Sweetchallahbread Recipes

SWEET CHALLAH BREAD

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl, stir together the water, honey and yeast.
• Let stand for 5 minutes.
• Stir in 1 cup bread flour, and cover with a towel.
• let stand for 30 minutes.
• Stir in the olive oil, whole egg, and egg yolks until very well mixed.
• Add the salt, sugar, and the rest of the flour.
• You should have a sticky dough Pour dough out onto a well floured surface and knead, adding flour as you need it, for 10 minutes.
• Place dough in a large greased mixing bowl and let rise for 1 hour.
• Place dough in the refrigerater and let rise over night or at least 6 hours.
• Turn dough out on a corn mealed surface and cut it into two proportional pieces.
• Cut and braid the two dough balls, place in two loaf pans or form the Jewish circle with them.
• Let dough rise for 1 hour and preheat your oven to 375F.
• Beat 1 egg with the tablespoon of water and brush the doughs with the egg wash TWICE.
• Sprinkle with poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or cinnamon sugar, optional.
• Bake for 30 to 40 minutes, you may have to cover the breads with foil to stop them from browning to much after 15 or 20 minutes.
• Remove the breads from the oven and either place them in plastic bags to get a soft crust or place them on wire racks until cooled completely before storing for a crisp crust (I personally don't wait for either and just eat it right out of the oven).
• Serving Sugestions: Make grilled sandwiches with breads, baked beans, bread pudding, thick beef stew, olive oil with herbs and black pepper, good old fashion butter.
• **Ifyou would like a cheesey challah bread, just sprinkle on your favorite cheese in the last 2 minutes of baking ENJOY!

DELICIOUS SWEET CHALLAH

Steps:

• Proof the yeast: Place the 1/2 cup warm water, yeast, 1 tbl sugar in a large glass measuring cup or bowl. Set aside until yeast gets bubbly.
• In a separate bowl, combine the 2 cups sugar, boiling water, salt, and oil.
• Crack eggs into large bowl (or your mixer bowl). Add proofed yeast, mix again. Add the sugar/water mixture. Mix thoroughly.
• Add the flour in batches, incorporating well each time.
• Knead dough for 10-15 minutes, adding flour as needed until you get that earlobe texture.
• Place dough in a large bowl (greased), cover with a damp towel and let rise in a warm place for about 2 hours, punching down in the interim.
• Turn out dough onto floured surface. Separate the piece of dough with the blessing if you make it.
• Divide dough into 6-7 pieces, and shape into challah according to your favorite style. (You can braid three strands, four strands, six strands -- whatever!).
• (At this point you can freeze some of the shaped challot to bake later on.).
• Let rise another 30 minutes or so.
• Brush each loaf with beaten egg. Sprinkle with seeds.
• Bake at 350F for about 30 minutes or until it sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

SWEET CHALLAH BREAD-FOR BEGINNERS AND EXPERTS

Steps:

• Boil approximately one cup of water. Add enough cool water to reach 1 1/2 cups. Put your finger in the water and count to ten. If you cannot keep your finger in that long then your water is too hot and let it cool but it should still feel hot to the touch. Now you are ready to add the yeast. Dissolve the yeast well in the water and stir. Now add the sugar. After a couple of minutes the yeast and water should start bubbling up and that tells you that it is working. If it doesn't bubble up you must throw out the yeast and start over.
• Sift your flour into an extra large bowl. You don't have to sift the flour but your results will not be as wonderful.
• In a separate bowl combine remaining ingredients except for the salt and mix well. Now add egg mixture to the flour mixture. Add yeast mixture and begin combining. Add salt before dough is fully combined. Now you can start mixing with your hands. Turn dough over and over and punch down again and again until the dough feels smooth and pops back up when you push it down. If it feels too sticky add a couple of tablespoons of flour at a time until you have reached the right consistency (the dough should not stick to your hands). You are now ready to let the dough rise. Spray the large bowl with oil spray as well as the top of the dough. Cover with a towel that is wet with warm water (but not dripping). Keep in mind that the dough will expand to about two to three times it's original size so your bowl needs to accomodate that. After your dough has reached a good size you can form you challah into desired shapes which is typically braided. Place in baking pan with room left to expand. Cover once again and allow to rise to double it's size. Now you can glaze the challah with a thin layer of egg white and sprinkle on desired topping. Place in a heated 350 oven for approximately 40 minutes. You know it is ready when the tops are nicely browned and when you turn over your challah and tap the bottoms you'll hear a hollow thumping sound. Enjoy!

JACK'S SWEET CHALLAH BREAD

Steps:

• In small bowl, combine water and dry dairy cream and mix until completely dissolved.
• In 4qt to 6qt glass mixing bowl, combine 3 cups flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast. Whisk until well incorporated.
• Add egg, egg yolks, canola oil, and vanilla to water mixture. Whisk until well incorporated.
• Add wet mixture to dry mixture and mix until incorporated.
• Add one cup of flour and mix.
• Add 1/2 cup flour onto top of mixture and 1/2 cup flour onto work surface.
• Dump mixture onto counter and knead the flour into the dough mixture.
• Knead for 10 minutes adding a teaspoon of flour at a time to work surface until dough is soft but not sticking to hands. Resist temptation to add too much flour. The dough should be slightly sticky and soft when finished.
• Place saucepan of water on stove to boil.
• Meanwhile, remove the dough from mixing bowl. Wash bowl and dry with the towel that you will use to cover the rising dough. Pour 1 tsp of oil in bowl. Place dough in bowl and turn dough to coat it with oil.
• Cover bowl with the damp towel. Place the bowl of dough on the middle rack of oven. Place saucepan of boiling water below the rack where your dough sits. Close the oven, but do not turn it on. The pan of hot water will create a warm, moist environment for your dough to rise. Let the dough rise for 1 hour.
• Remove the bowl and gently punch down dough to remove air pockets. Place it back inside the oven and let it rise for 1 hour longer.
• After one hour has passed, prepare egg wash by beating the egg whites, salt and water until smooth.
• Remove dough from oven. Flour work surface. Punch dough down and turn dough out onto floured surface. Knead for a few minutes, adding flour as needed to keep the dough from feeling sticky. Now your dough is ready to braid.
• Divide your dough in half. Place one half in rising bowl and cover.
• Divide second half into four equal pieces. Roll each piece into a strand approximately 14" long, tapered at each end. Place strands on work surface parallel to each other. Pinch the far end of strands together.
• Separate strands at the end closest to you for room to weave the braid. Take the right-most strand and weave it over, under, and over the adjacent three strands. Repeat process until braiding is finished. Pinch ends closest to you together and fold under the loaf.
• Place the braided loaf on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
• Brush a thin layer of the egg mixture onto the visible surface of the loaf.
• Repeat process for second half of dough.
• Let the challot rise 45 minutes or so. You know that the dough is ready to bake when you press your finger into the dough and the indentation remains rather than bouncing back.
• Heat oven to 350°F Sprinkle a pinch or so of granulated sugar over each loaf and bake for 20 minutes. After 20 minutes, remove each loaf from oven and coat the center of the braid with a thin layer of egg wash. This area tends to expand during baking, exposing areas that will turn white unless they are coated with egg wash.
• Place the loaves back into the oven and bake for an additional 15 to 20 minutes.
• Remove loaves from oven and test for doneness by turning it over and tapping on the bottom of the loaf-if it makes a hollow sound, it's done. Let loaves cool on the baking sheet for a few minutes, then a wire cooling rack before serving.
• Substitutions/Variations/Notes:.
• The 1-1/2 cups liquid may be water, soy milk, dairy milk, or the mixture that I recommended. Warm this liquid to approximately 125°F to activate the instant yeast nestled in the dry mixture.
• The vanilla is optional. Do not use imitation vanilla.
• Feel free to add 1/2 cup to 1 cup regular or golden raisins or similar dried fruit.
• Melted or room temperature butter or margarine may be substituted for the oil, using the same quantity.
• You may add one additional egg yolk. I find that using the white of the egg dries out the bread. However, you could use three whole eggs, one egg plus two or three egg yolks.
• You may substitute 1/2 cup honey for the sugar.
• You can proof the instant yeast for this recipe: In measuring cup: 1/2 cup 110° water, dissolve 1 tsp sugar, dissolve 1 Tbsp yeast. Should double in measuring cup in 10 to 15 minutes. Apply to recipe. Reduce hot water (liquid) by 1/2 cup.

SIMPLE SWEET CHALLAH BREAD (THE WAY IT SHOULD BE)

Steps:

• 1. Note: I used a stand mixer for this recipe but it can easily be done by hand or with a hand mixer) Start by letting your mixing bowl get warm by running it under hot water for a minute and then drying it off before adding anything to it.
• 2. Dump the cup of hot water, 1/3 cup sugar, and 2 yeast packets into the bowl and mix it up by hand and let it sit in a warm place for 10 minutes until foamy. (This activates the yeast)
• 3. In another bowl, mix the 2 whole eggs and the 2 egg yolks with the salt and honey until incorporated and let it sit while the yeast gets going. Save the egg whites for the egg wash.
• 4. After 10 minutes, add the melted butter to the yeast mixture and stir by hand. Then add the honey/egg mixture and give it a good stir by hand until you feel no honey stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
• 5. This is where the stand mixer comes in handy. Attach the bowl to the stand and add in 1 cup of bread flour and stir on medium/low with the paddle attachment until smooth-ish. Repeat with 1 cup of all purpose flour, again with read flour, and one more time with all purpose flour.
• 6. After all the flour has been mixed in, scrape the bowl with a spatula and le it go on medium for about a minute. It should be sticky and the dough should be loose and feathery. If it's still too runny (depending on climate)add in 1/4 cup more all purpose flour and mix one more time and you should be good to go.
• 7. Microwave a large glass mixing bowl and coat completely with vegetable oil- then add in the dough and toss it around a couple times until it's also coated with oil. Loosely cover with a piece of plastic wrap and let it sit in a warm, draft free place. I like to use a lightly warmed oven. (I'll turn it on the warm setting for a few minutes and then turn it off before putting the bowl in there.)Now just let the dough sit in there for 1 hour, no less.
• 8. Then take it out, punch it down and dump onto a clean, floured work surface to braid.I like to toss it in the flour a little to make it a little less sticky before attempting to braid, it makes a smaller mess. after getting it nicely coated with flour, cut into 3 equal pieces for one loaf, or 6 equal pieces for 2 loaves. Then roll out to about a 2 inch diameter and braid each. Once braided, pinch and tuck the ends under to make it pretty.
• 9. Now put it onto whatever pan you're using to make it. a half sheet pan works nicely for a full loaf or baking both small loaves at once. Put a piece of parchment paper on the pan (very necessary, trust me)and put the bread in the middle. Put it back in the oven for another 45 minutes to an hour to rise.
• 10. Remove the bread and heat the oven to 350. Once heated, bake the bread on the middle/top rack. Here's a little trick of mine. The bread bakes for 30 minutes total, however I do not apply the egg wash until it has baked for 10-12 minutes. This keeps it from getting it too brown. Another thing I do it right when it hits the color I want (which is at about 20 minutes) I rotate the pan and cover loosely with a foil tent. This stops the browning but allows the bread to remain nice and shiny and beautiful. After 30 minutes, take it out and remove it from the pan, but leave it on the parchment paper for 10 minutes before you tear, slice or anything. It keeps the bread more moist. Enjoy!! It also makes AMAZING french toast, garlic bread, whatever :)