Whole Wheat and Oat Challah

I'm constantly searching for the perfect whole wheat challah.  I've tried upping the egg yolk quantity, mixing in warm milk, and tried and true recipes of the greats.  I've experimented with spelt, kamut, and adding in flax seeds and millet.  I keep trying, and I'm never full satisfied with the result.  Here's another experiment, and this one... we were REALLY happy with.

3/4 c water
2 1/4 tsp active dry or instant yeast (1 packet)
2 tbsp honey
2 eggs plus 1 more for egg wash
1/4 c neutral oil like vegetable or canola
1 1/2 c white whole wheat flour
1 1/2 c bread flour
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/2 c old fashioned oats

Approach this challah as you would normally bake an egg bread.  Proof the yeast in warm but not hot water with the honey.  After 10 minutes have passed (or the yeast is foamy and smells strongly), add 2 eggs and the oil.

Add the flours, cinnamon, salt, and oats.  Mix in a stand-mixer or by hand until a ball forms.

Let rest for about an hour and a half until dough has doubled in size.  Braid as normal.  Let rest an additional 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350.  Use final egg to egg wash the challah and top with honey and a few oats.  Bake for 20-30 minutes, turning halfway until internal temperature reaches 180 degrees.

This challah has inspired me to try more oat recipes or perhaps even oat flour.  The result here is quite soft, aromatic, and hearty.  Have YOU worked with oats in bread before?

Shabbat Shalom from our bayit to yours!

Rosemary Olive Oil Challah

Thanks to everyone who sent messages and comments about last week.  While I cannot say things are great, they are better.  It was important for me to be away from home and from fancy challah baking.  That said, we made basic challah, and it was delicious and loved by all.  It was exactly the Shabbat we needed.  I promise, I'm working on getting a Rye Challah recipe for you.  So, stay tuned.

This week, since I couldn't find any rye flour at my local grocery store, I decided to go with the garden again.  We have two beautiful rosemary bushes in our garden--one regular and one creeping.

I've used rosemary in challah before, but for this challah, I wanted to experiment with a pretty high content of olive oil.  We use Trader Joe's extra virgin, and we're very happy with the flavor and the price!

I was inspired by A Hint of Honey's Rosemary Olive Oil Bread, which uses a mixture of white whole wheat and bread flour.

1/2 c plus 2 tbsp water
1/4 tsp raw sugar (white sugar is fine if that's what you have)
1 1/2 tsp active dry or instant yeast
1 egg plus 1 more for egg wash (you can also reserve a little of the 1 egg in the dough)
1/4 c olive oil
2 1/4 - 2 1/2 c flour (I used about 3/4 c white whole wheat and the rest bread flour)
3/4 tsp salt
2 sprigs of fresh rosemary

This recipe is on the small side, and will yield one medium-sized loaf or two quite small loaves. Perfect for dinner for two!

Mix very warm but not hot water together with the yeast and sugar.  Let rest for about 10 minutes.  During this time, you can go out to your garden and harvest some fresh rosemary!  I chose to use the creeping rosemary for this recipe, because the leaves (are they leaves?) are smaller and I think the flavor is a bit more delicate.

Add egg and olive oil and mix with a wooden spoon.  Add the flour (use any combination of whole wheat, bread flour, or unbleached all-purpose), salt, and 1 to 1 1/2 sprigs of rosemary, chopped.  Knead by hand or on a stand mixer until a ball forms.  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 and remove. Punch out all air bubbles.  Braid in your preferred method. Allow to rise 20-30 minutes. Top with an egg wash (I use the yolk and white) and the remaining rosemary.

Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes or until the internal temperature reaches 180 degrees.

Can I just say how much I love garden-season Shabbatot?  Oh, I've already said that?  Well, I'm  saying it again.  This Shabbat, it's zucchini and patty pan squash soup, beef and tofu with garden oregano, rosemary olive oil challah, stuffed garden tomatoes, and kale salad with garden cucumbers.  We made extra, so come on over!


Shabbat Shalom from our bayit to yours!!!

Flax Seed and Millet Bread

Sometimes, during the middle of the week, you just need fresh baked bread. And sometimes, you decide that two hours before dinner is supposed to be on the table. (So you can't make that wonderfully amazing 18-hour Hunger Games bread.) So you improvise with all the random grains you have in your cupboard.

Here's what I came up with to go with a Thursday night mushroom and white bean soup... Flax Seed and Millet Bread with white whole wheat!

3/4 c warm but not hot water
2 1/4 tsp active dry or instant yeast
1 1/2 tbsp basswood honey
1 egg, beaten and divided
1/4 c neutral oil (I used canola)
1 c bread flour plus a little more
1 c white whole wheat flour plus a little more
1 tsp salt
1 heaping tbsp flax seed
1 heaping tbsp millet

I found some basswood honey at one of our fancy local grocery stores. I love the strong, almost tang of basswood honey, and I think it matches well with whole wheat.. tames it a bit of if you will.

Proof the yeast in the warm water and basswood honey.  Let rest for about 10 minutes and then add the oil.  I beat the egg in a small drinking glass and poured most but not all of it in the mixture, reserving a small amount for the end to wash the bread.

Add a heaping cup of white whole wheat flour and a heaping cup of bread flour.  Sprinkle in the salt, flax seed, and millet.  Mix by hand or in a stand mixer on 2 until the dough holds together as a ball.  Add more flour as needed.  I think I was under a total of 3 cups, but I'm really not totally sure.  I was improvising after all.

I was feeling festive but didn't want to make the loaf too Shabbos-y (yes, I just turned that into an adjective).  So, I gave it a round braid.

As with most round braids, you need to bake them just a touch longer and usually foil them on top so they don't over brown with the inside doughy.  Bake at 350 for 25-35 minutes, turning halfway.

Enjoy with a yummy dinner. Here's a link to the soup recipe (which is even pareve!).

What breads have you improvised recently?  Did they turn out?  Were they soft and chewy like this one with just a little crunch of those millet and flax seeds?  I could definitely see this one as a challah for a nice, healthy Shabbat dinner.

Shabbat Shalom from our bayit to yours!

Honey Wheat Challah Revisited (1/2 batch version)

I've never been happy with my wheat challah.  I keep trying to create something successful, and I never reach that success.  It's always tough and dry.  I've read a few suggestions around LeInterwebs... beating the eggs to soft peaks, adding milk, and adding extra egg yolks.  So, this time I figured I'd try the last option.  Extra eggs.  Here's what you'll need...

3/4 c water
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast
1 tbsp honey
3 egg yolks plus 1 egg for wash (you can actually save the whites for a day in the fridge)
1/4 c canola oil
1 1/2 c white flour
1 1/2 c white whole wheat flour
1 tsp salt

Proceed as normal, as you would with my traditional 1/2 batch.

For this challah, I decided--more out of practicality than design--to give a second rise.  So, after the dough has doubled in bulk (about 1 1/2 hours), punch down and allow to rise again.

When I took this dough out of the bowl, I had high aspirations.  That it would be light and fluffy like my white flour challah.  It. Was. Not.  It was just as stiff and heavy as all my other wheat challot.  When I poked my finger in it, the hole would stay there.

Not to be completely dissuaded, I attempted to braid this challah, said a quick prayer and baked at 350 for 25 minutes (click here to read about how I really start at 375 and then turn the oven down...)

You can see hear how the strands even when rolling wanted to break apart. Didn't seem very elastic.

Success! Well, they looked pretty.

However, in the interest of journalistic integrity, one of the strands managed to completely escape from beneath the challah.  Thus, my challah had a bit of an extra arm.

But, here's the truth: This IS the best whole wheat challah I've ever made.  I know it's not completely whole wheat.  But, as I write this post 24 hours after baking, the bread is still chewy, flavorful, and actually surprisingly light and fluffy.  I think {science people, feel free to jump in} it has something to do with the fats in the egg yolks {you know, the really tasty, really unhealthy part} and how they interact with the whole wheat.

I'm getting closer to the perfect wheat challah, haverim.  Closer.  Closer.  Have YOU had success with whole wheat flour?  I'd love to hear your thoughts!

Guest Post: Root Beer Challah

It's The Hazz's first guest post!  Who is the Hazz, you might ask?  Well, he's my dashing husband, kneading expert, and challah-tasting-critic (although he tends to say "This might be the best challah you've ever made" every week). 

With Amanda out of town for the weekend staffing a Kadima convention, The Hazz decided to experiment with a new recipe: Root Beer Challah! After searching for several recipes for root beer bread online, I decided on the one found on root-beer.org. In addition to root beer, it also includes whole wheat flour (a little less than half), shortening* {see footnote} and molasses. Using these added ingredients, I meticulously estimated the proper amount of each to fit the proportions of Amanda's half-batch recipe.

Using my favorite brand of root beer: Sprecher, I mixed exactly (more or less) two thirds of the bottle with the shortening and heated the mixture in the microwave to precisely the approximate temperature Amanda recommends. I added the salt which created a nice sparkling effect when it hit the root beer--those who enjoyed kitchen chemistry experiments as children will appreciate this--followed by the molasses which, true the cliché, is rather slow. Next came the yeast, the oil, the flour, the stand-mixing and the kneading.

I let the dough rise twice, just because I had heard it would have a nice effect. I made one loaf into a three braid and then attempted several times to make a four braid, failing each time even more than the last (not for any lack of proper instruction from the challah blog, just my own ineptness) before settling for two three braids. I placed the loaves in the oven and baked them at 350 for about 45 minutes precisely.

The result was rather tasty. There was only a modest taste of root beer but distinct nonetheless. The softness also lasted several days which was nice.


If I were to try this recipe again, I might do a few things differently:

1. In using Amanda's half-batch recipe, I accidently used the amount of oil from the full batch. This wasn't so bad except that I had to use a lot more flour to compensate for the extra moisture which may have diluted the root beer flavor.  {Note from The Mrs: We weren't paid anything and did not receive anything from Sprecher to make this challah.  We just really love our local brewer.}
2. I used Sprecher root beer since it is both my favorite and a local delicacy. It's one downside is that it uses an additive sweetener which we try to avoid in our cooking/baking. Next time I might use an all natural brand.
3. Amanda recommends not mixing the salt and yeast directly together as it can kill the yeast. This was not a problem with this batch but I would hold off on the salt until later to be safe.

NEXT UP: Coffee Milk {the Official State Drink of the State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations} Challah!


*{Footnote}* The recipe also lists lard as an option but given the difficulty in finding kosher lard, I went the vegetable shortening.

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!

Sukkot 5772: Kamut Challah

I'm having so much fun with my King Arthur Flours, and for Sukkot, I tried making Kamut Flour Challah. King Arthur Flour's website says:

Discover the goodness of ancient grains. This Egyptian relative of wheat, now cultivated in North America, adds fiber, protein, and a slightly sweet taste to all your baking.

I'm not actually 100% sure I can even use Kamut Flour as challah, so please feel free to weigh in.  My research leads me to believe that is a wheat.  The exact origin of Khorasan What/Kamut is not known, but I read a few places that think it might be somewhere in the Fertile Crescent, which seems appropriately Biblical.  I did find this amazing hieroglyphic on Kamut, the name which comes from the hieroglyph for wheat.

Source

According to the website (the grain is patented), KAMUT® khorasan wheat shall:

1. Be the ancient khorasan variety of wheat
2. Be grown only as a certified organic grain
3. Have a protein range of 12 – 18%.
4. Be 99% free of contaminating varieties of modern wheat.
5. Be 98% free of all signs of disease.
6. Contain between 400 and 1000 ppb of selenium
7. Not be used in products in which the name is deceptive or misleading as to the content percentage
8. Not be mixed with modern wheat in pasta

So, here's what I did for my Kamut Challah (yield 3 small or 2 medium round loaves)

3/4 c water
2 1/2 tsp active dry yeast (I actually used fresh yeast, but this is the quantity to use)
1 tbsp honey
1 eggs plus 1 more for egg wash
1/4 c vegetable oil
1 1/2 c bread flour
1 1/2 c kamut flour
1 1/4 tsp salt

Proceed as you would with the Basic Challah. The dough reminded me a lot of Spelt Challah. Dense. Beyond belief. Like polenta. But it did rise quite lovely. I wasn't feel adventurous enough to tackle anything more than a coil with this heavy loaf. But I was still pleased, they were really quite lovely :) I snuck a taste with a small role, and I totally prefer this to both Whole Wheat and Spelt Challah!


Hag Sukkot Same'ah from our Bayit Sukkah to yours :)

Midweek Loaf: Martha Stewart's Honey Whole Wheat Bread

If you're a follower of The Mrs.'s personal blog (it's not really all that interesting... so I'm not hurt if you're not), you'll know that she recently left her day job in pursuit of a few other exciting work opportunities and to begin work on my PhD in musicology.  On the home front, this is going to result in either amazing healthy eating or complete gluttony.  This week, we've enjoyed margherita pizza, zucchini chocolate chip muffins, and Martha Stewart's Honey Whole Wheat Bread.  I actually followed the recipe out of Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook, however, the linked version is just about the same.

Since we're just a family of two, I halved all the ingredients.  I know the purists out there will tell me I should have dragged out my kitchen scale and weighed for more accuracy (the Baking Handbook uses both weights and cup measures), but I was being lazy.

My favorite thing about this recipe was making the flour well.  It was a nice method, but to be honest, I'm not really sure what the purpose of it is.

I'm still not sure I have the crust quite right.  I'd like to try doing steam baths and water washes in the oven, but I don't know if my oven can be that fancy.  Since I'm not a big fan of whole wheat challah, but I am a fan of wheat bread, I'm hoping this will make the challah a lot special on Shabbat.

Do YOU save white flour for Shabbat?  Have any go-to non-challah breads or baked goods?