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Ancient Grain Challah
Challah is an ancient bread with sacred origins in the Jewish culture. Enriched with honey or sugar, and often topped with sesame or poppy seeds, this style of bread has become popular worldwide, inside and outside the Jewish community. Whether you’re serving challah with a sprinkling of salt as part of the Sabbath, or whipping up some french toast over the weekend, there are endless ways to prepare it. It makes fantastic sandwiches or little toast points with fancy toppings for a brunch – a great bread to experiment with! You can even add raisins or chocolate and spices for an excellent babka.
Ingredients
Units
Scale
- 21 ounces sifted or whole wheat flour
- 1 tbsp instant yeast
- 2 tsp fine sea salt
- 8 ounces water (9 if using whole wheat)
- 2 whole eggs and 2 yolks
- 1/3 cup honey
- 4 tbsp vegetable oil
Instructions
- Mix dry ingredients.
- Warm water to 110 degrees; stir in honey and oil, then eggs and yolks.
- Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and combine thoroughly. The dough should be about 80 degrees after mixing. Anything under 76 degrees will significantly slow the rise.
- keep in a warm place and allow to double in volume (45-90 minutes).
- Once doubled, deflate and portion into balls with a 1/4 cup scoop and round.
- Cover rounded dough balls and allow to rest for 20-25 minutes.
- Roll the dough balls into 12-inch tapered logs and braid. You’ll find hundreds of bread braiding tutorials on youtube, from simple 3-strand patterns to intricate 12-strand creations.
- Once your loaf or loaves are braided, cover and allow to double in volume.
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees 20 minutes before baking.
- once your loaves have risen, brush with egg wash, and top with your favorite seeds.
- Bake to an internal temperature of 200 degrees.
- Cool on a wire rack and enjoy…challah is best still steaming from the oven!