticky, add more flour (for some reason, I needed more flour this week... perhaps it was the humidity, perhaps the additional vanilla). The dough is ready when it sticks together as a ball and is not sticky to the touch when you poke your finger in (5-10 minutes of beating). Turn the ball out onto a floured work surface and punch a few times until very smooth.

Place in oiled bowl and cover in plastic wrap or a towel.

Allow to rise at least one hour, preferably more (usually about an hour and a half), until dough has doubled in size. I only do one rise as a ball, but you can do more. I'm not convinced it does much to the texture but some people swear by it.

Punch down the ball in the bowl and remove. Punch out all air bubbles. Braid in your preferred method. Allow to rise 20-30 minutes. Top with an egg wash of 1 egg plus 1/2 tsp sugar and 1 tsp vanilla.  (Credit where credit is due, I drew on this recipe for the wash proportions.)

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, rotating 180 degrees after the first 15 minutes. You can use a bread thermometer (180-200 degrees) or poke at the seams.  Foil if browning too quickly on top.

This challah is sweet and fragrant, with an almost boozy aroma to it.  It makes me want to try brandy challah or rum challah.  While I'm not sure I'd want this as my every-week-challah, I enjoyed the mildly sweet treat.

How are you making your challot a sweet treat?  Shavua Tov from our bayit to yours!!!

Happy Purim from The Challah Blog!

On the Shabbat before Purim, we always get into the spirit a little early and make fun challot.  Here are some of our ideas from past years.

Hamantaschen Challot are an easy and fun way to surprise your guests. Baked upside down, they look like slightly triangular-shaped rolls. But flipped over -- a great surprise!

Okay, so we sometimes make Sprinkle Challah even when it's not Purim, because it's a lot of fun, and kids love it.

By now, you've probably realized how much I love mix-in challot. M&M Challah is just fun, colorful, and easy!

Shabbat Shalom and Purim Same'ah from our bayit to yours!  What's YOUR Purim costume this year?  We're having a Star Wars theme at our synagogue.

Sukkot 5773

We just barely got our sukkah up this year, so I'm so sorry no new recipes as of yet.  I'll work on one for Shabbat Sukkot!

For the first two days, we have Basic Half Batch and Pumpkin. I had about a quarter of a bag left of Trader Joe's pareve chocolate chips (boooooooo, no longer pareve), so they got added to the pumpkin this year!

Hag Sukkot Same'ah from our sukkah to yours!

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!

Maple Cinnamon Challah

I rarely make challah in loaf pans, but every so often, it seems like the right choice.  Since we're normally "tearers/rippers" in our family (as opposed to "slicers"), sliced challah only comes around when the loaf really necessitates a knife.  This challah is one of those.

For this challah, I used Trader Joe's Maple Sugar, which I have been wanting to try since I made Wisconsin Maple Syrup Challah back in March. Maple sugar is created when sap is boiled beyond the point of maple syrup and into a crystallized state. It's so sweet, and, when I opened the bag, I found out how wonderfully fragrant it is!

In this challah, I also introduced margarine into the baking process.  Margarine is not something I've ever used in bread before, and I think it does add something to the flakiness of the dough.  You could, of course, always use butter for a dairy challah.

3/4 c plus water
1/4 tsp plain white sugar
2 1/4 tsp (1 packet) active dry or instant yeast
2 eggs plus 1 more for egg wash (you can also reserve a little of the 1 egg in the dough)
1/4 cup (1/2 stick) margarine or butter, at room temperature
1 tsp salt
2 tbsp maple sugar
3 - 3 1/2 c bread flour

For the cinnamon swirl filling, adapted from Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook.

1 cup sugar
2 tbsp cinnamon
2 tbsp water

You can make this challah with or without the cinnamon swirl. If making without, simply proceed as normal with braiding. Conversely, you can simply substitute maple sugar into your own basic challah. Because maple sugar is very strong and sweet, I recommend 2 tbsp of maple sugar to replace every 1/4 tbsp sugar (about half the original quantity of sugar).

Before you start, take out your margarine and allow it to reach room temperature. Proof yeast in very warm water with the 1/4 tsp white sugar. Allow to rest about 10 minutes, or until foamy. Add the room-temperature margarine in small pieces (kind of like you would for a pie) and add the eggs. Mix gently to break the yolks and add the maple sugar, flour, and salt. I usually mix briefly before going to the dough hook on my KitchenAid.

   

I'm not sure if it was the margarine or just the humidity of baking the summer, but for this challah, I probably ended up ultimately using closer to four cups of flour. Add more as needed if you dough is not holding together. Once a ball forms, punch by hand a few times and place in an oiled bowl. Let rest for about an hour and a half until doubled in bulk.

While the dough rises, you can make the filling if you are doing a cinnamon roll challah. I've done challah with cinnamon several times before; it's definitely one of our favorite flavors. My mom's technique for cinnamon rolls is to use melted margarine or butter as a base for the cinnamon-sugar mixture. Here, I followed a recommendation in Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, where Martha suggests you simply mix the cinnamon and sugar together with a little water to create a paste. It worked really well! I think you could also sub out some of the sugar for maple sugar if desired. Definitely trying that next time!

Punch down the dough. Divide with a bench scraper (FYI: Up until just before publishing this, the recipe said "Divide with a bench press!) or sharp knife into two large pieces. Either braid as normal here or you can make the filled challah. I flattened each piece with my hand and then gave a quick roll with a rolling pin.

Add the cinnamon-sugar mixture and then fold over the two long sides. Remember, the longer your roll, the more coils of cinnamon you'll have but less soft dough. It's your preference.

Start at the top. Roll down toward you and place in an oiled loaf pan. I didn't seal my seams as good as I could have, so my cinnamon edges kind of leaked out. It made the whole loaf very sticky, but oh so crystallized and delicious!

Let rest an additional 20 minutes. Bake at 350 for 20-30 minutes, rotating halfway!

Slice and enjoy! (In the interest of journalistic integrity, I made these on Thursday night at around 10pm. The Hazz had already gone to bed, and I managed to eat about half of one of the loaves by myself. Then when I got home from work this afternoon, he had polished off the good portion of the rest. Yum! We're saving the other for Shabbat along with a Basic Challah.

Shabbat Shalom from our bayit to yours!

PS: Are you thinking about the High Holidays yet? I'm married to a Hazzan, so I'm already HEARING about them ;) But, I've got a few fun things in the works for Rosh Hashanah this year that I'm really excited about. Stay tuned and Happy Baking!

Pesto Challah

I love garden season!  Our basil has been going a bit crazy lately, so the thing to do is... of course... make homemade pesto.  And when one has fresh pesto, the thing to do is... of course... make pesto challah!

For this challah, you can use your own fresh pesto or store-purchased pesto.  When I make pesto at home, I leave out the cheese to make it parve and then freeze it.  Then I add parmesan later.  It's really up to you, but keep this in mind in case you want to serve your pesto challah with a meat meal.

 

3/4 c water 2 1/4 tsp active dry or instant yeast (1 packet)
1/4 tsp sugar
1 egg plus 1 more for egg wash
3 tbsp olive oil
3 c flour (for this recipe, I used 1/4 c white whole wheat and the rest a mixture of bread flour and unbleached all-purpose flour because that's what I had... you can use any proportion to your taste)
1 tsp salt (you may want to omit this depending on the salt quantity in your pesto, especially if it is store-purchased)
2 tbsp prepared pesto

For the homemade pesto, you'll need...

2 BIG handfuls of fresh basil
Pine nuts (about 2 tbsp)
2-5 cloves of garlic (we like it garlicky)
olive oil
pinch of salt
parmesan cheese (if desired)

To prepare the pesto, wash the basil and place in food processor. Peel and roughly slice the garlic and add with the pine nuts. Add a pinch of salt and pulse until finely chopped. You may need to wipe down the sides of the food processor with a spatula. Through the feeder tube, add the olive oil slowly to your desired consistency.

I'm always blow away that two huge handfuls of basil produce such a small amount of pesto. My yield was this little teeny tupperware full... which I divided into a mere 6 ice cubes (freezing is a great way to get just the right amount. You can freeze in ice cube trays and then pop out and put into a plastic bag).

For the challah, add the yeast and sugar to warm (but not hot) water in mixing bowl. Allow yeast to proof about 10 minutes. In the meantime, you can retrieve your pesto from the freezer and thaw it in the microwave if need-be. I used two ice cubes which was equivalent to about 2 tablespoons of pesto.

Mix the pesto into the proofed yeast. Add the egg. Since the pesto already has olive oil, I went easy on the amount of oil in this challah, adding just 3 tablespoons.

Add the flour and salt (if using). At this point, you can also add parmesan cheese if you want to make your challah for a dairy meal. Mix by hand or on a stand mixer until a ball forms. This dough is a bit more relaxed than most of my other doughs.

Place in oiled bowl and cover in plastic wrap or a towel. Allow to rise at about an hour and a half, until dough has doubled in size. Braid as normal.

Allow to rise an additional 20-30 minutes. Top with an egg wash and parmesan cheese if you like. Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes.

Surprisingly, the flavor of pesto challah is milder than the taste. You do get your garlicky goodness (which we luuuuurve!), but you can add more or less pesto to your own taste. The result is really fun and the color of the pesto plus the additional olive oil, gives the bread a lovely shade.

Have I mentioned that I LOVE garden season?

Shabbat Shalom from our bayit to yours!