Every Friday we buy a Challah. We usually eat it Friday night and use the leftovers for French toast breakfast on Saturday. Well, last week we bought the Challah, we ate it on Friday but didn’t use it on Saturday, and so it stood on the counter top, wrapped, until Tuesday. We noticed that it still looks the same and were now curious as to how long it would take it to turn bad. On Thursday it still looked the same, which made us think that the manufacturers of the Challah must be using some ingredients we don’t want in our body, so I decided to make my own Challah. It turned out tasty, sweet and at least now, I knew exactly what’s in it.
In case you’re wondering what brush I use for the egg wash and what’s the best baking sheet to use for challah and breads, well, I can certainly share 🙂
I use a silicone brush. It’s very easy to clean and I have a few sizes at home so I use based on the size of the dish. Here’s my Silicone Brush (Clickable link).
In terms of a baking sheet, you can use any sheet but the dark ones are better since they attract heat more efficiently and thus, helping your bread or challah bake better. Here’s the Baking Sheet I use (Clickable link).
- 3½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 tbsp dry yeast
- ¾ -1 cup water (start with ¾ and go from there based on dough texture)
- ½ cup vegetable oil
- Sesame seeds - for sprinkling
- 1 beaten egg
- In a mixer bowl, mix all ingredients together except for the yeast. Mix for about 3-4 minutes.
- While mixing, add the yeast and keep on mixing for another minute
- In the bowl, knead the dough until it is soft and not sticky. Remember, yeast LOVE kneading.
- Cover the bowl with a towel and place in a warm place for about 45 minutes until dough rises and doubles its size.
- After 45 minutes, take the dough out. Divide into 3 and roll each piece into a long “sausage” shape. Using all 3 pieces, shape your challah.
- Once shaped, place on a parchment paper layered baking pan and cover with towel. Let the dough “rest” for 40 minutes until it rises.
- Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 325F (160C)
- After 40 minutes, brush gently with egg wash and sprinkle sesame.
- Bake in the preheated oven for about 30 minutes or until the challah is golden and when tapping on it you hear a hollow sound.
For novice challah bakers, it would be helpful to know how much sugar and water to mix with the yeast to make sure the challah will rise.
This recipe says 1 tbsp yeast and 3/4-1 cup water. This one is without using a yeast ‘starter’. It all goes in the mixing bowl.