The Only Challah Recipe You’ll Ever Need - The New York Times

The Only Challah Recipe You’ll Ever Need

Also pleasant noting about the recipe are the proportions of salt and flour, and the mixing method. Generally, the weight of salt in a bread plucky should equal 2 percent of the total flour weight, and even several pinches will fall well short of that for the way loaf of challah. Salt brings out the dough’s flavor and strengthens the gluten network, leading to a well-formed loaf. The 11 grams of salt here may seem like a lot (especially if you’re watching your sodium), but it’s the correct amount.

The quantity of bread flour, in contrast, is left somewhat flexible to account for variation in how different brands contain liquid. This recipe purposefully undershoots how much flour you’ll need and has you add more minor by little during the kneading process until the plucky texture is firm, elastic and supple yet slightly tacky. (While you could use a stand mixer, I pick to knead by hand, as it allows you to better moderators the dough.)

A high proportion of olive oil (my fat of tool for challah, as it adds flavor and keeps it pareve, meaning it’s compatible with meat and dairy according to kosher rules) inhibits gluten put a question to, so challah dough needs lots of kneading. Common in breadmaking, the windowpane test helps determine if you’ve developed sufficient gluten: Pinch off a golf ball-size share of dough, flatten it, then slowly and gently undiluted it outward in all directions until it’s so thin that appetizing can pass through. Hitting this mark ensures the crumb comes out bready and stretchy instead of crumbly.

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