I'd like to preface this post by saying that I have been a super slacker procrastinator the month of May and everything I've made thus far as part of the DBC has been delcious.
With that being said, I AM NEVER MAKING CHALLAH AGAIN!
May�s Daring Bakers� Challenge was pretty twisted � Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from �A Taste of Challah,� by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads.
OHMYGAH.
First off, This is late post as it was supposed to be posted a week ago. Why?
Because I left it until posting day to make it. and it hated me.
Now. Challah, I'd only ever seen in pictures. My most vivid memory was that Sex and the City episode where Charlotte makes a massive "traditional challah" for her hubby after newly converting to Judaisim. It looked hard there, and that's a fucking tv show.
Now, it starts off innocently enough.
Yeasty goodness
which for me is, blekk i hate that smell moment, but! i know from my past couple of challenges, that it makes bread lovely. SO! I was good with it.
I went with the Honey White Challah since I tend to prefer white bread and a slightly sweet bread sounded good to me. The reciepe was extremely minimal. I'm a girl that likes to have instructions laid out for me. Specifically since I'm someone that makes something new over something i've made before on 90% of occasions.
I mixed up the ingredients and left my lovely standing mixer do the work for me.
after it's all mixed, you pop the dough into a bowl and let it do it's thing for an hour or so
now...there are not pictures from the hour later.
here's where the Challah became my least favorite reciepe ever.
I did what it said. I did not change a thing.
In retrospect I shouldve added more flour and made the dough stickier so it wouldnt have been as loose an hour later.
When I went back to this lovely bowl of dough an hour later, not only had it risen, it had exploded.
the sides of the bowl were covered. The towel was stuck to the top of the rounded ball of dough.
it was, to say the least a mess.
and that was just the beginnining.
Cut to, my hands covered in dough, the floured counter covered in dough, and me desperatly trying to get enough flour into the dough to make it work with me.
Mind you! a big part of this challenge was braiding the bread. Now, being an Italian baker, i have made yummy cookies that are bradided and twisted and all that. So i know how to shape and braid dough.
This was a bitch.
The reciepe made two loaves, so I had two puddles of sticky dough i'd added flour to and was attempting to work with. I rolled out my lovely ribbons of dough. I set it up as it needed to be. and I braided.
and it was a mess.
the first loaf looked like a braid and after proofing,looked like a very thick braid.
it wasn't very pretty but it wasnt terrible either.
the second one!
the braid fell apart, so i did it again.
this time it ripped apart. OI!
I gave up at this point, 2 hours into trying to get this sticky mess to be something eatable, and just rolled it up.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/hibiscus101/7299163562/in/photostream/
and then i added reduced fat cheddar!
it voered the mess and who doesn't like bread with cheese.
i have to say, these baked like a dream.
no weird smells, nothing but heavenly bread baking smells.
while i baked, i cleaned the counter and anything the dough had touched.
It took me over an hour to clean up the mess.
The Challah came out lovely, if I do say so myself.
even the mistake one
it was delicious to boot. but I repeat, NEVER MAKING IT AGAIN!
bah!
Reciepes are below if you'd like to test it out yourself.
It is delicious after all, I just dont wanna do it again.
Challah (Honey White)
(from Tammy�s Recipes)
Servings: 2 loaves
Ingredients
1 � cups (360 ml) warm water, separated
1 Tbsp. (15 ml) (15 gm/� oz sugar
2 Tbsp. (2-2/3 packets) (30 ml) (18 gm) (2/3 oz) dry active yeast
� cup (120 ml) honey
1 Tbsp. (15 ml) oil (light colored vegetable oil, or olive oil if you prefer)
4 large eggs
1 � tsp. 7� ml) (9 gm) (1/3 oz) salt
5 cups (1200 ml) (700 gm/25 oz) all-purpose (plain) flour, plus more as needed (up to 8 or 9 cups total)
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water
Directions:
1. In mixer bowl/large mixing bowl combine � cup warm water, 1 Tbsp. sugar and 2 Tbsp. yeast. Allow to proof approximately 5 minutes until foamy.
2. To the yeast mixture add the remaining water, honey, oil, eggs, salt and 5 cups of flour. Knead (by hand or with your mixer�s dough hook) until smooth, adding flour as needed. Knead for approximately 10 minutes.
3. Transfer dough to a clean, oiled bowl, turn to coat or add a bit more oil on top. Cover bowl with a kitchen/tea towel. Leave to rise in a warm place until doubled, about 1 � hours.
4. Punch down the dough, divide it into two sections. Use one half to make each loaf (shaped or braided as desired).
5. Place loaves on parchment lined or greased baking sheets, cover with a towel, allow to rise 30 minutes.
6. Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
7. Brush tops loaves with egg wash. (Sprinkle with seeds or toppings here if wanted.)
8. Bake loaves 30-40 minutes until done.
9. Cool on wire racks.
7:01 p.m. - Saturday, Jun. 02, 2012