No Sugar Added

Since I’ve been fiending for a bread-baking rematch, I decided that my second attempt ever at baking bread would be some challah for Shabbat.

For the recipe, I went to the Aish HaTorah website – These guys are pretty intense religious Jews, so I figured their challah recipes would no doubt be off the hook. In the end, I combined two of their recipes: the Always Successful Challah (which I chose for obvious reasons) and Bubbie Irma’s Challah (which intrigued me with its use of whole wheat flour, even though I find its name vaguely annoying).

Baking went much better this time. I remembered to grease the pan, so I didn’t have to dismember the loaf to pry it from the pan. I also kneaded the dough with superior acumen, yielding superior fluffiness–though I could still probably have kneaded a little better. I also used all organic flours, eggs, and butter, so the environment can be happy.

There was just one slight mishap/awesome occurrence. Not yet having a good sense for quantities in baking, and also apparently not yet having a good sense for reading, I didn’t realise that these recipes give you about 4 loaves of challah, not just one. So I created only one ginormous, elephantine loaf that my roommates think comes straight out of Giant World, the fourth level in Super Mario 3. So it looks like we’ll be eating challah French Toast/challah-on-challah sandwiches/burning challah for warmth till we work our way thru this beast.

Tip for next time: Use less whole wheat flour and/or add some Splenda to make it sweeter.

Scorecard (no grade inflation):
Appearance: A
Taste: B+
Texture: B+
Ginormity: A+

Ingredients:

• 8-9 cups organic flour (1:1 ratio of whole wheat to white flour)
• 2 1/2 cups lukewarm water
• 1/5 cup of honey
• 1/2 cup oil
• 1 Tbsp. Salt
• 4 tbsp. Fleishmann’s Dry Active Yeast
• 5 organic eggs

Recipe from the uber Jews:

Mix together 2 1/2 cups flour with sugar, salt, yeast (no need to dissolve first), water, and oil. Mix in 4 eggs. Beat in 11/2 cups flour very well. Add 4-5 cups flour until a very soft dough is formed. Add raisins (optional). Knead. Separate challah, if necessary. Refrigerate overnight. In the morning, let warm to room temperature, 1-2 hours. Make balls, roll them into ropes, and braid (see illustration, page 122). Let rise, covered, for 1/2-1 hour. Make egg wash by beating 1 egg. Brush on challah. Bake in preheated oven at 325 degrees F. (160 degrees C.) for 30 minutes. Apply egg wash once more and bake another 30 minutes at 350 degrees F. (175 degrees C.). Makes 4 medium-sized challahs.