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
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
