Making Auntie Sally’s Challah

Here it is… I’m making this old family recipe (or at least, an old family-member’s recipe) as I said I would this Shabbos, and although I have said all along that I don’t like an eggy challah, hers is a delight to knead, as are many rich doughs. 

The texture of this dough is quite supple:  smooth, even a bit glossy.  There’s a sheen that doesn’t quite come across in these pictures.  More like Silly Putty than Play-Doh, if that’s helpful.

breaddo 027 breaddo 028 breaddo 029

It’s a very heavy dough:  with four and a half eggs, a cup of oil and a cup of sugar, I mean that quite literally.  I was surprised that it seemed to tire my hands out a bit quicker than other challah doughs.

Here, Ted continues to hold the camera (those are his pictures above) and pretend to be impressed while I demonstrate the Gluten Windowpane, stretching out the dough into a rectangle to reveal – gasp! – my hand on the other side! 

Besides being a cool trick, this shows us that the dough is ready for its first nap.

This recipe calls for THREE rises – 1) resting the dough, kneading again, 2) resting again, kneading again, resting again, THEN finally shaping the challah.  Phew!

Oh – before I forget, here’s the formula that I used this evening:

  • · 8 cups of flour = 1120g
  • · 1 cup of sugar + 1 tsp for proofing yeast = 200g (+ 1 tsp!)
  • · 1 cup of oil = 220g no, I measured and this was more like 210g
  • · 1 tsp salt = 4.8g
  • · 5 eggs, divided: 4 for the challah, 1 white for the challah, 1 yolk reserved for painting the challahs at the end
  • · 4 tsp yeast = 24g
  • · 2 cup of water, divided: 1 cup (240g) to proof the yeast, 1 more (240g) “if you need it.”

It was too dry, so I added 2/3 cup of water – too much!  Then added just a “sprinkle” of flour so I could keep on kneading, and it was just right.

Final dough weight: 2205g.  (technically, 205g more than my scale can take!!!)

Comments

Know what else you're gonna love?

Baking in Israel? Beware of FAKE condensed milk

Janis Dohmann’s (and now my) Pecan Pie

Mmm… kichelicious!

More delicious kosher morsels!