Fourth of July Challah

Jenn and I might be busy with our summer jobs, but we are never too busy to bake challah or celebrate July 4^th! This year I met my friend Hannah in Boston for the Boston Pops fireworks. Our night started with a trip to Ben and Jerry’s, which is no Graeter's, but we made due. We were totally clueless about all the different ice cream flavor names. Luckily no one was in line behind us and we were able to sample about 5 flavors each. We didn’t exactly make it to the venue, but we did watch the fireworks from the park, and by watch I really just mean gossip and glance up at the sky every now and then. The fireworks started and ended early because of the storm and we were able to remain dry and get to the subway in time. Others were not so lucky and were completely soaked. Clearly some people need to learn to walk faster or carrying an umbrella.

Recipe: (makes 2 loaves)
3/4 cup water
1 packet of active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 tbsp honey
3 tbsp sugar
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste
1/4 cup oil
3-4 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Filling:
Blueberries
Strawberries
White chocolate chips

Blue and red food coloring

Mix water, yeast, honey and 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 the oven at 120 degrees and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs and oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed.

Add 2 cups of flour, followed by the salt, and then the rest of the 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 the ingredients and form 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. Divide the dough into 3 equal sections. Add red dye to one section, blue dye to a second section, and leave one section with no dye.

Wash and dry the fruit, then cut the strawberries into smaller pieces.

Roll out the strands and lay out the berries and white chocolate chips. Pinch each strand closed.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet and allow 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).

If you are making a 3 strand challah bake for about 16 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. Check out our Braids and Shapes page for information on cooking times for other shapes.

When the challah starts to brown in the oven you will need to place a piece of foil on top of the challah so that the strands do not change color.

Being patriotic never tasted so good!

Apple Dulce de Leche Challahtashens

How do you combine Shabbat and Purim? By making challahtashens of course! This week I was home for spring break so I finally had some free time (sort of) to do some challah baking. People often forget about Purim, but I love Purim because it means more food. And what do we always say about Jewish food? It has ZERO calories.

I had quite the week! I drove down to New York to visit one of my best friends Michelle in NYC that has been interning at the Rachel Ray show this semester. We spent the day walking around the city and found a really cute area near the NYU campus to sit outside and enjoy the warm weather. I also got to see my brother and his girlfriend and go to a soul cycle class, which I have been dying to take for months now. My brother Jeffrey's boss Jeff took the class too and probably kicked all 3 of our butts.

After my little adventure, I returned to Massachusetts and decided to get my hair cut and try a new style. BIG MISTAKE! I went from a very dark brown, almost black hair color, to a lighter brown with blond streaks. I looked like a rooster, but actually. I would post a photo but it is just too embarrassing. Let's just say it's a good thing no one in my town knows me.

Recipe: (makes 2 loaves)
3/4 cup water
1 packet of active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sugar
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup oil
Orange zest (about 1tbsp?)
3-4 cups flour
1 tsp salt

Filling:
1 small can sweetened condensed milk
1/4 tsp salt
1 Apple
Heath toffee chips
White chocolate chips

Mix water, yeast, honey and 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 the oven at 120 degrees and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs, vanilla, and oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed.

I added orange zest to the dough as well. I did not measure out the amount of orange zest, but it was probably around a tablespoon, maybe.

Add 2 cups of flour, followed by the salt, and then the rest of the 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 the ingredients and form 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.

While the dough is rising start making the filling for the challahtashens. You will not need the entire amount of the mixture as you only need a little per challahtashen. Start by preheating your oven to 425. Pour the condensed milk into a pot, then add 1/4 tsp of salt to the condensed milk and cover the pot with foil.

Place the pot into a larger pan and fill with water until the water reaches about halfway up the pot. Place the pan into the oven and let cook 75-90 minutes. Check the water level every 30 minutes or so to make sure it hasn't dried out too much and add water if needed. Be careful of the steam!

While the dulce de leche is in the oven, you will want to first peel the apple then cut up the apple into small pieces.

You want the mixture to be a rich light brown caramel color and the longer you let it sit in the oven, the darker and thicker it will be. I had mine in the oven for about 80 minutes. Take the pot out of the oven and remove the foil.

Whisk the mixture then add the apple pieces and stir with a wooden spoon. Store in the fridge for about an hour to let it thicken.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air. Roll out the dough and use a cup or a round cookie cutter to make circles. I would usually roll out the dough, cut a circle, and then roll the dough out again to make another circle.

Remove the excess dough around the circle then add a small amount of the apple dulce de leche mixture. Sprinkle some heath toffee chips and white chocolate chips on top.

Fold the dough like you would a normal hamentashen. Make sure not to pinch the corners.

Place the challahtashens UPSIDE DOWN on a buttered cookie sheet and allow challah to rise for at least 45 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again. Then baste with egg wash (1 egg and 1/2 tbsp water) after it is done rising.

Bake for about 15 minutes at 350 or until the top is golden brown.

Yummmmy.... just don't let Haman have any!

Valentine's Day Challah!!

This challah was unlike any other we have made before! Let's just say that it took a lot of improvising... but it still came out better than ever!! Living in a dorm is always fun however it does make it hard when you try to bake some challah. To start, we used my magical RA powers and raided the RA closet to find some baking sheets, measuring cups, and a spatula. Not to mention stealing packets of salt from the library cafe and borrowing a bowl from a friend. We also made a makeshift sign on a paper towel to hang on the oven, so that we could go to our afternoon classes while the dough was rising. In addition we improvised by using a cupcake liner container as a bowl for the egg wash. #noshame This whole process definitely made this challah-day special. 

PS: The photo collage of the college life struggle is at the end of the blog!

Recipe: (makes 2 loaves)
3/4 cup water
1 packet of active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 tbsp honey
2 tbsp sugar
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste
1/4 cup oil
3-4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
Chocolate Chips
White Chocolate Chunks
Pink food coloring

Mix water, yeast, honey and sugar in a mixing bowl. We also decided to add in the food coloring here so we wouldn't have to knead it into the dough later (this helps keep your hands from turing colors because of the food coloring). 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 2 eggs and oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed.

Add 2 cups of flour, followed by the salt, and then the rest of the 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 the ingredients and form 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 an hour and a half, or until the dough has doubled in size.
                                 

After it had spent about an hour and 30 minutes rising take the dough out and see if you want to add any more food dye. (Warning adding in more dye here will tie-dye your hands! Don't worry the dye will eventually come out!)

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air. Roll out the strands and place some chocolate chips and white chocolate chips into the dough. (This is the set up before we weaved the strand into a heart)

             

We also made a regular 3 strand braided challah!

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet and allow 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 25 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.

The College Life Struggle:

Wreath Challah

How can you make a Christmas challah without using the wreath shape?!?

Step 1: Roll out dough into 3 strand

Step 2: Braid the challah like any other 3 strand challah

Step 3:  Bend the braid into a circle. Make sure you leave a large enough hole in the center of the challah. We did this braid twice and didn't leave a big enough hole the second time so after the dough rose there was no longer a hole (see photos below)

 Step 4: Attach the open strands

Step 5: Let it rise in a warm place for 30 minutes then baste it with an egg wash

Step 6: Bake at 350 for about 18 minutes or until the internal temperature is around 170 you may want to place aluminum foil on top of the challah after about 10 minutes or so. That way you can keep the top from getting to be too brown.

Christmas Challah

Although I hate Christmas because it seems to last 3 months and I am not a fan of Christmas music, I am a big advocate for parties! There are birthday parties, ugly sweater parties, parties because it's a Thursday, and of course, holiday parties. This year we made 2 Christmas challahs for 2 very special occasions. When our favorite shiksa Ally came for the weekend, we knew that we had to make a special challah just for her. And what better way to celebrate the Sabbath than by making a challah that celebrates a non-jewish holiday!?! Coming up with the right flavor was near impossible. The challah still had to taste good so a peppermint was out of the question. On my daily supermarket run I stumbled upon Christmas chocolate chips (brown, green and red) and knew I found what I was looking for. And naturally, I made Ally pick out all the brown chips to create the perfect Christmas effect.

The second Christmas challah was for a Christmas party at Sara's (Jeffrey's girlfriend) parent's house in NY. Among the guest list was Sara and her parents, Jeffrey, my mom, Jenn, Bailey, a family friend of Sara's parents, and me, so basically it was a bunch of Jews and one non Jewish person celebrating Christmas. But like I said before, I love parties, well as long as their is plenty of food and alcohol, and believe me we had plenty of both! After a very filling meal, an amazing cheese cake, and some great conversation, we were off to bed because the next day we had to drive back to MA in a 5 person vehicle with 5 passengers and a pup in the trunk. Bailey was not so happy about that one :(

Sara and Jeffrey had a driver on the way back to NY from MA. So high maintenance!

Recipe: (makes 2 loaves)
3/4 cup water
1 packet of active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste
1/4 cup oil
3-4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
Holiday chocolate chips

Mix water, yeast, honey and 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 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 2 eggs and oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed.

Add 2 cups of flour, followed by the salt, and then the rest of the 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 the ingredients and form 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. There are 2 different ways that we made this challah. The first time we had the chips just inside the challah which kept the challah white on the outside. If you do it this way, roll out the strands and put chips in the center of each strand then pinch close. The second time we put chips in the dough, which made the outside of the challah red and white. For this version, divide up the dough and add chips to each portion, then roll out each strand and braid.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet and allow challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again. Then baste with egg wash (1 egg and 1/2 tbsp water) after it is done rising.

If you are making a wreath challah bake for about 18 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. Check out our Braids and Shapes page for information on cooking times for other shapes. 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.

Oh so festive!

Hot Chocolate Challah

Snow days are so rare here at Ohio State that there have only been 7 in the past 32 years. Spring semester was supposed to begin today but instead we had a snow day, and have another tomorrow. As great as snow days are, they are no where near complete without a hot cocoa. Unfortunately for me, my whipped cream, marshmallows, frother, and keurig are all back home in Massachusetts and I cant bear to walk all the way to Starbucks in negative temperatures. The number of times I had a warm creamy super fattening hot cocoa over break is ridiculous. There were times I had to go to the supermarket and buy just whipped creme. Although this is mostly because I was bored and needed something to do so roaming the aisles of Sudbury Farms with my empty shopping cart for 20 minutes to buy one can of whipped creme became the excitement of my day. It probably also didn't help that I would eat the marshmallows and whipped creme first and then add more to my hot cocoa. Also, I think most cans never even saw the mug and went straight into my mouth. Come to think of it, I may have just been having hot cocoa for the whipped creme and marshmallows....

 Bailey loves snow days too! Actually, Bailey just likes sticking his head into the snow

Recipe: (makes 2 loaves)
3/4 cup water
1 packet of active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 tbsp honey
4 tbsp sugar
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste
1/4 cup oil
4 tbsp cocoa powder
3-4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
Nutella
White Chocolate Chips

Mix water, yeast, honey and 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 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 2 eggs, oil and cocoa powder. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed.

Add 2 cups of flour, followed by the salt, and then the rest of the 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 the ingredients and form 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. Divide up the dough by strand and add white chocolate chips to each ball of dough. Make sure not to add too many chips because then you wont have enough dough to hold the strand closed when you pinch it later on. Roll out the strands and spread a layer of Nutella. Then add white chocolate chips. I'm sure marshmallows would have been good too, but they are wet and sticky and make the strands harder to close. Pinch each strand closed.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet and allow challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again. Then baste with egg wash (1 egg and 1/2 tbsp water) after it is done rising.

If you are making a round challah bake for about 20 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. Check out our Braids and Shapes page for information on cooking times for other shapes. 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! We finally figured out the perfect amount of cocoa powder to use!