Small Batch Challah Rolls Recipe - Amanda Wilens (2024)

FAQs

Why is my homemade challah so dense? ›

Amount of flour: The key to a soft loaf that isn't dense is to use as little flour as possible.

The technique may seem strange but it is very forgiving which is great for everyone: especially people who aren't as comfortable baking bread. The process involves two long room temperature rises: the first, 8-10 hours and the second, 4-5 hours.

Make it ahead: Prepare the loaf up to the point where it's braided and on the pan. Tent it with greased plastic wrap, and place it in the refrigerator overnight. Next morning, remove the dough from the refrigerator (keep it covered). Let it warm and rise at room temperature for 60 minutes before baking as directed.

Due to the addition of eggs and honey in the recipe, it is richer than regular bread, slightly sweet and delicious with unsalted butter. Challah is baked to celebrate the Sabbath, so it has a special place in a Jewish home, and it is sometimes brought to the table under a special cloth.

Myrna's original recipe calls for all-purpose flour, and you can substitute that here. But I find bread flour gives the challah a nice chew without making it tough, and also helps the braided loaf maintain its shape after baking. For some novice challah makers, that braid can seem like the hardest part.

Add Sugar

Adding sugar weakens the gluten structure, absorbs water, and eventually makes the bread lighter and softer. As a result, sugar improves the bread's taste, structure and texture. Yeast also eats up sugar to produce carbon dioxide, which raises the dough and makes bread fluffy.

The best baking temperature for *most* challahs is about 190°C / 365-375°F.

Overrising the first rise, which is when the dough is still just a dough, can occur. Usually if it overrose just a bit, say, for an hour extra in a cold kitchen, it doesnt really matter. You simply punch it back down and go on to the shaping.

Instead of letting it rise at room temperature on the counter, place the dough in a large bowl and cover with plastic wrap, or place it in a large, covered container. Make sure the dough is in a large enough bowl or container and has plenty of room to rise, because it will. Refrigerate it overnight.

How do you know when your bread is done? Follow the allotted bake time in your recipe. Otherwise, you can go based on look and feel. The crust on the challah should be a medium-dark brown, and when you lift up the loaf and tap the bottom, it should sound like a hollow thud.

Can challah dough sit in the fridge overnight? ›

When dough has doubled, punch it down and turn it over in your bowl. At this point, you can either let it rise again on the counter or let it rise slowly in the fridge overnight. I ALWAYS do one rise overnight in the fridge, no matter what kind of bread I'm baking.

Allow the dough to rise in a warm, draft-free spot until it's puffy and doubled in size, 2 to 3 hours. Keep in mind that when baking yeast breads, rising times are only a guide. The temperature in your kitchen, the humidity level outdoors, and how you knead the dough will all affect the rising time.

Challah functions as a physical metaphor for manna from heaven at the sabbath meal. It is baked for sharing during shabbat; candles lit, wine poured, blessings made and prayers shared.

Name and origins

The term challah in Biblical Hebrew meant a kind of loaf or cake.

If your dough is STILL too hard: This can happen if you used too much flour by accident or if you are using whole wheat flour that has a higher bran content. Make a hole in the center of your dough by pulling it open with your hands. Pour some very warm water and a teaspoon of oil into the hole.

Fermentation is at the heart of many of them. (FYI: Fermentation refers to the process yeast goes through to make bread rise or proof.) If the fermentation is too fast or too slow, too long or too short, or not as predicted, dense bread is often the result.

Dense or heavy bread can be caused by not kneading the dough enough, not letting the dough rise enough, or using too much flour. To fix this issue: try kneading the dough for longer or allowing it to rise for a longer period. You can also try adding a little more liquid to the dough or using a higher protein flour.

The amount of water you add to your dough directly affects how the crumb in your baked loaf. A more open crumb results in bigger holes and a softer texture, whereas a closed crumb results in a more robust textured bread. Simply put, the more water in your dough, the more open the crumb will be.