Recipe: Challah Rolls

Though my family are culturally Jewish, we were not observant of the holidays in a religious sense.  But we did celebrate many of the holidays with the traditional foods, and one of my favorite Jewish foods  is challah.

Note: the name is pronounced something like "Khah-lah". You kind of spit when you say it. If you speak German or Russian, you know the sound. It is not pronounced "holly", which is an American mangling of the word.......

Challah is a braided egg bread that is served weekly by religious Jews on the Sabbath, but is delicious no matter when you eat it. My mother (a very non-observant Jew) often went to the bakery on Fridays to buy it, and as a teenager I learned how to bake it. I have been doing so every since.

At Rosh Hashonah, the Jewish New Year, the challah is often baked as a round bread, to symbolize the circle of the year. I like to bake a loaf and bring it to work to  share with my coworkers. I bring honey to spread on it, for a "sweet New Year", and also because it tastes great!

My girls like challah year round, and I have learned how to turn it into rolls. They take much less time to bake and I can make the dough, leave it in the refridgerator and make a batch anytime during the week--it will keep for about 5 days.

I brought a batch of these to my sister-in-law's last night. My darling (Catholic)mother in law is an accomplished baker, and she went back for seconds on these, which is definitely a compliment!!

The recipe is adapted from "Bake Your Own Bread" by Floss Dworkin, the roll method from "Secrets of A Jewish Baker" by George Greenstein. Dworkin's book is out of print, but worth finding, Greenstein's book is in print and worth having.....

CHALLAH ROLLS

In the largest bowl you have, mix:

 1 3/4 cups HOT water

    2T yeast 

 3/4 c honey (or sugar)

4t salt (can reduce to 2t, I do!)    

Stir until blended, then stir in 2 cups of bread flour. Mix well, then add:

3 eggs

1 1/4 c oil  (canola, corn or vegetable, NOT olive!)

Blend well, and begin adding more bread flour.

This dough will take 5-6 cups of flour on average. Blend flour with a spoon, then when that gets impossible, begin to knead the flour in. This dough is soft, you may be able to knead it in the bowl. If not, dump it onto a well floured surface.

DON'T add too much flour! When ready, the dough will be springy and moist--it won't stick to your fingers, but it still will be soft and easy to work.

Place dough in an oiled bowl, cover and let rise until doubled. 

FOR ROLLS:

Punch dough down a little. Pinch off small pieces of dough and form into marble sized balls. Grease a muffin pan and put 3 small balls into each pan. (Eveness of each piece doesn't matter--just use 3 per cup) Brush tops with egg wash--1 beaten egg mixed with 1-2 of water. Let rise till doubled.

Brush again with egg wash. Bake at 325 degrees F for about 15-20 minutes until golden.

FOR BREAD:

Punch dough down and divide into 3 sections. Braid.

(Six strand braids are common for Sabbath bread--with a tiny 7th braid on top to represent the Sabbath, the crowning day of the week. But I'm not that good at braiding!)

Cover and let rise till doubled--about 30-45 minutes. Brush with egg wash.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50-60 minutes. Bread will be golden brown on bottom when done.

Enjoy--and remember:

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