Laura Frankels Whole Wheat Challah Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, stir together the flour, salt, yeast, and vital wheat gluten until well mixed. In another bowl, stir together the honey, olive oil, water, eggs, and raisins. Pour the liquid mixture into the flour mixture, and stir until it forms a dough.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. Form the dough into a round shape. Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn the dough over a few times to oil the surface. Cover the bowl with a cloth, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, about 1 hour.
• Punch down the dough, knead it a few times to remove some of the bubbles, and cut it into 2 equal-sized pieces. Set 1 piece of dough aside under a cloth to prevent drying out while you shape or braid the first loaf as desired.
• Working on a floured surface, roll the small dough pieces into ropes about the thickness of your thumb and about 12 inches long. Ropes should be fatter in the middle and thinner at the ends. Pinch 3 ropes together at the top and braid them. Starting with the strand to the right, move it to the left over the middle strand (that strand becomes the new middle strand.) Take the strand farthest to the left, and move it over the new middle strand. Continue braiding, alternating sides each time, until the loaf is braided, and pinch the ends together and fold them underneath for a neat look. Repeat for the other loaf, place the braided loaves on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and let rise in a warm place until doubled, about 30 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 30 minutes. Serve warm for best flavor.

Steps:

• Make a sponge: Place the tepid water, whole-wheat flour and yeast in a large mixing bowl or in a bowl that attaches to a mixer. Stir this mixture together or do like we do and use your hands and really get in there and mush it together. Cover the mixture and allow it sit in a warm place for 30 minutes.
• Add the rest of the ingredients adding only enough flour until the mixture is not wet and sticky. You many not need the entire 4 cups of flour. Knead the dough for 5 minutes until the dough is supple and smooth. Cover and let it rest for at least one hour or store the dough wrapped tightly over night in the refrigerator.
• Shape the dough into your favorite loaf. Place the loaves on a lightly greases sheet pan. Cover with a clean towel and let rise for two hours.
• Whisk together yolks and water, brush the loaves with the egg wash, sprinkle with seeds if using, and bake in a preheated 350°F oven until the challot are browned and make a hollow sound when tapped on the bottom (about 30-45 minutes).
• Let the challot sit for at least one hour before cutting it. The baking process continues for 20 minutes after the bread is removed from the oven. Steam continues cooking the bread and making it dense and moist. Cutting the crust would allow the steam to escape.

Steps:

• Warm the water until it is baby-bath temperature.
• Add the yeast, yeast-energizer, and sugar. Make sure the yeast starts to bubble - this is how you'll know it's active.
• In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, oil, 1 egg and cinnamon.
• Add the water-sugar-yeast mixture to the flour. Mix, then knead for 5 minutes. Recite and have in mind: Lichvod Shabbat Kodesh as you are kneading.
• Let rise in a warm place for 1.5 - 2 hours. Put a damp cloth over it.
• When it has doubled in size, punch down and knead for 3 more minutes. Braid into 2 loaves. Let rise 30-40 minutes.
• Nice Option: Right before baking, coat with egg yolk and sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds.
• Bake at 180C for 30-40 minutes.

Steps:

• In a large bowl, mix yeast, warm water and 1 cup of bread flour into a thin batter, and let stand until the mixture shows frothy bubbles, about 10 minutes. Stir in vegetable oil, honey, 3 eggs, and salt until well combined. Beat in 2 more cups of bread flour and the whole wheat flour, alternating flours by cupfuls, until the dough is too stiff to stir in more flour.
• Turn the dough out onto a floured surface, and knead until smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes, adding more flour if needed to form a slightly sticky dough. Form the dough into a round shape. Lightly oil a bowl, place the dough in the bowl, and turn the dough over a few times to oil the surface. Cover the bowl with a plastic bag, and let rise in a warm, draft-free place until doubled, 1 to 2 hours.
• Punch down the dough, knead it a few times to remove some of the bubbles, and cut it into 3 equal-sized pieces. Cut the first piece into 3 equal parts. Set the rest of the dough aside under a cloth to prevent drying out while you braid the first loaf.
• Working on a floured surface, roll the small dough pieces into ropes about the thickness of your thumb and about 12 inches long. Ropes should be fatter in the middle and thinner at the ends. Pinch 3 ropes together at the top and braid them. Starting with the strand to the right, move it to the left over the middle strand (that strand becomes the new middle strand.) Take the strand farthest to the left, and move it over the new middle strand. Continue braiding, alternating sides each time, until the loaf is braided, and pinch the ends together and fold them underneath for a neat look. Repeat for the other 2 loaves, place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper, and let rise until doubled, 45 minutes to 1 hour.
• Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Beat 1 egg with 1 teaspoon of water in a small bowl, and brush the egg mixture over the braided challah loaves. Sprinkle with sesame seeds.
• Bake in the preheated oven until the tops are a deep golden brown and the loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, about 40 minutes. Cool on a rack before slicing.

Steps:

• Activate yeast in 1/2 cup water with sugar.
• Beat in remaining 2 1/2 cups of water , 5 cups flour, oil, honey, two eggs and salt. Let rise 30-60 minutes.
• Punch down. Add the rest of the flour slowly while kneading, until dough no longer sticks to fingers. Cover with damp towel.
• Allow to rise again until double in size. Punch down. Shape into loaves.
• Place in well-greased loaf pans or braid and place on cookie sheets. Let rise for 30 minutes.
• Bake in preheated oven at 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) for 30 minutes.

Steps:

• Activate yeast with sugar and 1/4 cup warm water.
• Mix the rest of the liquid ingredients and add to yeast, then add flour and salt.
• Rest 15 minutes (autolyse).
• Knead dough, let rise for about 1 1/2 hours.
• Shape into braid, rest another hour.
• Brush gently with egg wash, add sesame or poppy seeds.
• Place loaf in a 400 degree preheated oven and turn the temperature to 375, and bake for about 40 minutes.
• Tap loaf, it will sound hollow when done, and be kind of hard to the touch.
• Let cool for about 45 minutes before slicing.