Thursday, August 14, 2008

Water challah (dairy-free, vegetarian, egg-free)



1 1/8 cup water
1/2 cup oil
4 heaping cups flour
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vinegar
2 1/4 teaspoons yeast (1 packet of bread machine yeast preferred)

Following the directions for a bread machine:
1. Pour the water, the oil and the vinegar into the bread machine's pan.
2. Add all dry ingredients except yeast.
3. Make a well in the dry ingredients with your finger and pour the yeast in the well.
4. Set your bread machine to the Dough setting.
5. When the dough is done in the bread machine, place it on a sheet of parchment paper.
6. Separate the dough into thirds, then separate each ball of dough into thirds again.
7. Roll each small ball of dough into a rope.
8. Braid together 3 small challah loafs.
9. Top with egg or egg whites (use olive oil to make egg-free)and sesame seeds.
10. Bake at 345F for about 45 minutes or until outside is lightly browned and crispy.

I like to add milled flaxseed to the dough before it is mixed and use a flavored vinegar. I also like to top the braided challahs with salt, pepper and savory spices like basil or rosemary before baking. I don't like my challah too sweet so I cut down the sugar. The original recipe called for 1/4 cup, so feel free to play with the amount!

2 comments:

Sistercooks.blogspot.com said...

did you make the challah with regular flour or bread flour/ high gluten flour?

Sister Cooks said...

I used bread flour, the kind that says "ideal for breadmaker". I've made using whole wheat flour and it always gets too dense and the crust doesn't get hard.