Delicioussweetchallah Recipes

SWEET CHALLAH

Steps:

• Mix the yeast, 1/3 cup of sugar, and warm water together in a large bowl, stir to dissolve the sugar, and let the mixture stand until a creamy layer forms on top, about 5 minutes. Stir in 3 cups of flour to make a loose sponge.
• In a separate bowl, beat 4 eggs, 1/2 cup of vegetable oil, 1 tablespoon of salt, and 1 cup of sugar together, and stir the egg mixture into the yeast-flour mixture until well combined. Continue mixing in flour, 1 cup at a time, up to 9 total cups. Dough should be slightly sticky, but not so wet that it leaves dough stuck to your hands.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead for 5 minutes to develop gluten. Form the dough into a compact round shape, and place in an oiled bowl. Turn the dough over several times in the bowl to oil the surface of the dough, cover the bowl with a cloth, and let rise in a warm area until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Punch down the dough and knead for another 5 minutes, until smooth and elastic.
• Grease baking sheets, or line with parchment paper. To make egg glaze, whisk together 1 egg, 1 teaspoon oil, 2 teaspoons sugar, and 1 teaspoon of water in a small bowl, and refrigerate until needed.
• Cut the dough into 4 pieces, and cut each piece into 3 smaller pieces for a 3-strand braided loaf. Working on a floured surface, roll the small dough pieces into ropes about the thickness of your thumb and about 12 inches long. Ropes should be fatter in the middle and thinner at the ends. Pinch 3 ropes together at the top and braid them. Starting with the strand to the right, move it to the left over the middle strand (that strand becomes the new middle strand.) Take the strand farthest to the left, and move it over the new middle strand. Continue braiding, alternating sides each time, until the loaf is braided, and pinch the ends together and fold them underneath for a neat look. Place the loaves onto the prepared baking sheets, and let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, 30 to 45 minutes. Brush a coating of egg glaze onto the tops of the bread, and reserve the remaining glaze.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake the bread in the preheated oven for 20 minutes, remove from the oven, and brush another coating of glaze onto the bread. Return to the oven, and bake until the tops are shiny and golden brown, 5 to 10 more minutes. Let cool before cutting.

BEST PULL-APART JEWISH CHALLAH RECIPE BY TASTY

Steps:

• Dissolve active dry yeast in warm water. Add 1 tsp sugar and stir, activating yeast - the yeast should foam. (This should take 5 to 10 minutes).
• In a stand mixer, mix one egg, sugar, oil, and salt together. To this, add two cups of flour and mix.
• Add activated yeast to flour and mix well. Then, add the remaining flour until dough forms and is kneadable.
• On a clean surface, very lightly sprinkle flour and knead dough. Let stand on the counter for one hour and then punch down to deflate. Shape into a ball.
• Next, place dough in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate overnight or for at least 10 hours.
• The next day, preheat the oven to 350°F. Punch down dough and knead for an additional. 5 minutes. Form into a ball and cut this into 3 equal pieces.
• Roll out the pieces into strands and let rest for 5 minutes. Then, roll out a second time - strands should have become a little more elastic at this point.
• Braid into a loose challah, being careful not to braid too tightly as the dough will rise again once down.
• Now, allow dough to rise for another 30 minutes until doubled in size. To test, gently poke a finger into the dough - if it's ready, this should leave a dent that slowly bounces back.
• Once ready, whisk room temperature egg until homogenized to create an egg wash. Use a pastry brush to apply this onto the entire top of the challah. If desired, add sesame seeds at this step (optional).
• Place challah on a baking sheet and bake for 30 minutes or until light golden brown.
• Remove from the oven, let rest, and serve.
• 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 HONEY AND SAFFRON CHALLAH

Steps:

• 1. Place the saffron into the cup of hot water and stir to dissolve. Pour into a large bowl. Pour in the honey and whisk until dissolved. Add the yeast and stir again. Add 1 1/2 cups of the flour and stir to mix everything together. Cover with a clean dish cloth and let sit for 30 minutes.
• 2. Meanwhile, in another bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer, place 2 1/2 cups of the flour, the sugar, salt, and margarine. Using a whisk, an electric mixer, or the whisk attachment of a stand mixer, cut the margarine into the dry ingredients until it looks like sand and there are no big clumps of margarine.
• 3. After the half hour, the yeast mixture should have changed: It will either look thick, have bubbles, or have increased in size. If the mixture has not changed, your yeast may be dead and you should dump that mixture and make a new one with new yeast. Beat 2 of the eggs in a small bowl. Add the eggs to the yeast mixture and mix using a wooden spoon or silicone spatula. Add the flour and margarine mixture in three parts, mixing well after each addition. With your hands or a dough hook on the stand mixer, knead the dough and add 1/4 cup of the flour. If the dough remains sticky, add another 1/4 cup of flour. Add more flour, a tablespoon at a time, until the dough is no longer sticky and feels soft when you slide your hand across it.
• 4. Wash the bowl, dry it, and rub the oil round the bowl. Add the dough and rub the top with the oil on your hands. Cover with a dish towel and let rise 1 1/2 hours.
• 5. Sprinkle the top of the cookie with the remaining teaspoon of sugar. Slide the parchment onto a cookie sheet and bake for 35 to 37 minutes, until the edges start to look golden. Remove from the oven and immediately cut the cookie into 8 or 12 large wedges or about eighteen 1 x 3-inch bars, if you like. If you wait until the cookie cools to cut it, you will not get nice clean edges. 5. Place the dough on a floured surface and punch it down to remove air pockets. Divide the dough into 2 or 3 balls, depending on how many challahs you will bake. Divide each ball into three pieces. Roll the three pieces into strands the same length, shorter for a fatter challah, longer for a long and narrow challah. Braid the strands. *See instructions in "Braiding Challah" below.
• 6. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Let rise another 1 1/2 hours. Beat the remaining egg and brush the challahs with the egg.
• 7. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Bake for 35 minutes, or until the top is browned and when you lift the challah and tap on the bottom, it sounds hollow. Remove the challahs to a wire rack to cool.

THE CHALLAH LADY'S HEAVENLY CHALLAH

Steps:

• Dissolve yeast, water, and 1 tablespoon of sugar in a bowl until nice and bubbly.
• Add rest of sugar and oil.
• Add eggs and mix well.
• Pour mixture into extra-large bowl. Add sifted flour.
• Add salt.
• I do not use bread machine so these are my direction for doing it by hand:.
• Combine flour with rest of the ingredients with your extra flour close at hand as you will need it. Combine and combine by squeezing, turning the dough over and punching the dough down again and again. Add flour as needed until it feels smooth and not sticky at all. The dough should bounce back very quickly when you punch it down.( You will be kneading the dough for about 10-15 minutes). If the dough feels too dry because you added too much flour then tablespoon by tablespoon add a little oil and alternately with water if needed.
• Oil your large bowl, place your dough inside and then oil the top of the dough as well (can use an oil spray) and place your dough in a warm spot in your kitchen. Cover the dough with a wet towel (not dripping wet) and wait until it has doubled in size.
• Braid or shape into loaves.
• Let rise until the loaves double in size.
• Paint loaves with an egg-white and sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds.
• Bake at 350 for 45-60 minutes until the challah are golden brown and the bottoms make a hollow noise when you give a little patting to them.

MOM'S CHALLAH

Steps:

• Dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk yeast and water to fully dissolve yeast. Add sugar, orange juice, salt, melted butter, and 2 eggs, and whisk to combine. Then add raisins and flour. Attach a dough hook and mix on low speed just until the dough comes together and is not sticky. Mix an additional 2 minutes, the last 15 seconds on medium speed.
• Turn dough onto a work surface and knead a few times to bring it together, then place in a large buttered bowl. Place plastic wrap over dough, making sure to lightly tuck the plastic around the sides of the dough. Allow dough to rise until doubled in size, about 60-90 minutes.
• The dough is ready when you can press your finger into the dough and it holds the indentation. Gently move the dough onto your work surface in one piece. Cut the dough into thirds and, without deflating the dough too much, roll each piece into a strand about 10 inches long. Lay the strands out parallel to each other, and pinch them together at one end. Pull the rightmost strand over the center one, then the left over the new center, alternating until you have a tightly finished braid and can pinch the end together. At this point, you can wrap the braid around itself to form a "turban" and seal the ends together. If it doesn't look right, just unbraid and try again! Place challah on a parchment-lined baking tray and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to rise until doubled in size, about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
• Whisk the remaining egg with 2 tablespoons water in a bowl. Glaze the top and sides of the challah with this egg wash, then bake 35-45 minutes.
• To test if the challah is fully cooked, tap on its bottom-it should sound hollow. Let cool 30 minutes. Serve. (And remember, if you're eating it fresh, tear it apart with your hands!)