Guatemalan Challah Recipes

MOST AMAZING CHALLAH

Steps:

• Sprinkle the yeast over the water in a large bowl, and stir gently to moisten the yeast. Stir in salt, sugar, margarine, and 4 eggs, and beat well. Gradually mix in the flour, 1 cup at a time, up to 12 cups, until the dough becomes slightly tacky but not wet. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, 8 to 10 minutes.
• Grease baking sheets, or line them with parchment paper and set aside.
• Cut the bread dough into 4 equal-sized pieces (or 2 pieces to make 2 large loaves). Cut each piece into thirds for 3-strand braided loaves. Working on a floured surface, roll the small dough pieces into ropes about the thickness of your thumb and about 12 inches long. Ropes should be fatter in the middle and thinner at the ends. Pinch 3 ropes together at the top and braid them. Starting with the strand to the right, move it to the left over the middle strand (that strand becomes the new middle strand.) Take the strand farthest to the left, and move it over the new middle strand. Continue braiding, alternating sides each time, until the loaf is braided, and pinch the ends together and fold them underneath for a neat look. Repeat for the remaining loaves.
• Place the loaves onto the prepared baking sheets, and let rise until double in size, 1 to 1 1/2 hours.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Whisk 1 egg with vanilla extract in a small bowl, and brush the loaves with the egg wash. Sprinkle each loaf with about 1 tablespoon of sesame seeds.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the tops are shiny and golden brown, about 30 minutes. Let cool before slicing.

GUATEMALAN CHALLAH

Steps:

• In a large bowl, whisk together the yeast and 3/4 cup of the flour, then whisk in the warm water until smooth. Let sit uncovered for 20 minutes, or until it begins to ferment and puff up slightly.
• Whisk 2 eggs, oil, salt, sugar and cardamom into the puffed yeast slurry until the eggs are well incorporated and the salt and sugar are dissolved.
• Stir in the remaining flour all at once. When the mixture is a shaggy ball, scrape it out onto your work surface and knead it until smooth and soft, no more than 10 minutes. Knead in the raisins just until they are equally distributed.
• Place the dough in the bowl and cover, set aside to rise until doubled in bulk, up to 2 hours depending on the temperature of your kitchen.
• Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Divide the dough into two 1-pound portions for loaves, or 16 rolls.
• Braid or shape as desired, position on the prepared sheets and cover again to rise until tripled in size, up to 1 1/2 hours.
• Thirty minutes before baking, put oven racks in upper and lower third positions and preheat to 350°F.
• Beat remaining egg with a pinch of salt for glazing the bread.
• When the loaves have tripled in size and stay indented when gently pressed with a fingertip, brush with the egg glaze. If desired, sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.
• Bake rolls for 15-20 minutes, loaves for 25-35 minutes, until well-browned. You may tent them with foil if they are browning too quickly.
• Remove from oven to cool on racks.
• Freezes well.