Phyllis's challa

1 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
50 grams Instant yeast; (1 pkg \"Shimrit\")
¾ kilograms White flour
¾ kilograms Whole wheat flour
½ cup Oil
½ cup Honey or demerara sugar
3 larges Eggs
2½ teaspoon Salt
2 cups Warm water
1 teaspoon Cold water
1 Egg yolk
2 tablespoons Poppy or sesame seeds

Directions

I took this recipe from last week's Jerusalem Post and it was a big hit.

Place the yeast and half of the whole wheat and white flours in a mixing bowl fitted with a dough hook and mix briefly. In a separate bowl mix the oil, honey or sugar, eggs salt and warm water.

Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and add the contents of the second bowl, using a spatula to scrape out the last traces of the honey and other liquids that stick to the bottom of the bowl.

On slow speed, mix the flours and the liquids together to form a wet dough, stopping the mixer periodically to wipe down the sides with a spatula.

Gradually add more whole wheat and white flours to form a ball. Be careful not to add too much flour or the dough will be too dry.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead, gradually adding more flour until the dough is the consistency of an ear lobe (!) It can be slightly sticky.

Put the dough into an oiled bowl and turn it so that all of the surfaces are slightly coated with oil. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and a towel and let rise in a warm place for about 45 minutes or until doubled in bulk.

Punch down the dough in the middle and let rest for 5 minutes.

Grease a 26 cm springform pan ( I used a bundt pan). Form the dough into a series of balls, slightly larger than pingpong balls. Place a ring around the outer rim of the pan, and then form an inner ring if there is room.

Form three or four balls into the size of tennis balls and fit them into the center. This will give your baked challa a crown like shape. Some like to fill each ball with a date for good luck (I did this, but afterwards wondered why shouldn't we add raisins as well?) Brush with an egg yolk beaten with 1 tsp water and sprinkle with seeds.

Bake in the middle of a preheated oven for 25 minutes at 180 C or until a knock on the top produces a hollow sound. Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes and then remove from pan and cool thoroughly.

Posted to JEWISH-FOOD digest by Helen Ring <aring@...> on Sep 24, 1998, converted by MM_Buster v2.0l.

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