Challah Recipes You Shouldn't Live Without (2024)

FAQs

Is challah better with bread flour or all purpose flour? ›

Myrna's original recipe calls for all-purpose flour, and you can substitute that here. But I find bread flour gives the challah a nice chew without making it tough, and also helps the braided loaf maintain its shape after baking.

This challah is a perfect picnic, brunch, or Saturday lunch treat, preferably accompanied by fresh fruits, wine, and a selection of cheese and prosciutto. A green salad with juicy tomatoes also goes very well with it.

As soon as the challah comes out of oven, brush liberally with honey or maple syrup (you can warm it on the stovetop or microwave it to make it easier to spread).

Challah bread offers trace amounts of the following: Niacin, which helps to turn the food you eat into energy4. Iron, a deficiency of which results in anemia 5. Thiamin, which is important metabolism6.

Amount of flour: The key to a soft loaf that isn't dense is to use as little flour as possible.

Jewish bakeries use oil so the challah can be eaten with a dairy or meat meal, but we use butter because it tastes so much better. To make a traditional loaf, you can substitute a neutral vegetable oil like canola, corn or sunflower oil.

The specific practice varies. Some dip the bread into salt before the blessing on bread. Others say the blessing, cut or tear the challah into pieces, and only then dip the pieces in salt, or sprinkle them with salt, before they are eaten. Some communities may make a nick in the bread with a cutting knife.

Shulchan Aruch (OC 167: 5) writes that one should not recite Hamotzi until condiments or salt are brought to the table, so the challah can be dipped right after hamotzi. Mishnah Berurah (167:27) explains that dipping in salt or condiments makes the first bite tasty and adds honor to the beracha.

Before taking the first bite of food, the following blessing is recited: Baruch ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha-olam, hamotzi lechem min ha'aretz. Blessed are You, Lord our God, King of the universe, who has brought forth bread from the earth.

Challah is an enriched white yeasted bread served on Fridays. More specifically, it's eaten on the Jewish sabbath (which starts on Friday at sunset and ends after dark on Saturday). Challah also plays an important role on certain Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year.

What bread is closest to challah? ›

Yes, challah bread is similar to brioche. Challah bread is typically a Jewish bread that is kosher with no dairy in it. On the other hand, brioche is a french bread made with similar ingredients and it included butter rather than an oil such as vegetable oil. Overall, they taste pretty similar.

Substituting butter: If you don't need to keep a kosher table, you can substitute melted butter for the oil in this recipe. Storage: Wrap cooled challah tightly in plastic wrap and store at room temperature for up to 5 days.

In general most people do better with Matzah, since it is always the same measurement and lower on the glycemic index than Challah. If you are determined to stick with Challah, you can lower the GI by reducing the sugar and adding Whole Wheat, Rye and/or Spelt flours, or even a combination.

Bread flour produces baked goods with more structure and chew than all-purpose flour, as all-purpose only has a protein content of 10 to 12 percent, versus the 12 to 14 percent of bread. All-purpose flour produces tender baked goods (as opposed to chewy ones) and is ideal for cakes, muffins, biscuits, piecrust, etc.

The most common problem I see is new bakers trying to create a starter with 100% all-purpose flour (or 100% bread flour). The best flour blend for creating a new sourdough starter is 50% whole-meal flour (whole wheat or whole rye) and 50% bread flour or all-purpose flour.

If you use bread flour in place of all-purpose flour, be careful not to overwork the dough: The higher protein content will increase the amount of gluten and make for a tougher finished product.

While bread flour is the best option, it can sometimes be used if you don't have bread flour. “Check the protein content,” advises Chef Jürgen, since it can vary from brand to brand, and an all-purpose flour that contains protein on the higher end of the range, 12 to 13 percent, will produce a better outcome.