Round Challah with Rosemary & Salt

ByRebecca

While I’m not making a homemade challah every Friday, I believe it is one of my favorite Shabbat rituals and it is special to share with family and friends. If you’ve never made challah before, don’t be afraid! It’s actually very simple though it takes many hours to rise and reach its highest, yummiest potential. Making challah is a wonderful activity to do alone, or with your loved ones. And though the ritual is predominately reserved for the women in a Jewish household, anyone and everyone can make a challah.

Now, the significance of round challah is about the cycles of time and the turning of seasons. It symbolizes our hopes for a fruitful, sweet and healthy new year ahead. A braided challah comes many times a year, but a round challah only comes around once a year!

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Tips

Kneading: This is one of the most important parts in developing a soft and airy challah bread. It helps create the bread’s elasticity, but the process of kneading is also a directly spiritual task.

Rising: Without a double rise, or a single long rise, the challah will not double in size and will therefore end up very dense and doughy in taste.

Serving: I think challah is best served hot, right out of the oven, if possible.

More Challah Recipes:

Rebecca

Round Challah

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Prep Time 20 minutes
Cook Time 4 hours 40 minutes
Total Time 5 hours
Servings: 10
Course: Bread, Dinner
Cuisine: Jewish, Kosher
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 1 packet dry yeast
  • 2 tbsp cane sugar
  • 1 c warm water
  • 3 c AP flour
  • 1 c bread flour
  • 3 eggs (room temp)
  • 0.5 c olive oil
  • 1 tbsp salt
Egg Wash
  • 1 egg + water (for egg wash)
  • rosemary
  • sea salt

Method
 

  1. Mix yeast, sugar and warm water. Add in 1 c all purpose flour. Let dough rest for 1 hour with a towel covering the bowl as the flour hydrates.
  2. Add in the eggs and oil until uniform in color and texture.
  3. Add in the salt, remaining 1.5 c all purpose flour as well as the 1-1.5 c bread flour. Knead the dough in bowl with gloves by hand and add in extra flour if needed.
  4. Transfer the dough to a well-oiled bowl, cover with a paper towel and kitchen towel to allow rising process for about 2 hours.
  5. Divide the dough into 4 equal parts. Form flat triangles by pushing down each section of the dough. Then, roll up each until you have uniform strands. Elongate them into 16-inch long strands.
  6. Lay the strands in a cross-shape, and repeatedly cross the under strand over the over one until there is little dough left to work with. For example, cross strand 1 over 2, 3 over 4, 5 over 6, 7 over 8. Then, cross strand 2 in the opposite direction over strand 7, 8 over 5, 6 over 3 and 4 over 1. Tuck the excess underneath.
  7. Egg wash with a silicone brush and add in some rosemary and sea salt on top. Bake for 35-40 minutes at about 350 degrees.

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