Challah in the bread machine

[Darienne]

As I have whined on occasion, we live in the frozen north's hinterland and a purchased loaf of challah is probably not a possibility. The other thing is that when one lives in the country, one does not easily make the trip to the city for one or two things...but does without. Assuming you could even get Challah in Peterpatch.

For breakfast yesterday I made a Baked French Toast recipe which calls for Challah, of which I had none. Used a frozen french baguette instead. It was delicious. But probably not as delicious as it would be with Challah.

Hmmmm... I have a bread machine. (I can't knead dough anymore.) What if I could find a good eggy Challah recipe for said bread machine.

[judiu]

Hi! Went to allrecipes.com and came up with this for you: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bread-Machine-Challah-II/Detail.aspx . It looks good, has honey (important to me) plus they probably have a zillion more. HTH!

[abooja]

I don't know from bread machines, but do know that this Rose Levy Beranbaum challah recipe is excellent. I've tried several others, including RLB's original, Martha Stewart's, and one touted elsewhere on eG, and find this to be the moistest, most flavorful of the bunch. It also makes use of old starter, which I always have in the fridge, and which you will obviously need as well. A new (as in, last week) tradition of mine will be to make a loaf of challah using old starter, then a loaf of sourdough, once it is refreshed. The next step will be seeing if the proofed loaf I have vacuum sealed and sitting in the freezer will, in fact, rise to the occasion when called upon.

At any rate, I think you should be fine with mixing challah dough in the bread machine, then baking it elsewhere. Good luck.

[DanM]

You can make challah in a bread machine, but it won't be as good as hand mixed. Challahs are typically rich dough breads that benefit from a sponge to build the yeast culture. AFIK, bread machines cannot do sponges. Secondly, challah is traditionally braided, which is not possible in a bread machine either. Braiding is only an athetic factor, so it is not important.

Dan

[Darienne]

Hi! Went to allrecipes.com and came up with this for you: http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Bread-Machine-Challah-II/Detail.aspx . It looks good, has honey (important to me) plus they probably have a zillion more. HTH!

Thanks Judiu. I should have said that I did get some from the Internet. Was just wondering if anyone on eGullet had tried to make Challah in a bread machine. This one does look good.

[Darienne]

I don't know from bread machines, but do know that this Rose Levy Beranbaum challah recipe is excellent. I've tried several others, including RLB's original, Martha Stewart's, and one touted elsewhere on eG, and find this to be the moistest, most flavorful of the bunch. It also makes use of old starter, which I always have in the fridge, and which you will obviously need as well. A new (as in, last week) tradition of mine will be to make a loaf of challah using old starter, then a loaf of sourdough, once it is refreshed. The next step will be seeing if the proofed loaf I have vacuum sealed and sitting in the freezer will, in fact, rise to the occasion when called upon.

At any rate, I think you should be fine with mixing challah dough in the bread machine, then baking it elsewhere. Good luck.

I am truly a bear of very little brain. DH bought me a monster Cuisinart stand mixer last year and of course it has a bread hook. And obviously I have never used it...or even thought about using it. Duh Thanks.

[Darienne]

You can make challah in a bread machine, but it won't be as good as hand mixed. Challahs are typically rich dough breads that benefit from a sponge to build the yeast culture. AFIK, bread machines cannot do sponges. Secondly, challah is traditionally braided, which is not possible in a bread machine either. Braiding is only an athetic factor, so it is not important.

Dan

Thanks Dan. Braiding IS important. I don't know about making breads outside of a machine. (I was a cook only from familial pressure until 2 years ago.) Thanks also for 'AFIK'...you do learn something every day.

[David A. Goldfarb]

I used to have a bread machine, and this was the recipe I used. I was basically aiming for something like the challah served in the old Kiev restaurant in Manhattan's East Village. I still make it this way using a stand mixer--

Combine all ingredients:

2 large eggs + water to make a total volume of 1-3/8 cup (dough should be on the wet side)

2Tbs. butter if it can be dairy or oil if it needs to be parve

2Tbs.+2tsp. sugar (I usually use coarse crystal turbinado sugar)

2-1/2 tsp. salt (2-3/4 tsp. of Diamond Kosher salt, which is what I use)

3-1/2 cups bread flour

2-1/4 tsp (1 package) dry yeast

You can bake it on the basic light cycle or make it with the dough cycle, braid, rise again, then bake at 375F for 30-35 min.

To use your monster Cuisinart stand mixer, combine all ingredients in the bowl and knead with the dough hook at the speed recommended by the manufacturer for 6 min. Cover bowl and allow to rise until double or triple in bulk. Punch down (whenever I read "degas" I think of the painter) the dough, knead a few times by hand, divide and braid as you like, cover with a towel, and allow to rise again until double. You could add an egg wash, and poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or black fennel seed if you like. Bake as above.

Edited March 23, 2010 by David A. Goldfarb (log)

[Fat Guy]

To be clear, a bread machine performs a few functions: mixing, kneading, proofing and baking. You can use a bread machine start-to-finish for all those steps if you want a loaf in the standard bread-machine shape, or you can just use it to mix, knead and proof your dough then shape and bake it in a regular oven. For challah in particular, it's just not the same thing if you don't braid it, which means you'll want to use a machine for the dough-making but then you'll want to divide and braid.

I have had a bread machine and I also have a KitchenAid stand mixer and a Cuisinart. Having made quite a lot of bread every which way with all three machines as well as by hand I can say from personal experience that the Cuisinart is the best tool for challah if you want to avoid kneading by hand.

The recipe for challah that comes with the Cuisinart is quite good and, as with all the Cuisinart recipes, has been extensively tested and debugged. Like Mr. Goldfarb's recipe it calls for butter, which makes the challah dairy and therefore not suitable for a meat meal if you keep kosher. But you can indeed substitute vegetable oil and it comes out fine.

[Darienne]

This looks like one I can use. I have no starter for the RLB recipe. Thanks.

[Darienne]

The recipe for challah that comes with the Cuisinart is quite good and, as with all the Cuisinart recipes, has been extensively tested and debugged. Like Mr. Goldfarb's recipe it calls for butter, which makes the challah dairy and therefore not suitable for a meat meal if you keep kosher. But you can indeed substitute vegetable oil and it comes out fine.

Thanks for including the recipe, Steve. My Cuisinart booklet doesn't have that recipe in it. Strange. Wait. My booklet is Canadian: right...half in French...therefore half the recipes.

[ElsieD]

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/cooking_school/traditional_challah.php

You probably already have what you wanted, but just in case............look down the page to where it says "Variation" as it deals with the bread machine issue.

Elsie

[baroness]

Challahs are typically rich dough breads that benefit from a sponge to build the yeast culture. AFIK, bread machines cannot do sponges. Dan

SOME bread machines, such as the Zo, do make sponges/biga/poolish/etc.

[Darienne]

http://www.canadianliving.com/food/cooking_school/traditional_challah.php

You probably already have what you wanted, but just in case............look down the page to where it says "Variation" as it deals with the bread machine issue.

Elsie

Thanks Elsie. Nope, a woman cannot have too many recipes for the same thing. Elicits a lot of confusion, true, but still worth the trouble.

You know, I have never had Challah with raisins in it.

[Fat Guy]

Sweet round raisin challah is traditional for Rosh Hashanah. But it's popular year 'round.

[Darienne]

SOME bread machines, such as the Zo, do make sponges/biga/poolish/etc.

Wow. Three look-ups in one post. Zo, biga, and poolish. Who knew? So much to learn, learn, learn...

[Fat Guy]

In honor of this topic my 4.5-year-old son, PJ, and I made challah in the Cuisinart, following the Cuisinart recipe with oil instead of butter. He did the braiding so it's a little uneven. But it's tasty enough.

[Darienne]

Hooray for P.J. He is going to grow up to be one fantastic chef...or whatever he wants to be.

[Marlene]

In honor of this topic my 4.5-year-old son, PJ, and I made challah in the Cuisinart, following the Cuisinart recipe with oil instead of butter. He did the braiding so it's a little uneven. But it's tasty enough.

I think there is no greater memory to give a child than to do something like this with him! Bravo.

[mgaretz]

I have had a bread machine and I also have a KitchenAid stand mixer and a Cuisinart. Having made quite a lot of bread every which way with all three machines as well as by hand I can say from personal experience that the Cuisinart is the best tool for challah if you want to avoid kneading by hand.

The recipe for challah that comes with the Cuisinart is quite good and, as with all the Cuisinart recipes, has been extensively tested and debugged. Like Mr. Goldfarb's recipe it calls for butter, which makes the challah dairy and therefore not suitable for a meat meal if you keep kosher. But you can indeed substitute vegetable oil and it comes out fine.

Steve,

While I could certainly make this in my Cuisinart (and now I have two, since I got the new fancy one from Williams-Sonoma - I've watched the DVD but have yet to unbox it), has this same recipe not worked well in the stand mixer?

[Fat Guy]

You can do it with the stand mixer, but with the Cuisinart you're done in 45 seconds.

[Darienne]

Talk about synchronicity. Today the blog 'Always Order Dessert' has a video tutorial on making the six strand braided Challah loaf.

Edited March 25, 2010 by Darienne (log)

[DanM]

You can make challah in a bread machine, but it won't be as good as hand mixed. Challahs are typically rich dough breads that benefit from a sponge to build the yeast culture. AFIK, bread machines cannot do sponges. Secondly, challah is traditionally braided, which is not possible in a bread machine either. Braiding is only an athetic factor, so it is not important.

Dan

Thanks Dan. Braiding IS important. I don't know about making breads outside of a machine. (I was a cook only from familial pressure until 2 years ago.) Thanks also for 'AFIK'...you do learn something every day.

I suggest you look into picking up a copy of The King Arthur Flour Baker's Companion: The All-Purpose Baking Cookbook. It is a great introduction to high quality baking at home. My challah formula comes from this book. I have reduced the water by .5oz and witched the sponge flour to whole wheat and the remaining flour to white whole wheat. I make this every week.

After you work your way though that book and want to build up your bread skills, especially challah, here are some suggestions.

A Blessing of Bread: The Many Rich Traditions of Jewish Bread Baking Around the World

A Taste of Challah

The Bread Baker's Apprentice: Mastering the Art of Extraordinary Bread (Hardcover)

These are all available through Amazon. I also suggest you buy a digital scale to get this good habit started early.

In honor of this topic my 4.5-year-old son, PJ, and I made challah in the Cuisinart, following the Cuisinart recipe with oil instead of butter. He did the braiding so it's a little uneven. But it's tasty enough.

Fat Guy... Are you putting the dough in the microwave? Are you using it as a proofer? Interesting...

Edited March 25, 2010 by DanM (log)

[Fat Guy]

My standard procedure (when I remember to do it) for proofing dough is to microwave a glass of water for 3 minutes to make the microwave warm, then put the dough in there. In the case of an enriched dough like for challah I do it in a bag, and for regular dough I do it in a bowl covered with plastic wrap.

[Darienne]

My Challah is baked, in the bread machine, David Goldfarb's recipe (thanks again, David), un-braided (next one will be braided). Beautiful loaf, lovely texture, delicious taste.

My original purpose in making the Challah was to use it in the recipe for oven-baked French Toast (titled: Boozy Baked French Toast, Smitten Kitchen) which called for Challah and which I made a few days ago with a French baguette. The braided shape would have no purpose in this dish and so I just plopped...as it were...the ingredients in the machine, pressed the button, and walked away.

This will be a great dish for the Annual Dog Weekend bunch!

Thanks to all for all the input. All duly noted and squirreled away.