For an extra-special-shiny-finish, brush with egg wash twice, allowing a 10 minute interval between them. Be sure to brush on v-e-r-y gently, again to avoid deflation of your beautiful challah forms. Top with sesame seeds and/or sunflower and pumpkin seeds, pop in the oven and success is on its way!
Q. I’m writing this on Friday since I’m exasperated with how my challahs come out. The dough is excellent – soft and elastic. Everything looks fine until they come out of the oven. No one wants to eat them! They’re light colored and hard on the outside and dry and crumbly on the inside. I really want to do the mitzvah of hafrashas challah so what can I do to make sure my challahs and rolls come out nicely browned and more importantly, soft and moist?
A. The hopeless description of your challahs reminds me of my own exasperation years ago. I too, looked for an explanation for my yellowish, hard challahs. I was told to simply bake them on 400°F and voila! My challahs became the rave of town ever since!
Q. I’d love to have my family get used to whole wheat challahs but they won’t even look at anything that’s not pure white. Any ideas?
A. Easy does it! Start by substituting only 1 cup of flour with whole wheat and see how your family “swallows” it. If they don’t notice, gradually continue adding more whole wheat flour until slowly but surely you’ll be making 100% whole wheat challahs! Just remember to increase the amount of water in proportion to the whole wheat flour.
And now for the recipe:
Half and Half Challahs
2 ½ lbs. whole wheat flour
2 ½ lbs. Bleached all purpose flour
2 tbs. Dry yeast
2 tbs. Salt
1 cup canola oil
½ cup honey
5 cups lukewarm water
Mix, rise, braid and bake challahs as noted on the article.
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