The EVOO Challah with Jam & Craisins

L'Shana Tova! Happy New Year! This year has been a crazy blur! Teaching third graders both remote and hybrid was no easy feat. I am so glad we are back in person this year, and I no longer have to say "you're on mute" umpteen times a day!

I also got married a month ago!! My husband, Max, is a one of a kind mensch! Of course I found him with the help of Jswipe, a Jewish dating app! After five years together we tied the knot in Duxbury, MA on a perfectly 70 degree day (thankfully no shvitzing with that kind of weather). Now that I am a wife we joke about "stepping up my game" and make more challah because the more challah the merrier!      

In this recipe, we decided to use olive oil instead of vegetable oil. When we make our favorite banana bread recipe we make the same oil switch, so we figured why not give it a try with the challah. Holy fluffy challah! This ingredient change is one we plan to keep.

Recipe: (makes 1 large challah)

3/4 cup water

2 1/4 tsp yeast
4 tbsp honey
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste

1/4 cup olive oil

1 1/4 tsp salt
3 1/2 cups flour
Craisins

Blueberry & strawberry jam

Mix 3/4 cup water, 2 1/4 tsp yeast, and 4 tbsp honey in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in a warm oven and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs and 1/4 cup oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add 1 1/4 tsp salt and 3 1/2 cups flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands. Knead dough into a ball.

Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into four strands. Flatten the strand and fill with jam and craisins. close up the dough strands so they are ready for braiding. (This challah had 2 blueberry jam strands and 2 strawberry jam & craisin strands)

I did a round challah, which is the typical braid for Rosh Hashana, but you can do whatever shape you like.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet or pan and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg mixed with a splash of water).

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

L'Shana Tova!

Gluten Free Challah

This week I officially became an aunt (to a human)! I've been an aunt to my brother's dog Beau for a few years. My brother and sister-in-law get very upset if you say I wasn't an aunt before. But this week my sister-in-law gave birth to my nephew Dylan Scott Marshall, named after his maternal great-grandmother Dorothy and paternal great-grandfather Sheldon. He's literally the cutest baby, even when he cries. And he has the cutest big cheeks, which def come from me because I'm the only one in the family with big cheeks. Covid complicates things because I can't just go and see him, so for right now I'm settling for lots of pics and facetime. But I cannot wait to spoil that baby! My mom always called my brother "Muff" or Muffin Man, I was princess pie (and she wonders why I'm a JAP) and my sister baby cake. So I think we need to start calling Dylan mini-muffin, or maybe some other baked good. Knowing my brother who has given Beau a million names including Beau-Beau, Beausy, Snoop Dog, Snoop.... and the list goes on.... we will probably never cause Dylan by his actual name.

I've never baked anything gluten free before. But we are having a healthy holiday bake-off at work and I thought this was the perfect opportunity to make a gluten free challah! I probably need to do a little more experimenting with the recipe. But not bad for a first attempt!

Recipe: (makes 1 large challah)

3/4 cup water

2 1/4 tsp yeast
4 tbsp honey

2 tbsp sugar
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp xanthan gum
1.75 cups gluten free flour (I used Bob's Red Mill Gluten-Free 1-to-1 Baking Flour that contains some xanthan gum)

1.75 cups almond flour

Mix 3/4 cup water, 2 1/4 tsp yeast, 4 tbsp honey and 2 tbsp of sugar in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in a warm oven and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs and 1/4 cup oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add salt,  xanthan gum, gluten free flour, and almond flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands. Knead dough into a ball.

Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size. The gluten free challah dough won't get as large as usual.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. I did a six strand challah, but you can do whatever shape you want. Gluten free challah dough is much harder to braid and the strands kept breaking. The dough was almost like clay in that I kept trying to piece it back together or smooth the cracks. 

After braiding the challah, either butter a cookie sheet or use parchment paper and place on a pan and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg mixed).

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

Not bad for my first time cooking gluten free!

Black & White Challah

I've survived another week of social distancing! My living room is now a home gym / puzzle room / tv room. Luckily for me, my roommate went to her mom's house so I'm able to take over the living room. I've made some progress on my puzzle but it's almost at the point of being more stressful than relaxing and I'm very tempted to throw it in the garbage. My Peloton also came this weekend so I can finally get some cardio in. I almost passed out after my first class. I had to lay on the floor for a while. Which is kind of depressing seeing as I teach fitness classes and used to teach cycle, but I'm going to blame it on the fact that I was too hot. This morning I opened a window and moved a fan in front of the bike, which helped, I only needed to lay on the floor after class for a few minutes. I almost felt sorry for my neighbors that they had to listen to the loud music at 7am but after all the opera I have to listen to from my upstairs neighbor I really don't care what anyone has to say. But I really need to up my game since we are doing a Peloton challenge at work and ~83% of my coworkers are men so I'm at a disadvantage.

I thought I might get lonely being home alone but I'm loving it. We've had so many video meetings at work and last week even had a virtual happy hour that I feel like I'm interacting almost as much as I did when I was in the office. Although virtual happy hours sound great in theory, they aren't so great in practice. I ended up drunk at 5pm on a Thursday with no where to go, and that was only after 2 beers. This week we have a BYOW (bring your own whatever) and I think I might opt for water instead.

This week's challah is SUPER sweet filled with sugar and chocolate chips. Social distancing is dangerous because I can't share the challah and ended up eating most of it myself.

Recipe: (makes 1 large challah)

3/4 cup water

2 tsp yeast
4 tbsp honey
3 tbsp white sugar
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste

1/4 cup vegetable oil

2 tbsp cocoa powder

1 tsp salt
3.5 cups flour
Chocolate Chips
White Chocolate Chips

White dough: Mix 3/8 cup water, 1 tsp yeast, 2 tbsp honey, and 1 tbsp sugar in a mixing bowl.
Chocolate dough: Mix 3/8 cup water, 1 tsp yeast, 2 tbsp honey, and 2 tbsp sugar in a mixing bowl.

Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in a warm oven and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

White dough: In a separate bowl mix 1 egg and 1/8 cup oil.
Chocolate dough: In a separate bowl mix 1 egg, 1/8 cup oil, and 2 tbsp cocoa powder.

Separately add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add salt and flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands. Knead dough into a ball.

Oil the large bowls and then roll the balls of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowls and knead to get out all the air.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. Place chocolate chips on chocolate strands and white chocolate chips on white strands and pinch each strand closed. I did a six strand challah, but you can do whatever shape you want.

After braiding the challah, either butter a cookie sheet or use parchment paper and place on a pan and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg mixed).

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

Makes great challah french toast too! Riley wanted a bite!

Everything but the Bagel Challah

I have officially survived my first week of social distancing! I always thought that working from home would be great, but I'm starting to go stir crazy only living in my 900 sq ft apartment with a roommate and no where to go. Some days I have less than 1,000 steps on my apple watch, which if you know me, it's a really hard thing to accept.

As a result of COVID-19 I'm now working from home for at least a month (although grateful to still have a job), the gyms are closed so I can't teach my fitness classes, and there is no shopping, not even online shopping (probably a blessing since I'm already banned from Nordstrom Rack online, but jokes on them because I just use a different email address for orders). I would complain that I can't go on dates but honestly that's a plus for me. Instead now, aside from work, I spend my days doing puzzles (see picture below of my roommate, you can tell we are serious from the desk lamp), reading, complaining about my neighbors with my roommate (one neighbor sings opera very loudly throughout the day and is singing right now as I blog at 9pm), going for walks outside, doing indoor workouts, and obviously lots of Netflix. Side note - highly recommend Jane the Virgin, of which I've watched 12 episodes in 2 days. My brother thought I would run out of shows if production stops, but I think I'll survive between my mom's Netflix and Showtime, my dad's HBO, and my Amazon Prime and YouTube TV.

I've also tried to maintain my mental health as well as the mental health of my coworkers by hosting video coffee breaks and organizing virtual mid-day meditation sessions. What's so hard about having to be home is you feel like because you can't go out that you should work all day long, but that is the wrong mindset. We need to take care of ourselves mentally and physically. To help with the physical aspect, I decided to invest in a Peloton and I'm praying that it comes before Peloton stops delivering. Hopefully making this challah and actually blogging about it puts me on God's good side, wink wink.

P.S. If anyone else is looking to puzzle, make sure to pick a puzzle with many colors. I very much regret picking sunflowers as the entire puzzle is yellow and green and I've made minimal progress

Recipe: (makes 1 large challah)

3/4 cup water

2 1/4 tsp yeast
4 tbsp honey
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 tsp salt
3.5 cups flour
Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel Seasoning

Mix 3/4 cup water, 2 1/4 tsp yeast, and 4 tbsp honey in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in a warm oven and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs and 1/4 cup oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add salt and flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands. Knead dough into a ball.

Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. I did a six strand challah, but you can do whatever shape you want. Also I made a timelapse of me braiding the challah below :)

After braiding the challah, either butter a cookie sheet or use parchment paper and place on a pan and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg mixed). Sprinkle Everything but the Bagel seasoning on egg wash.

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

So happy I combined my 2 favorite things.... BAEgels and Challah!

Raisin Challah

L'Shana Tova! Jappy New Year! As you probably already know, Rosh Hashana marks the beginning of the Days of Awe, a 10-day period of introspection and repentance that culminates in the Yom Kippur holiday, also known as the Day of Atonement. You're probably reflecting on all the stuff you did wrong last year, every time you could have been nicer, every time you were selfish, every time you weren't acting the best you could. And if you're like me, you're probably reflecting on all the things you did wrong, knowing that you should make a change next year, but at the same time thinking about how you really don't want to make a change.

Being a "better" person is hard. Sometimes I want to binge watch tv shows instead of getting a full night of sleep before work, sometimes I want to date the "jerk" who I'm way better than and isn't even that cute and doesn't deserve my time, and sometimes I want to eat egg yolks even though I have high cholesterol and my doctor told me I shouldn’t eat them. And at the end of the day I'm really only hurting myself. But why are we so quick to hurt ourselves? Do we justify it by the happiness we feel when we find out something new in the tv show story line (side note - I recommend watching The Blacklist, I watched all of season 1 this past week), or when the jerk is nice to us, or by how good egg yolks taste on toast? Yea probably. But at what point is the bad outweighing the good? So this year, my resolution is to cut out more "bad". I'm not going to lie, I don't think I can give up egg yolks, and really, what will a yolk or two do to me? But I'm going to try to make better choices and cut out as much "bad" as I can. Life can be stressful, other people can be mean, and work can be overwhelming. So if we aren't going to do the best that we can to improve our own lives, who will?

Also, I realize I haven't posted in over a year. Maybe I'll be better in 5779. But here is a photo of us at a bridal shower last weekend as proof that we are still alive. Also, I hope that you like my dress because I think it's very cute and honestly I should have gotten more compliments on it.

Recipe: (makes 1 large challah)

3/4 cup water

2 1/4 tsp yeast
4 tbsp honey
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 tsp salt
3.5 cups flour
Raisins

Mix 3/4 cup water, 2 1/4 tsp yeast, and 4 tbsp honey in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in a warm oven and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs and 1/4 cup oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add salt and flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands. Knead dough into a ball.

Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air.

Add raisins to the dough and knead evenly through dough.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. I did a round challah, which is the typical braid for Rosh Hashana, but you can do whatever shape you want.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet or pan and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg mixed).

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

L'Shana Tova!

Mini Challah

2017 has been the year of travel. I went to Atlanta, Tucson and New Orleans for work and Sarasota, Seattle and Portland for vacation. Most of the photos I took on my trips were of food and stuff outdoors. My phone is basically full of photos of ice cream, donuts, beignets, bagels, lox, pie, mimosas, and obviously challah (except not because of travel). The more I travel the more I learn what I like in a vacation. For instance, I do not enjoy doing anything historical, but I really like food and getting a tan at the pool or beach. I also learned that pie bars are the best type of bars. In Seattle my friend and I really wanted some dessert and found this restaurant that had the word "pie" in it, but turns out they only have pizza pie and not regular pie, which was unfortunate. But we did find this place called Pie Bar. And all they have is pie and drinks. They also have a take out window that is open until 2 am. We had pie all 3 nights that we were there. And you even get you ice cream when you eat the pie there! I think every city should have a pie bar!

Sometimes I want challah, but I don't want to eat an entire challah. I mean, I would love to eat an entire challah, but I will never find a boyfriend if I got fat from eating an entire challah. Usually I can't make challah for shabbat because it takes like 5 hours to make and I just don't have the time during the week, but I was able to work from home on Friday. My senior probably thought it was weird that I told her I had bad service on our call because I was in the kitchen, but maybe I like working in the kitchen. Anyway, I'm obsessed with the mini challah because I can feel guilt free when I eat half of it right out of the oven and the other half the next morning.

Recipe: (makes 1 mini challah)

1/3 cup water

1 tsp yeast
2.5 tbsp honey
2 extra large eggs: 1 for dough, 1 for baste

1/8 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp salt
1.5 cups flour

Mix 1/3 cup water, 1 tsp yeast, and 2.5 tbsp honey in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in a warm oven and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 1 egg and 1/8 cup oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add salt and flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands. Knead dough into a ball.

Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. I did a 6 strand challah, but you can do whatever shape you want.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet or pan and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg mixed).

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

Yum yum, mini challahs are the perfect size!

Mixed Fruit Challah

So it's been 10 months since my last post, but in my defensive it's really hard to keep up with a full time job and a challah blog. But now that my client TJX (TJMaxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods to name a few of their divisions) has filed their 10-k, ending my busy season, I finally found time to bake challah AND blog about it.

Working so much makes it difficult to have a life but every now and then I manage to find some time for fun. One of my clients was in New Orleans and I spent 4 weeks there this year. I never thought of visiting New Orleans, but it is definitely a great city with a ton of character. We spent a number of nights on Bourbon Street, ate bananas foster at the restaurant that invented it, had a drink at the carousel bar, walked to the Superdome, went on a swamp tour but didn't see any gators, and gambled at the casino. And of course we also visited Cafe Du Monde. Actually, we went twice in less than 6 hours. There is just nothing like a pastry at 3am and since they are open 24 hours it makes for the perfect post-Bourbon Street snack. We probably shouldn't have walked around an unfamiliar city at 3am, but the Beignets were worth it.

The inspiration for this week's challah comes from my busy season client. I was assigned the role of health champion and coordinated weekly fitness challenges to keep all of us healthy. The partner bought the entire team fitbits and we used them to track our steps during the workweek. Sadly my team came in last every week, but I definitely think the fitbit kept us more aware of how little we move during the day and motivated us to exercise more. TJX has a huge building and to get in the extra steps we would walk laps around the building, take the stairs, or use their treadmill desk. I was also resonsible for buying healthy snacks and one of those snacks was dried fruit. As good as dried fruit is alone, it is way better inside challah!

Recipe: (makes 1 big challah)

1 1/4 cup water

2 packets of active dry yeast (about 4 tsp)
1/2 cup honey
4 extra large eggs: 3 for dough, 1 for baste

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp salt
4-5 cups flour
Sliced Almonds
Chopped Pecans
Sun Maid Mixed Fruit Pouch

Mix 1 1/4 cup water, 4 tsp yeast, and 1/2 cup honey in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in the oven at 120 degrees and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 3 eggs and 1/2 cup oil.

Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add salt and flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands.

Chop the mixed fruit into small pieces.

Add mixed fruit, almonds, and pecans to dough and knead into a ball.

Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air. I added more fruits and nuts after the dough rose because I didn't add enough initially.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. I did a 6 strand challah, but you can do whatever shape you want.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg and 1/2 tbsp water).

Bake for about 35 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

I'm pretty sure this challah may be too pretty to eat!