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March 16, 2015

Let’s talk about religion and food. I know, I know…but most of us are, in one way or another, influenced in the kitchen by our familial upbringing. And this influence often has its roots in those beliefs to which our parents’ cling. Though both my parents came from Jewish backgrounds they largely eschewed religion, preferring a melange of spiritual truths that boiled down to the belief that love was the most important thing (I think they were on to something).

When I was two, we left a semi-commune-semi-cult-like scenario in Northern California to settle on Maui—an unlikely place for two recovering hippy-Jews, but a paradise none-the-less. And though we celebrated most holidays across the religious rainbow (who doesn’t like presents, amiright?), our Jewish holidays were punctuated with island-bound peculiarities. Like when five year old Genafer serenaded our Passover Seder with a rousing rendition of “Jesus Loves Me”.But I digress. Point being: My mother—from whom I learned to cook—was much more inclined to basting tamari-ginger tofu “steaks” than kneading challah. So it’s been up to me to seek out certain food traditions my ancestors practiced and relearn them today. Which brings us to last week, when I had pretty much the most fun possible on a Tuesday morning making mini challahs with Sarah Klegman and Elina Tilipman of Challah Hub.

We’d been bandying emails about for months, trying to settle on a date to take our relationship to the next level (aka bake bread together). Once we had our date, every bread-baking cell of my brain siphoned off in one singular direction: I wanted to make everything seeded mini challahs.

Doesn’t it just make you wanna do the happy bread dance? Obvi the answer is yes. Sarah and Elina agreed to fulfill my challah fantasies, and thus our morning began.

The ladies were responsible for concocting their signature challah dough (spiked with onion and garlic), and I came equipped with seven spices and seeds to create an irresistible “everything” potpourri. Sesame, poppy, onion, garlic, fennel, caraway, and mild smoky salt flakes combine for a savory scent that hits every salivary gland button imaginable.

Of course, the whole thing would be topped with a chive cream cheese schmear.

My inner Jewess is so happy about this challah, you guys. And. These minis are SO easy to make. Seriously.

Have no fear. Easy challah is here.

Mega thanks to the ladies of Challah Hub for sharing your brilliant challah dough recipe, and to Sally Gilles for a few of the photos used in this post.

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Ingredients

Dough

3 1/2 cups flour plus extra for kneading and flouring surfaces
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp . sea salt
2 tsp . dried minced onion
2 tsp . dried minced garlic
¼ cup butter melted (but at room temperatur+ extra unmelted butter for the rising bowl
¼ cup olive oil
3 eggs
1 cup warm water
1 packet Rapid Rise yeast
1 egg white for glaze

Everything Seed Mix

1 Tbsp . sesame seeds
1 Tbsp . poppy seeds
1 Tbsp . dried minced garlic
1 Tbsp . dried minced onion
1 tsp . caraway seeds
1 tsp . fennel seeds
1 tsp . mild smoked sea salt flakes I used Maldon flakes

Instructions

In a medium bowl, combine 1 cup warm water with your packet of yeast. Stir gently until the yeast is dissolved, and let sit for a few minutes.
In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt, sugar, onion, and garlic with a whisk. Then add melted butter, 3 eggs, and olive oil to the yeasty water mixture and whisk gently til combined.
Gradually add liquid mix to flour mix, using your hands to gently knead the dough until it has a smooth, light texture. Feel free to sprinkle with additional flour as you fold and knead until it’s no longer sticky.
Butter a second large bowl and transfer your dough ball into it. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth and place inside your unlit oven. For extra good rising juju, place a small pot of steaming hot water in the oven with your covered dough.
Leave to rise for 2-3 hours, until it’s doubled in size.
When it’s ready, remove dough and pot of water from the oven.
Lightly flour a dry surface for rolling. Divide the dough into four equal size balls. Then divide each of those balls into two. You should have eight mini balls of dough.
Here’s the math:
8 mini dough balls = rolled and divided into 4 strands of the same length each.
Take the first dough ball and start rolling it into a strand, using your hands to push and spread the strand from the center out to the sides. This is a genius technique that the highly adept Sarah passed along to me, and which I now gladly bestow unto you.
Once the strand is about a foot in length, fold it in half and separate into two pieces. Roll each of those out into strands that are about ½ inch thick, and then separate into two.
Now you should have 4 strands of the same length from your mini dough ball.
Take two of those strands and place them very close together horizontally. Then take the other two strands and place them on top of the horizontal strands vertically, like a tic tac toe or a hashtag. #challah! Sorry, couldn’t resist.
Now start your weave. A picture is worth a thousand words, so I’m going to let Mara show you how this looks on YouTube. It’s so simple, I promise. Watch the video below and breathe a sigh of relief. So easy.As you finish each mini challah braid, place it on a foil lined cookie sheet. Once they’re all done, cover the sheets (you’ll likely need twwith damp cloths and let the challahs rise another hour.
After an hour, preheat your oven to 330º.
Using a pastry brush, pain the mini challahs with egg white. Then distribute the seed mix evenly between the challahs, sprinkling lightly on top.
Bake for about 25 minutes, checking every 15 minutes to assess levels of golden goodness. Remove from oven and let cool about 15 minutes, or as long as you can possibly resist the heavenly aroma of freshly baked challah and toasted seeds!
Serve with whipped cream cheese mixed with freshly chopped chives.