Fennel and Orange-Scented Challah Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is challah yellow? ›

Challah, or egg bread as many bakeries call it, is a rich, golden bread made with more eggs than usually found in “white” breads.

If baking immediately, preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. If freezing, remove from freezer 5 hours before baking. Then dip your index finger in the egg wash, then into poppy or sesame seeds and then onto a mound of bread. Continue until bread is decorated with seeds.

The basic blueprint has stayed the same: A rich, slightly sweet bread made with flour, eggs, oil, yeast, and honey. Whether you stick to the classic, top with poppy or sesame seeds, add golden raisins, shape it, stuff it, or swirl it, challah is one of the best (and easiest) breads to make at home.

Place the dough in a large bowl, cover with a thin layer of oil and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest and rise for 8–10 hours—overnight is perfect!

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. For some novice challah makers, that braid can seem like the hardest part.

Unlike other enriched breads, a truly kosher challah is made without dairy or meat derivatives, relying on vegetable oils for fat and a contested number of eggs—which are considered pareve, or neither dairy nor meat, in the kosher laws known as kashrut.

Overrising the first rise, which is when the dough is still just a dough, can occur. Usually if it overrose just a bit, say, for an hour extra in a cold kitchen, it doesnt really matter. You simply punch it back down and go on to the shaping.

Again, the slower the rise, the more flavor your dough will develop. Be careful not to over proof your loaves; if they proof too much, the air bubbles get too big, causing them to pop and then deflate in the oven.

Amount of flour: The key to a soft loaf that isn't dense is to use as little flour as possible. I start with 930 grams of flour and add up to 70 more grams based on what the dough needs. The amount of liquid in the dough will vary from loaf to loaf because “large” eggs are similar but not uniform in volume.

The term “challah” is applied more widely to mean any bread used in Jewish rituals. On the eve of Shabbat, two loaves are placed on the table to reference the Jewish teaching that a double portion of manna fell from heaven on Friday to last through the Saturday Shabbat.

Why does challah taste so good? ›

Because of the added eggs and fat, this challah recipe has a rich flavor and wonderful texture that makes it perfect for Monte Cristo Sandwiches, french toast, or bread pudding! Challah bread is most often braided into long six-strand braids or round braided loaves.

If the area is too warm, bread will rise too fast and begin cooking before the yeast has finished acting. This will impart a "yeasty" taste to the dough that will be transferred to the finished baked loaf. Using old ingredients (rancid nuts, "old" shortening) will cause yeast breads to taste old or have an "off" taste.

Place the loaf in the oven and bake. After 35 minutes of baking, check the internal temperature of the loaf with your Thermapen ONE. If the lowest temp you see is 195–200°F (91–93°C), the bread is done. Let the bread cool before slicing, then serve and enjoy!

Brush with egg wash: Meanwhile, in a small bowl, whisk together the egg and 1 tablespoon water. Use a pastry brush to coat the challah with the egg wash. Working quickly, while the egg wash is still wet, sprinkle the sesame seeds, poppy seeds, or sprinkles liberally over the challah, if using.

The color indicates higher amounts of beta carotene, the same thing that gives carrots its color. It gives the bread better flavor, aroma, and nutritional value. Semolina flour may have also been used in the breads you mentioned. Its noticably more yellowish hue also has something to do with beta carotene.

Home made bread is often yellowish - that's the natural colour of the flour. Very white bread like you get in the shops is produced by very intensive, fast mixing, which gives a fluffy texture, and also introduces a lot of air.

Spores can travel through the air inside the package and grow on other parts of the bread (1). They're what gives mold its color — white, yellow, green, gray, or black, depending on the type of fungus.

The reaction of glucose and oxygen, enzymatically catalyzed by an oxidoreductase enzyme (e.g., glucose oxidase), produces hydrogen peroxide as a reaction by-product. Hydrogen peroxide, at certain concentrations, can tend to produce a generally undesired yellowish discoloration of a dough composition.