Whole Wheat Challah Recipes

IRRESISTIBLE WHOLE WHEAT CHALLAH

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, yeast, and vital wheat gluten until well mixed. In another bowl, stir together the honey, olive oil, water, eggs, and raisins. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture, and stir until it forms a dough.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Form the dough into a round shape. Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn the dough over a few times to oil the surface. Cover the bowl with a cloth, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch down the dough, knead it a few times to remove some of the bubbles, and cut it into 2 equal-sized pieces. Set 1 piece of dough aside under a cloth to prevent drying out while you shape or braid the first loaf as desired.
• 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. Repeat for the other loaf, place the braided loaves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve warm for best flavor.

HONEY WHOLE WHEAT CHALLAH

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix yeast, warm water and 1 cup of bread flour into a thin batter, and let stand until the mixture shows frothy bubbles, about 10 minutes. Stir in vegetable oil, honey, 3 eggs, and salt until well combined. Beat in 2 more cups of bread flour and the whole wheat flour, alternating flours by cupfuls, until the dough is too stiff to stir in more flour.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, adding more flour if needed to form a slightly sticky dough. Form the dough into a round shape. Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn the dough over a few times to oil the surface. Cover the bowl with a plastic bag, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.
• Punch down the dough, knead it a few times to remove some of the bubbles, and cut it into 3 equal-sized pieces. Cut the first piece into 3 equal parts. Set the rest of the dough aside under a cloth to prevent drying out while you braid the first 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. Repeat for the other 2 loaves, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and let rise until doubled, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of water in a small bowl, and brush the egg mixture over the braided challah loaves. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the tops are a deep golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack before slicing.

MA'S WHOLE WHEAT HONEY CHALLAH

Steps:

• Place the warm water in the mixing bowl and add yeast, oil, honey, and salt. Mix well and let set 2-3 minutes.
• Add the eggs one at a time and for an extra rich dough add the sixth yolk and set the white aside. Do not add the final egg.
• To this mixture now add all the bread flour and 1 cup of the whole wheat flour and the gluten. Mix for a 2 minutes.
• Add flax, and poppy seeds.
• Add in the rest of the flour 1/2 cup at a time. It may take more or less. Take your time, at least five minutes. Switching to dough hooks when needed. Do not get in a hurry.
• When you have a nice soft dough that pulls away from the sides of the bowl, dump it onto a slightly floured counter and knead until you push on the dough with your index finger and it springs back.
• Put the dough into a large sprayed bowl, cover with a linen tea towl, non-terry, and set in a warm place to double.
• When doubled punch down and knead slightly.
• Cut dough in 1/2 and then each 1/2 into 3 pieces. Roll each piece on the counter to form tubes and braid these tubes to form two loaves. Be sure to pinch and tug your ends under. Braid up, lifting each strand to make snug. You are not wanting length but heighth.
• Place each loaf into the center of a sprayed cookie sheet and let almost double. While rising preheat your oven to 325 degrees F.
• When almost doubled. Beat your reserved white and egg. Use this to glaze your loaves and then sprinkle with poppyseed and kosher salt.
• Bake to a golden rich brown. This generally takes 35-40 minutes.
• Additional note: For the Rosh Hashanah add 1/2 cup of mixed dried diced fruits and nuts at the end of the initial mixing of the flours. Do not braid but form two large tubes and use them to make two crown shaped spirals, like a turban, pinching and tucking the ends. When glazed sprinkle with almond slivers and course ground sugar.

WHOLE GRAIN CHALLAH

Steps:

• Please watch the video for detailed instructions. The following is intended as a general guideline to accompany the video.
• Combine the dry ingredients (not the seeds).
• Combine all the wet ingredients (except the egg wash) in a medium bowl.
• Mix the dry ingredients into the wet. Cover and let sit for 10 minutes.
• Knead the dough for 5-7 minute or do a series of 3 or 4 stretch-and-folds at 10-15 minute intervals.
• Let the dough rise in covered bowl until about doubled in volume. The time it takes can vary greatly depending mostly on room temperature. Figure on somewhere between 1 to 2 hours.
• Punch down the dough. On a flour dusted work surface, divide the dough into equally weighted balls (one ball for each strand you intend to braid).
• Roll the balls into strands and braid into whatever style suits your fancy. Reference YouTube for numerous options.
• Place loaf on parchment lined baking sheet, apply egg wash, sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds and cover with plastic wrap (mist plastic wrap with a spray of oil to prevent it sticking to dough). Over the next 1-2 hours the dough will rise about 50% to as much as nearly doubling.
• Place in 350º oven until the internal dough temperature reaches 190º. Bake time is about 18-20 minutes. Ovens vary, so the first time you make this bread, start checking the dough temp at about the 16 minute mark.
• Let cool for at least 15 minutes. Enjoy while fresh and warm.

BREAD MACHINE HONEY WHOLE WHEAT CHALLAH

Steps:

• Add water, eggs, olive oil, honey, sugar, and flour to the bread machine bowl in that order.
• Make a well on top of the flour mound and add the yeast.
• Add salt along the side of the flour mound.
• Set your bread maker to run a "dough" cycle.
• Remove dough and braid challah (this is the fun part! See http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q0kf0MFRpXg for instructions.).
• (Optional) For a professional look, coat the braided challah with egg using a basting brush, and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.
• Bake at 325 F for 30-40 minutes.