Braided Challah (Daring Bakers Challenge, May 2012)

Here's the brief for this challenge: "May's Daring Bakers' Challenge was pretty twisted - Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from "A Taste of Challah," by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads."

With free time being so scarce these days, I like to put 150% effort into the baking projects that I take on. This particular recipe held special significance for me because it was my first Daring Bakers Challenge. I was hesitant at first to join the Daring Bakers, because I knew for sure that I would not be able to dedicate much time to this blog this year because of a massive uni workload. However, seeing other bloggers proudly showing off their masterpieces on each month's reveal date filled me with such senses of envy and longing that I caved, and signed up at the end of April. And behold - I have completed my very first challenge - a raisin and cinnamon swirl challah!

The Challah is a braided loaf traditionally eaten on Sabbath and other Jewish holidays. The bread is made with a yeasted dough enriched with eggs, sugar and oil. Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood, who is our host for this challenge, provided us with various recipes for the dough (including her own "go-to" whole wheat version), as well as helpful tips on braiding the loaf. After a little bit of research, I settled on Maggie Glezer's Chernowitzer Challah recipe, after seeing it being used by Lisa for her 'Chocolate Cinnamon Raisin Swirl Challah'. If that description alone isn't enough to get you salivating...you must be made of stone.

Cinnamon rolls are one of my very favourite carby treats, and I can pretty much eat raisins as my daily servings of fruit for the rest of my life. And so I followed in Lisa's footsteps, and made my Challah a cinnamon and raisin swirl one, without the chocolate. I was worried that it might be too much of a good thing, and anyway, I live with a bunch of mutants who don't like chocolate. The swirl pattern didn't come out at all. I think it was because the filling lacked a binding agent, which was what the chocolate did in Lisa's recipe.

This is actually my second attempt at making this recipe. The first time, I allowed the dough to rise for far too long (I think it was over 4 hours) because I'd slept right through my alarm. Whilst the bread still tasted all right, it was visually unappealing - sorta flattened and pathetic-looking. That was lesson number 1: don't over-proof your dough. Lesson number 2 was to cover the bread with foil 20 or 30 minutes into the baking, to stop the surface of the bread from browning too much. I'm in love with the burnished hue of my second loaf, but my first loaf honestly looked like poo, if you'll pardon my bluntness.

 

I really like the colour of my second loaf!

So, how did it taste? Allow me to divulge some embarrassing info about myself. For a while, I tried to convince myself that I hated the taste of bread. That it was basically a tasteless lump of gluten, and in addition to being so bad for my waistline, was terrible for my health and I would do well to avoid it for the rest of my life. Let me say now that, oh man, I was totally bullsh*tting myself. Who was I trying to kid? I LOVE bread. If I could be like my naturally super-skinny friend who habitually downs plates of pasta, I would happily eat bread for all three meals, plus snacks. 

Unfortunately, cruel fate has gifted a carb-lover like myself with the metabolism of a tortoise, and consequently, I limit myself to breadstuff only occasionally. This loaf was totally worth the carb-overload. Calling it "raisin toast" would be the ultimate insult. It's a dense, heavy loaf, and although the crumb may feel dry to the touch, it actually tastes very moist. The raisins have become all plump and juicy from absorbing the liquid from the surrounding dough, and despite all the sugar I stuffed into the dough, it is not too sweet to make a sandwich out of. In fact, I think it would go quite well with a sharp, salty cheddar. The only thing I would change is to increase the amount of cinnamon, as I couldn't really taste it.

  

Here's a walkthrough of the recipe, with accompanying pictures. I really do apologise for not posting more frequently. I truly appreciate the time you have taken to read through my humble blog. I do hope you give this Challah recipe a go, because it is fantastic and completely worthy of a Daring Bakers Challenge! :D

Recipe tutorial: Raisin and Cinnamon Swirl Challah

Makes one 950g loaf; adapted from Maggie Glezer's recipe

Ingredients

For the dough:

7g instant yeast

500g bread flour (+ extra in case your dough is too wet)

170g warm water

2 large eggs + 1 for glazing

110g vegetable oil (I used corn oil)

1.5tsp (8g) salt

55g white granulated sugar

 

Warm water not pictured

Baked cinnamon sugar doughnuts

Hello again! It's been a while, hasn't it? It's the same deal as before: my studies have picked up pace, leaving little to no time for leisure. Which simply means that I make time for it anyway, at the expense of not immersing myself completely in the academia. It does bring up feelings of guilt, but I think I'm getting by well enough, and anyway, it takes only a baked cinnamon sugar doughnut or two to make the uneasiness go away.

Gosh, it almost sounds like a case of substance abuse. Well, you know what they say about sugar addiction - it's a real phenomenon! Don't be fooled by the fact that these are "baked"; just because there wasn't any deep-frying involved does not make these a health food xD No, these are simply doughnut-shaped mini cakes, dusted all over with a layer of crunchy, cinnamon sugar. Sounds good, right?

These cuties measure around 2 inches in diameter each, meaning that even if you were to scoff three or four at once *raises hand in shame*, you'd only look like a mini 'nutter instead of a regular-sized one. Hoho, you like or doughnut like my joke? Okay, okay, I'll stop. You'll need a special baking tin for these; I purchased mine from Victoria's Basement. The tin's not much good for anything else, but I reckon if you rock up to a party with two dozens of these, you'll earn yourself a hole heap of praise so it's worth it. 'Hole', geddit? Doh!

Recipe for Baked Cinnamon Sugar Doughnuts

Makes 22-24 mini doughnuts


Ingredients

For the batter:
1 1/4 cups cake flour (regular plain flour is okay)
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 large egg
1 1/2 tablespoon melted butter

For the cinnamon sugar coating:
Around 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 220 degrees Celsius (or 425 degrees Fahrenheit).
2. Grease your specialty mini doughnut pan with oil or butter.
3. Sift together the flour, sugar, baking powder, nutmeg and salt.
4. In a separate bowl, combine melted butter, buttermilk and eggs, and beat well.
5. Combine dry and wet ingredients, and mix gently until just incorporated. Do not over-mix.
6. Fill each doughnut mold only half full.
7. Bake for 4-6 minutes, or until doughnut is springy to the touch.
8. Trying not to burn your fingers, pry doughnuts out of the molds while they are still relatively hot, and roll them around in the cinnamon sugar coating mixture. The coating will only stick while doughnuts are hot. If you find that it's not sticking, brush some melted butter onto the surface of the doughnut before dredging it in the sugar.