September 14, 2007

Challah

Bread baking, other than pizza or the old standby, olive oil bread, has been few and far between lately. An article about challah caught my eye last week so I decided to give it a try.

I used a recipe from A Blessing of Bread: The Many Rich Traditions of Jewish Bread Baking Around the World by Maggie Glezer, and the results were fantastic!

It was slightly sweet, with the subtle perfume of honey, and soft as a feather.


yeast slurry and egg/honey/oil mixture




before the flour goes in


ready for first rising


after second rising, ready to go into the oven


golden loaves


Here's what I wrote about challah on Like to Cook earlier this week. Pin It

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Everybody's baking bread type products at the moment, but I'm terrified of the idea! I've never baked with yeast before. Any suggestions/advice? those loaves look devine, and I long for the smell of freshly baked bread to seep through the nooks and crannies of my house. I can already see the look on my husband's face when he walks through the door...

What a lovely blog, I really enjoy it, though I'm jealous as a snake that you live where you live!

Jennifer said...

robyn,
Yeast is easy to work with! I use dried yeast that you can buy pretty much anywhere in Canada. You just need to dissolve it in whatever liquid the recipe calls for and proceed. Don't be afraid of it! :)

Thank you for the nice compliments. I appreciate them!

Anonymous said...

like Robyn, i've never done much with yeast before. is this a good bread to start with? i love Challah so i am really tempted to try it.

Jennifer said...

cara
sounds like you've had a rather traumatic summer! I hope Ayva's arm is feeling better.
I buy yeast at the grocery store, Levure de Boulangerie Traditionelle. The challah wasn't difficult at all but needs two, 2 hour risings, so takes some time. It had a lovely texture for kneading.
The olive oil bread I wrote about is much quicker and very easy. Not sweet though.
Let me know when you try!

islandgirl4ever2 said...

Holy Cow!! That looks DELISH~~

Love your blog!!

---Leesa

Jennifer said...

Leesa,
Thanks!
Do you like to bake bread?
We made the second loaf into bread pudding today. Wonderful!!!