Spelt Bread or Challah Spelt flour is a very nice alternative for those who are wheat sensitive. It is healthy and quite tasty, so it can be enjoyed by just about anyone. Spelt flour can also be purchased as whole grain spelt flour – which is darker, or as white spelt flour – which is…
What is the best way to freeze and defrost challah? This is a great question. Before freezing, I recommend completely cooling the challah so that the hot, steamy bottom won’t freeze with accumulated moisture, which will make the underside of the bread soggy. When your challahs come out of the oven all hot and beautiful,…
Easy and Elegant Round Challah Shaping One quick idea that I can share with you here is a very simple but beautiful knot: Make three long strands of dough and then braid them into a simple, regular braid of three. Then, holding this now long braid, knot it into a circle and bring the end…
How to Get Your Challahs to Bake More Evenly Get the perfect consistency for your challah. First step in doing this is to preheat the oven so that the temperature is even before you put your risen challahs inside. If you plan to put your challahs in after they have risen 40 minutes, then 20…
How Did You Come to Know so Much About Challah? A Taste of Challah is a cumulative work of many years of baking and experimenting with challah, yeast doughs, and bread, as well as practice with wide variety of techniques for braiding and shaping the dough. I most certainly did not start off knowing anything…
Why an Entire Book on Just Challah? Bread is a staple food item that every person, in every culture, is familiar with. Challah is unique in that it is a bread item – yet it is also, or maybe even more so, a spiritual item. Bread is a staple food item that every person, in…
Tips for challah Texture, shaping, rising, cooling, and storing: The key to successful challahs is not so much in the braiding as in the actual dough. Dough should be firm, yet not hard, pliable but not too wet, very slightly sticky and easy to work with. Using a rolling pin during the shaping process greatly…
Tip for Well Shaped Challahs Try sprinkling a very small, fine layer of flour over the strands of dough, directly before shaping them. I did it only after I connected the six strands at the top and made sure to leaves the ends of each strand unfloured. It seemed to help, although my usual challahs…
Small Dough Egg Challahs For those who wanted a small quantity dough recipe, here’s a really successful one… My 11 year old daughter makes these all by herself! Since she is not 12 years old yet, ie, bat mitzvah age, in any case she cant do the mitzvah of hafrashas challah on her own, and…
Quickie Whole-Wheat Challah This is a great, easy Erev Shabbos/ Friday morning recipe that I developed only recently. If followed exactly, your challahs should come out light and fluffy, with a delicately golden and slightly crispy crust. It makes 6 medium-sized loaves or 4 larger ones. (This size dough has the minimum amount of flour…