Sponge Started Challah Bread Kosher Recipes

BASIC PULL-APART CHALLAH

Steps:

• 1. Bloom the yeast: Dissolve the yeast and 3 tablespoons sugar in 2 cups of the warm water in a medium bowl; set aside to bloom. If the yeast doesn't bloom after 5 minutes discard the mixture and start over.
• 2. Place the salt, flour, and the remaining 2 cups sugar together in a very large bowl and stir together. Add the 4 egg yolks. Make a well in the middle and add the yeast mixture and the remaining 4 cups water. Start kneading together; add 1/2 cup canola oil. Knead for 10 minutes, adding 1/2 cup canola oil, a small amount at a time, to create a workable dough. The dough will become a cohesive mass yet be a bit sticky. Rub a little of the remaining 1/4 cup canola oil over the top and sides of the dough. Loosely cover the dough with a kitchen towel and place the bowl in a warm spot for 15 minutes.
• 3. After 15 minutes, the dough will have relaxed a bit and should be easier to work with. Lightly oil your hands and knead the dough again until smooth and satiny, 2 to 3 minutes. Rub a little oil over the top and sides of the dough. Cover with a kitchen towel and place the bowl in a medium garbage bag. Place the open end loosely underneath the bowl to trap air. Let the dough rise in a warm dark corner of your kitchen until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
• 4. Uncover the dough. With lightly oiled hands, punch the dough down to release air. Cover again with the bag, loosely tucked under, and let rise for 1 hour.
• 5. Divide the dough into five equal parts, about 2 pounds each. Preheat oven to 375°F. Spray five 9-inch round baking pans with cooking spray.
• 6. Place one piece of dough on a smooth work surface. Squeeze out any air bubbles from the dough and roll in into a 12-inch rope. If the dough is sticking, lightly spray your work surface with cooking spray. Cut the rope into eight equal pieces. Roll each piece into a ball. Place one ball in the center of the prepared pan and surround it with the remaining balls. Repeat with the remaining pieces of dough so you have five pans of challah. Loosely cover each pan with a kitchen towel or plastic wrap and let rise 15 minutes. (If you can't fit all the pans in your oven at once and you want your challahs to be as beautiful as possible, shape the remaining dough while the first round of challahs are in the oven so they don't see rise for too much longer than 15 minutes before baking.)
• 7. Beat the egg whites with 1 teaspoon water in a small bowl and brush the challahs. Sprinkle each with sesame or poppy seeds or a combination of the two.
• 8. Bake for 10 minutes. Reduce the temperature to 350°F and bake until tops are dark golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes more. Let cool 15 minutes before serving warm, or cool completely on a wire rack.

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.

SPONGE STARTED CHALLAH BREAD - KOSHER

Steps:

• SPONGE:
• 1. In the bottom of an electric mixing bowl, mix first 4 ingredients together in order of appearance.
• 2. Add only 1 cup of flour to yeast liquid, lightly mixing with a rubber spatula.
• 3. Sprinkle Remaining 1 cup of flour over mixture and set aside.
• 4. Let rise (in cool oven or other dry room temperature place) for 30min.
• When cracks form in flour, your yeast is doing it's job!
• DOUGH:
• 1. On top of the sponge, layer next 4 ingredients in bowl. Make sure salt does not touch yeast mixture.
• 2. STIR in mixer until everything is incorporated (1min) and then MIX on medium until dough begins to ball up.
• This takes 6-8min. If you have to add the 1/4 water, do it a table room at a time (I use a spray bottle) and mix for 1 min, then let it rest of 1 min to let the water soak up.
• The dough should pull away from sides of bowl, not be too tacky, and be elastic.
• 3. Turn out dough (you may not need ANY flour for this) and kned by hand into a round ball (only 4-6 strokes).
• 4. Spray mixing bowl with PAM (or butter) and place dough ball in bowl.
• 5. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until ABOUT double (1 1/2 - 2 hours).
• 6. Gently deflate and repeat rise a second time.
• 7. Deflate again and tun out onto counter, again, you probably won't need flour, it's a really tight dough!
• 8. Divide dough in 1/2 and work each half into desired shape.
• 9. Cover and let rise a THIRD time (double, 1.5-2 hours).
• Topping:.
• 1. Mix egg yolk and water.
• 2. Brush GENTLY on top of loaf (do not deflate).
• 3. Sprinkle seeds (if desired).
• BAKE: place in PREHEATED 400 degree oven, then immediately turn heat down to 350 (325 convection) and bake for about 30min. Bread will sound hollow and thermometer will read 190- 200 (it will coast up to 205).
• REMOVE from oven and let cool before taking out of pan -- ENJOY!
• You can FREEZE dough (up to one month) after 2nd rise by wrapping air tight. Let it thaw out overnight in the fridge and them shape, rise, bake - a GREAT way to get the prep work done ahead of time and always have fresh baked bread!

CHALLAH BREAD

Steps:

• Pour the water into a large bowl. Dissolve the sugar in the water and then add the yeast. Let stand for about 10 minutes until bubbly.
• Mix in 1 cup of the flour and mix to form a slurry. Add the egg, oli and salt and mix to incorporate into the mixture. Gradually add more flour until too hard to stir then add more kneading by hand until you have a very slightly sticky ball of dough. Turn the dough out onto a floured surface and knead for about 5 to 10 minutes until the dough is smooth and elastic.
• Place into an oiled bowl and cover with a damp kitchen towel (or plastic wrap) for about 1 1/2 hours or until it has doubled in volume.
• Knead the dough a second time (but for much less time) and then shape into loaves. I divide the ball into two, then each half into three and braid them forming two braided loaves.
• Place the loaves on a greased cookie sheet or baking stone and cover again, this time for about 45 minutes until doubled again.
• About 15 minutes before the end of the second rise, preheat the oven to 350. Bake for 22-25 minutes or until they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. You can brush the loaves with an egg wash and coat with sesame or other seeds if you wish or leave without a glaze for a more rustic look. These loves are always the hit of any meal! Enjoy!

CHALLAH

Steps:

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the water and yeast. Add the flour and sugar and mix until just combined. Cover the bowl loosely with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight; the next day, the sponge should be bubbly and doubled in size.
• Put the sponge in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Add the remaining dough ingredients and mix on low speed until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. (The dough should clean the sides of the bowl after a couple of minutes; if it clings to the sides, add a tablespoon or two of flour.)
• Coat the inside of a large bowl with oil. Shape the dough into a ball and transfer to the bowl, turning it a couple of times to coat. Cover with plastic wrap and put the bowl in a warm, draft-free place. Let rise until doubled in size, about 1 1/2 hours.
• Punch down the dough and turn out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into 8 equal pieces (about 4 1/2 ounces each) and using a light touch, roll each piece into a very loose ball. Cover the balls with plastic wrap to keep them from drying out. Take out one ball and roll into a 9-inch-long rope, tapering the ends slightly. Re-cover with plastic wrap and roll out the remaining balls in the same way.
• Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment or a nonstick liner. Braid the ropes as follows. As you reposition each rope, pull very gently to elongate it slightly.
• Take out 4 of the ropes and press them together at one end.
• Take the first (far left) rope, cross over the middle, and put down between the third and fourth ropes.
• Take the fourth (far right) rope, cross over the middle two, and put down between what are now the first and second ropes.
• Then cross the middle two ropes over each other, right over left.
• Repeat the process and continue until you reach the end. Pinch each end to seal and tuck under.
• Repeat with the remaining 4 ropes. Place the braids on the lined baking sheet and cover loosely with plastic wrap. Let rise in a warm place until doubled in size, at least 1 hour.
• Meanwhile, position a rack in the center of the oven and heat to 375°F.
• When the braids have finished rising, brush with the reserved egg whites and sprinkle with the poppy or sesame seeds.
• Bake the braids for 10 minutes, then lower the heat to 350°F. Continue to bake until the crust is dark golden brown and it sounds hollow when you tap the bottom of the loaf, 15 to 17 minutes longer. (Rotate the pan if the browning seems uneven.)
• Let cool completely on a rack.