Commitment | Challah Rolls

Challah Rolls and Raisin Challah with a Cinnamon Swirl recipes from Lauren Groveman author of 'Lauren Groveman's Kitchen-Nurturing Food for Family and Friends'

Challah Rolls (Twists and Braids) and Raisin Challah with a Cinnamon Swirl

Yield: 2 large braided free-standing loaves or three (8x4-inch) loaves or 16 twisted or braided dinner rolls

* Special Equipment

8-quart mixing bowl, for rising dough
Wooden surface, for kneading
Pastry scraper
2 shallow baking sheets
Parchment paper

* Ingredients

1 stick (1/4 pound) plus 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup milk

1/3 cup sugar, plus pinch sugar for yeast

1 tablespoon mild flavored honey

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 packages active dry yeast

1/2 cup lukewarm water

4 extra-large eggs, made tepid by steeping whole egg (in shell) in hot tap water for ten minutes

Up to 6 cups high-gluten (high-protein) bread flour, including flour for dusting

Cornmeal, for baking sheet (preferably medium-ground)

Glaze: 1 egg beaten with 1 egg yolk and 1 tablespoon cream or water

Optional toppings

Sesame and/or poppy and/or whole caraway seeds or reconstituted toasted dried onions or fresh onions, minced and sautéed in vegetable oil until just translucent and cooled.

Kosher or sea salt

1) To set up: Melt 3 tablespoons of the butter and brush the interior of an

8-quart mixing bowl with butter. Set bowl aside for rising dough.

2) To assemble liquid mixture: Cut remaining stick of butter into small pieces and place in a small saucepan with milk. Heat milk over low heat until just warm throughout and pour into a large mixing bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup sugar, honey and salt. Dissolve yeast in the lukewarm water with pinch of sugar. When creamy and starting to bubble, add to mixing bowl along with eggs. Stir well with a wooden spoon.

3) To complete and knead dough: Stir in just enough flour, a little at a time, to create a mass that leaves the sides of the bowl and is not easily stirred.

Knead dough in a brisk push, fold and turning motion, until perfectly smooth and elastic, adding only as much additional flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking to your hands and work surface.

4) To rise dough twice: When dough is of proper consistency, place it in the buttered rising bowl and brush top of dough with more melted butter. Cover bowl with buttered plastic wrap and a clean kitchen towel and let rise in a warm, draft-free spot until double in bulk, about 2 hours. Uncover bowl and punch down dough with several swift swats with the back of your hand, totally deflating dough. Re-cover bowl and let rise until doubled, about 1 hour and 15 minutes.

5) To form braided loaves: Line 2 large shallow baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle the paper with cornmeal. On a lightly floured work surface, use the blade of your pastry scraper to divide dough in half. Cover one half as you work with the other. Divide 1 section of dough into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a strand about 10 inches long with tapered ends and slightly chubby centers. (Use extra flour only as necessary to keep dough from sticking to your hands and work surface; too much flour will prevent traction necessary for rolling strands.)

Align strands and beginning from the center (going down) braid as you would braid hair, alternately bringing outside strands over center strand. Turn the braided portion up so the unbraided strands point down and continue to braid--but this time bring the center strand alternately over the outside left strand and then the right strand until you reach the bottom. Pinch to seal and tuck all pinched ends underneath.

Place each loaf on prepared baking sheet, gently "plump" the loaf and realign the shape. Cover with a kitchen towel and let rise 40 minutes. Preheat the oven to 375o F. (If not working with a double oven, you can bake both loaves at the same time in the upper and lower third shelves of the oven by switching positions after half the baking time; or allow 1 braided loaf to rise in the refrigerator until the first loaf enters the oven.)

6) To glaze loaves: Push egg glaze through a medium-mesh wire strainer into a small bowl. Remove braided loaves from the refrigerator and, using a pastry brush, paint exposed surface gently but thoroughly, with glaze. Let glaze set for 5 minutes and reapply. (Reserve any remaining glaze to use if necessary during baking.) If desired, sprinkle tops and sides of loaves generously with sesame, poppy and/or caraway seeds. Even if you don't add seeds, I suggest that you lightly sprinkle the tops of the loaves with coarse salt.

7) To bake free-standing braids: Place loaves in a preheated 375o F oven until loaves are golden, feel light when lifted and sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, 35 to 45 minutes. (If applicable, remove chilled braid from refrigerator as soon as first loaf enters the oven to continue rising at room temperature.) Check braided loaves after baking for 20 minutes; as the dough expands in the oven, new dough will become exposed. Brush these white spots with a little of the reserved glaze and continue to bake. Cover top loosely with aluminum foil (shiny side up) if loaves begin to become overly brown.

8) To cool: Remove from oven and cool thoroughly on a rack to allow the interior to relax and expand before slicing or reheating. If applicable, glaze, bake and top remaining braided loaf as directed.

Challah Baked in Loaf Pans

Additional Equipment Needed:

Three 8 x 4-inch loaf pans
Wooden rolling pin (preferably without handles)

Prepare challah dough as directed in Master recipe through 2 risings.

Generously grease three 8x4-inch loaf pans with melted butter and sprinkle the interiors lightly with cornmeal. Shake out excess. Uncover fully risen dough and punch down once more. Turn out dough onto a lightly floured board and, using the blade of your pastry scraper, divide the dough into 3 equal sections.

Cover dough as you work with one piece at a time. Keep dough covered while shaping 1 piece at a time.

* To Shape Loaves for Loaf Pans

Lay a piece of dough on lightly floured board and flatten gently with your hand. Using gentle, deliberate and even pressure with a rolling pin, roll out dough into a 8x10-inch rectangle. (To ensure an even thickness, don't roll over the ends but just up to them. If dough loses its shape while rolling, simply knock the sides back in place with the long side of the pin.) Starting with the

short end of the rectangle, roll dough in jelly-roll style into a snug log, pinching after each revolution to remove any air pockets. When you get to the bottom of the rectangle, pull up the last lip of dough and pinch well to seal.

Lift up one end of the log of dough to expose the coil created by rolling. With your fingers, gently push in the coil towards the center. Pinch the outer rim of dough together, pulling to elongate it slightly. Fold down elongated section to attach to the seam. Repeat on the other end of the rolled dough.

Rotate loaf gently back and forth on your floured board to plump the shape and lay loaf (seam side down) in a buttered loaf pan. Cover and let rise 45 minutes.

*Glaze, top and bake in a preheated 375o F oven for metal pans and 350o F for glass loaf pans until golden, feel light when lifted and loaves sound hollow when tapped on the bottom, 30 to 35 minutes. (*see: "Choose Your Glaze and Topping")

Note: Alternatively, the dough may be shaped into braids as directed in Master recipe and baked in prepared loaf pans (plump side up), in prepared loaf pans.

Raisin Loaves with a Cinnamon Swirl

Follow the directions for shaping dough into loaves with the following exceptions. Omit cornmeal when preparing loaf pans. When assembling dough, scald milk with butter. Add 2 cups raisins (mix light and dark) to mixing bowl with hot milk mixture, along with sugar and salt as directed. Allow raisins to plump as the milk becomes lukewarm. Increase first rise to 2 1/2 hours and second rise to 1 1/2 hours.

To create cinnamon swirl in loaves: After rolling out 1 piece of dough, sprinkle with 1/4 cup cinnamon-sugar mixture (see Note), spreading it out to cover the entire surface of the rectangle. After rolling dough into a snug log, be careful when pushing the coil ends in toward the center. If you push in too far, you will lose some of the spiral design created by the cinnamon sugar. (The cinnamon sugar makes it impossible to pinch and seal after each revolution; to compensate for this, roll dough into a tighter log.)

Note: To make your own cinnamon sugar, use a whisk to combine 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon with 1 cup granulated sugar. If sugar is lumpy, sift mixture through a triple-mesh wire sieve after whisking. This mixture may be doubled, tripled etc. and stored in a large screw-top jar. Keep at a comfortable room temperature away from direct sunlight.

For Twisted and Braided Individual Rolls

For best results when shaping this dough into twisted or braided individual rolls (because of it's inherent billowy texture), you should work with this dough when fully chilled. The dough can be assembled and, once it completes it's first full rise at room temperature, it should then be refrigerated for a minimum of four hours (and up to two days) before shaping and baking.

*To Shape Twisted Rolls

1) Line 2 large shallow baking sheets with parchment paper and sprinkle paper with cornmeal and, if desired, add some poppy and sesame seeds as well.

2) Turn the fully risen (chilled) dough out onto your lightly floured work surface. Using the blade of your pastry scraper, divide the dough into 16 pieces. Cover the rest as you work with one piece at a time.

3) Divide one piece into two equal sections and roll each into a rope approximately 6 inches in length. (Dust lightly with flour only when necessary to keep the dough from sticking to your hands or work surface. Overflouring will make dough slip on your work surface, making it difficult work with.)

4) Tightly twist the strands together and elongate slightly. Put your thumb down on one end of the twist and coil the rest of the twist around itself leaving your thumb in place. Pinch and tuck the remaining ends under the roll and place on parchment lined baking sheet sprinkled with cornmeal. Keep loosely covered with a clean kitchen towel as you continue to shape remaining rolls.

* To Shape Braided Rolls

Divide dough into 16 equal pieces and shape each piece into a braid, using same procedure as in Master Recipe. Rise, preheat, glaze and bake as directed below.

To rise and glaze individual rolls: Position oven rack to the upper and lower third shelves and preheat to 375F for the last 15 minutes of the rise. (Begin timing your rise after the last roll is shaped.) After shaping, cover loosely with a clean kitchen towel and allow to rise at room temperature for 35 minutes

(see Note).

After rolls rise, uncover and brush all exposed areas of each roll with prepared egg glaze. Allow rolls to sit uncovered for 10 minutes and glaze once more. Sprinkle on your chosen topping, if desired or keep rolls plain and just give them a light sprinkling of coarse salt (salt seeded rolls as well).

Note: If not working with a double oven, you can bake both loaves at the same time in the upper and lower third shelves of the oven by switching positions after half the baking time; or allow 1 baking sheet of rolls to rise in the refrigerator until the first enters the oven.

Remove refrigerated rolls and allow to rise until billowy, then bake as directed below.

To bake rolls: Bake rolls at 375F until uniformly golden and they feel light when lifted, 25 to 30 minutes (see Note). If necessary, remove some of the rolls as they reach desired look and texture and place on wire racks while you continue to bake the rest.

Choose Your Glaze and Topping

Egg glazes: When making an egg glaze, water gives a shinier finish to the bread and cream (or milk) gives a more golden matte finish.

For the softest crusts: Omit egg glaze and brush the fully risen loaves just before and immediately after baking with melted butter. This is better suited for loaves baked in loaf pans since the soft crust is preferable in sandwiches.