Challah Bread

Ingredients

• 300 g whole milk (or water for dairy free)
• 40 g honey
• ½ level tsp instant yeast – see 1st tip
• 2 large eggs
• 50 g butter (or 65 g olive oil/coconut oil for dairy free), plus 2 tsp
• 500 g organic white spelt flour – see 2nd tip
• 1½ level tsp fine sea salt
• 2 tsp poppy seeds

Method

1. Warm milk, honey, yeast, 1 of the eggs and 50 g butter 1 min/37°C/speed 2; meanwhile, grease a large bowl with 1 tsp butter and set bowl aside.
2. Add flour and sea salt, then knead 5 min/dough setting, remembering to stay with your Thermomix while it’s doing the heavy work of kneading.
3. Transfer dough to buttered large bowl, cover bowl with a damp tea towel (kitchen towel) and leave to rise in fridge at least 5 hours (or up to 24 hours).
4. Stir risen dough thoroughly with TM spatula to release air, then divide dough into 3 portions (see 3rd tip), roll each into a long sausage, grease a large baking tray with remaining 1 tsp butter then plait (braid) the dough loosely, tucking ends underneath after last braid – see step photos. Leave plaited chollah to rise in a warm place until doubled in size, approx. 1-2 hours.
5. Preheat oven to 220°C without fan/200°C with fan/425°F/gas 7/Aga roasting oven; meanwhile briskly mix remaining egg in a bowl with a fork to make ‘egg wash’.
6. Use a pastry brush to gently apply egg wash to risen chollah, then sprinkle with poppy seeds. Bake approx. 20-30 minutes until light golden brown – loaf should sound hollow when tapped on its base. Transfer to a wire rack and cool completely, then slice and serve.

Janie’s Tips

1. Using this small amount of yeast and allowing the dough to rise slowly for at least 6 hours adds wonderful flavour as well as making the bread easier to digest and more nourishing.
2. Organic spelt flour absorbs more liquid than regular white bread flour, so if you use white bread flour instead (organic or not), you’ll need to use 550 g.
3. If you’d like to make a challah plait (braid) with more than 3 strands, there are videos online to help you learn the techniques.
4. Best served fresh on day of baking. It also makes wonderful toast the following morning if there’s any left.
5. Once cooled, challah can be frozen up to 2 months – slice it and separate the slices with pieces of baking paper first so it’s easy to defrost one or two slices at a time.
6. If your friends ask you to make challah for them, suggest they contact me to buy their own Thermomix so they can make it easily themselves!
7. For dairy free (DF), use water instead of milk, use 65 g olive oil or coconut oil instead of 50 g butter, and grease your large bowl with olive oil or coconut oil instead of butter – read ingredient labels to ensure all your ingredients are dairy free if dairy free is required.
8. This recipe is vegetarian.
9. To make this recipe vegan, use water instead of milk, use 65 g olive oil or coconut oil instead of 50 g butter, and grease your large bowl with olive oil or coconut oil instead of butter.