Easy Cinnamon Challah {Recipe} (2024)

FAQs

What is the best flour to use for challah? ›

For best flavor, we recommend substituting white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour. For best texture, allow the just-mixed dough to rest for 20 minutes before kneading; this gives the flour a chance to absorb the liquid, making it easier to handle.

Separate challah without a brocha when using flour weighing between 1.23kg and 1.67kg (between approximately 8 to 12 cups of unsifted flour or 9 and 15 cups of sifted flour). Separate challah with a brocha when using flour weighing more than 1.67kg (approximately 12cups of unsifted flour or 15 cups of sifted flour) .

One who makes dough from one of the five types of grains (wheat, barley, rye, spelt, and oats), in the amount subject to challah in order to bake it needs to separate challah from it. If challah is not taken from the dough, it is forbidden to eat the baked product.

Amount of flour: The key to a soft loaf that isn't dense is to use as little flour as possible. I start with 930 grams of flour and add up to 70 more grams based on what the dough needs. The amount of liquid in the dough will vary from loaf to loaf because “large” eggs are similar but not uniform in volume.

Best Challah Recipe ingredients

Yeast: Use active dry yeast for best results. Sugar: White Granulated Sugar will work fine. Oil: I use vegetable oil, but you can use olive oil or extra virgin olive oil too. Eggs: Lots of eggs to help the bread rise into its signature fluffiness!

Knead the dough for 6 to 8 minutes.

(Alternatively, turn out the dough onto a floured work surface and knead by hand for about 10 minutes.) If the dough seems very sticky, add flour a teaspoon at a time until it feels tacky, but no longer like bubblegum.

The yeast should be added last, after all of the dry ingredients. A crucial mistake that is often made is not passing the flour through a sieve before using it. If you don't sift the flour, the result is bread that is too dense and heavy. Sifting is what gives challah its soft, airy texture.

According to some opinions, one is obligated to separate challah when kneading dough that contains more than 2 2/3 pounds of flour. Others have the practice to separate challah only if the dough is made with close to four pounds of flour.

Place the loaf in the oven and bake. After 35 minutes of baking, check the internal temperature of the loaf with your Thermapen ONE. If the lowest temp you see is 195–200°F (91–93°C), the bread is done. Let the bread cool before slicing, then serve and enjoy!

Overrising the first rise, which is when the dough is still just a dough, can occur. Usually if it overrose just a bit, say, for an hour extra in a cold kitchen, it doesnt really matter. You simply punch it back down and go on to the shaping.

How do you prepare challah the night before? ›

Instead of letting it rise at room temperature on the counter, place the dough in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap, or place it in a large, covered container. Make sure the dough is in a large enough bowl or container and has plenty of room to rise, because it will. Refrigerate it overnight.

Reply. While most slice, there are indeed some who rip (such as Bukharian Jews). And some used to have the custom to always cut the bread with a knife except for on Friday day (before Shabbat), when they made a point to rip apart by hand and not cut.

Place the dough in a large bowl, cover with a thin layer of oil and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest and rise for 8–10 hours—overnight is perfect!

If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. If freezing, remove from freezer 5 hours before baking. Then dip your index finger in the egg wash, then into poppy or sesame seeds and then onto a mound of bread.

If the area is too warm, bread will rise too fast and begin cooking before the yeast has finished acting. This will impart a "yeasty" taste to the dough that will be transferred to the finished baked loaf. Using old ingredients (rancid nuts, "old" shortening) will cause yeast breads to taste old or have an "off" taste.

No special flour required to make the perfect loaf. Some challah recipes call for bread flour, but I use all-purpose flour and it works perfectly every time.

Bread flour is made from whole wheat flour, which gives it a more distinctive flavour and texture. It also has more gluten than all-purpose flour, which makes it tougher and more elastic.

There are lots of different types of flour used in bread, but the most commonly used in raised bread is wheat flour. This is because wheat flour contains two proteins, glutenin and gliadin , which, when combined with water, form gluten. As you knead the dough, the gluten becomes more and more stretchy.