The Perfect Challah

Admit it, you’ve eaten it, but in your mind, you’ve never been able to replicate it.

The perfect challah. For serious challah bakers and their discerning friends it’s as elusive as the chupacabra. We swear we’ve eaten it. We swear we’ve never made it. But week after week we try to create it. I have been making challah on and off since my stint at Gan HaYeled. Every Friday my classmates and I would roll out little challahs that would then disappear and reemerge as perfect glowing loaves meticulously braided and wrapped in plastic in my little yellow backpack for my family’s Sabbath enjoyment. In my mind that challah that I had “made all by myself” is the perfect challah. It’s taken on a rarified placed in my memory, the smell, the taste. I got to gets me the perfect challah.

My Aunt Sally in Austin is my challah mentor and inspiration. Every Thursday night my aunt starts the leavening process, letting her challah rise in the fridge overnight and finishing up her challah when she comes home from a full-day of work on Friday so that her beautiful family can devour her consistently delicious challah. I admire both my aunt’s ability to turn out a fabulous challah (usually two) every Shabbat even after a long hard week and her amazing patience with her family as she seeks out feedback week after week shortly after the hamotzei. I am in awe of my aunt’s good nature and respect for her family’s opinions even after all the hard work she put into the loaves. It wasn’t until I started making challah regularly myself that I started to understand my aunt’s admiration for her family’s opinions and her willingness to try new recipes. When you’re on the road to perfection, you need feedback.

Obsessive I am usually not, but give me a challah fresh out of the oven that I kneaded and rolled out myself and I become a crazy person. I seek out the opinions of family, friends, neighbors, and strangers. I pull little baggies out of my purse at bars and restaurants and other odd moments to share with friends and anxiously await their verdict. I have to stop myself from making another batch the second I put mine in the oven on Friday. I have visions of over salted, undercooked, under sweetened logs going stale, an ode to my failure. Worse still I could underestimate the deliciousness of the recipe and bake a paltry two loaf recipe and cause a scene at Shabbat when there weren’t enough perfectly formed morsels to go around.

What is a premature yenta to do? KEEP TRYING!

I'll be making other things for sure, so stay tuned and challah at me if you think yours is the perfect recipe I'm looking for!

It's only appropriate that my first post be about my favorite Friday night treat, that's right, my amazing grandmother's amazing challah. 

"Nini's Challah"

(Recipe makes two normal loaves, amounts in parenthesis make two giant loaves or three normal loaves)

2 (or 3) packages of yeast

1/3 (or 1/2) cup warm water

3 (or 5) eggs

1/2 (or 2/3) cup sugar (more or less to suit your tastes)

2 (or 4) teaspoons salt

2/3 (or 1 cup) Wesson Oil (aka canola oil, I like to do half olive oil, half Wesson)

Additional 2/3 (or 1) cup warm water

5 (or 7) cups all-purpose flour

Additional egg for egg-wash

1/4 cup corn meal (optional)

Poppy seeds or sesame seeds (optional)

Pour flour into large bowl and make a well in center. Crumble yeast into well and add water (first amount) - mix lightly. Cover the well with some of the flour and let rest in the bowl for about 5 minutes.

In separate bowl, mix eggs, sugar, salt, oil and additional water and add to flour mixture. Mix until dough leaves sides of bowl.

Turn out on floured board and knead until dough is smooth (or if you're lucky enough to have a standing mixer get out your dough hook and grab a glass of wine while the dough kneads itself for approximately 8 minutes). Add additional flour if it's looking more sticky than doughy, I use up to a cup.

Place in a large greased bowl and cover with a cotton towel. Let rise in a warm place until it doubles in size (about 2 hours). If you're making this the night before and are ready to hit the sack, put the bowl in the fridge and let rise there overnight.

Turn dough out onto a floured board once more and knead well again until dough is shiny and smooth. Don't be afraid to get in there, the dough likes it rough. You want the dough to feel as my aunt likes to say "like an earlobe".

Cover and let rise again in warm place for 30 minutes.

Remove from bowl, if you're making 3 challahs cut dough 3 equal ways, otherwise half dough then divide again in 3 pieces and braid like you would braid your hair. If you want to get more elaborate click here for additional information on braiding.Braiding can be tricky so don't be scared to add more flour to the board and a bit of canola oil to your hands. Also when you master the six-stranded challah give me a call!

To prepare baking sheet, I am a big fan of Sur La Table's Silpat Baking Mats and use them for everything I bake. If you don't have silpats, I recommend covering your baking sheet with parchment paper to avoid messy clean-up. I prefer my challah with a bit of a crusty bottom, to achieve this, spread about 1/4 cup of corn meal on the baking sheet before you put the challah onto pan (two to a pan with a few inches between). Cover braided challahs with cotton towel once more and let stand for 45 minutes. 

Pre-heat oven to 325F.

15 minutes before you are ready to bake challahs, separate egg you set aside earlier and beat yoke with 1 tablespoon of water in small bowl. Lightly brush the top of the challahs with the egg-wash and let stand 15 minutes, now is the time for poppy or sesame seeds if you so desire. 

Bake for 40-45 minutes or until brown and sounds "hollow" when tapped. If you notice your challah is browning too much for your taste, put a sheet of aluminum foil on top lightly (but don't secure it to pan).

Remove challah to cooling rack and enjoy!