Debbie Fishman’s Amazing Water Challah
My cousin Debbie (married to my cuz Eman), is one of those relatives you pray for. I know many people say you can’t choose your relatives, thank G-d you can choose your friends? Well I’d have chosen Debs every time. She and I have remained very close despite living far apart. Not long ago, DH and I went for a visit to the States and we had the great pleasure of spending a Shabbat with Debbie & Eman (and a bunch of their kids, extra fun, free of charge).
Now Deb is much less into cooking and baking than I am and when we chowed down on the challah she served I loved it and assumed she’d bought it and I asked where. I made it! she said. I goggled at her and said OMG I want the recipe. She graciously gave it to me and I was astonished when she said it’s a water challah. It absolutely doesn’t taste like one nor have the texture of a regular water challah which tends to dry out quickly and really only be good for a brief time. This challah taste suspiciously close to an egg challah, is rich and fluffy and the only egg it contains is in the egg wash coating. I have a great niece who’s allergic to eggs so for those of you with this allergy (or just don’t have any eggs on hand!) you can use a different topping for the browning (down below in the recipe) and you’re good to go. And the best part? It’s basically plunk it all in together. But ya gotta do it in order so let’s gather the ingredients and get going.
Note the utterly simple ingredients above. A note. I generally proof my yeast since ya never know when it might get “sleepy” on you and do a sad job of leavening your dough. Good thing too, the tail end of my yeast was sluggish and I broke open a new packet. Just sayin’, unless you are certain of your yeast’s rising power, best to check.
So bung in the yeast and the sugar (you can do this in a mixer just as well. Simply place in mixing bowl and continue to follow instructions)
and add about half the luke water. Stir about and let sit covered about 5 minutes or till bubbly.
Now add your flour, then the salt (salt retards yeast growth, hence putting on top of flour) and oil and rest of water.
K. Now mix the whole lot together. Have patience, it may start off looking dry but give it a coupla minutes till it smooths out like so:
keep going
and after about 5 or so minutes
Excellent. Now in the bread machine, just let the dough cycle do its thing. In the mixer, use beaters just till mixed, scrape off dough and switch to dough hook and let knead till smooth about 5-10 minutes. Let mixer dough rest. Knead again about 5-10 minutes, spray a little oil on top and cover. Bread machine just keep cover down. Let double in bulk, depending on the warmth of your kitchen can take about an hour or so. Remove from machine/mixer and place dough on an oiled mat to form into challah.
Btw, the dough should have a lovely feel to it. Okay. Now since DH and I are often alone with my mama, I generally divvy up the dough into five smallish challahs. If you want bigger ones, three medium challahs are the norm. So I cut them into five portions
and cut each portion into three to form the braids.
After braiding, place in well oiled pans. Beat the egg and brush tops of challahs with the egg wash and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
If going for completely egg free, beat together either maple syrup or honey and soy or oat milk and brush tops of challah.
Preheat your oven to 350 F/180 C and let the dough rise in the pans till the dough reaches the top of the pan (no need to wait till it rises above, that will happen in the oven). Bake 28-30 minutes or till richly browned and challah is baked through. Cool on wire racks. Divine!
Debbie Fishman’s Amazing Water Challah
2 tablespoons dry yeast
1/2-3/4 (100-150 grams) cups sugar
2 1/2-2 3/4 (591 ml – 650 ml) cups water, lukewarm
8 cups (1 kilo) flour
1 tablespoon salt
8 tablespoons oil /1/2 cup (118 ml) oil
1 egg for egg wash
OR
Non egg/non dairy topping:
2 tablespoons maple syrup or honey
1 tablespoon soy or oat milk
sesame seeds to sprinkle on top
Directions:
In a bread maker or mixer’s bowl place the sugar and the dry yeast and add about a cup of the lukewarm water (from the total). Stir to combine, cover and let proof (get bubbly), about 5 minutes. Next add the flour and salt and the oil and the rest of the water. Start with the smaller amount of water, in bread maker on dough cycle, in mixer stir just till combined with the paddle and then switch to a dough hook. If the dough looks a bit dry, add the rest of the water. Knead till the dough is smooth and satiny looking, about 5-10 minutes in mixer (bread maker does its own thing on the dough cycle). Let dough in mixer rest about 10 minutes and then knead again about 5-10 minutes. Cover and let rise till doubled in bulk, lightly oiling top of dough in mixer . In bread maker just make sure the cover is down. Once dough has risen, remove to an oiled mat (or parchment paper, oil that too) and for 5 small challahs, divide in five sections, for medium challahs divide in three. Now divide each piece in three and braid the dough and place each challah into an oiled pan. Brush the top of the loaves with the beaten egg OR mix the maple syrup/honey with the soy/oat milk and brush tops with that mixture. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Let rise again till dough reaches the top of the pan and preheat your oven to 350 F/180 C. When oven is hot, bake challahs for 28-30 minutes or till nicely browned and cooked through. Cool on wire racks. These freeze beautifully, just cool and wrap in plastic wrap or ziploc bags.
How large is your bread machine? My Cuisinart machine states that it’s for 2 pound loaves. I once tried a challah recipe using 6 cups of flour and it rose almost to the top of the container.
It holds up to a kilo and a half. But a kilo is 2.2 pounds so it may be a bit much for your bread maker. If you’re concerned it will overflow you can halve the recipe.
Is the dry yeast you use different than the instant yeast sold in Israel? They usually tell you to add that yeast to the flour and skip the proofing. (I’m only asking because that’s the kind of yeast I happen to have)
I have regular active dry yeast. It’s happened to me often enough that the yeast loses its freshness (yes, even the dry kind) and then the dough is sluggish and doesn’t rise well that I pretty much always proof it. It simply saves on unnecessary aggro.
Thanks for sharing the recipe! Do you use bread flour or All Purpose flour?
My pleasure. I use AP flour for this and they come out fluffy. Since I want the challah to come out more tender than bready I feel it works better.
Debbie I have a machine however I don’t need such so much Hala I need less my machine is smaller I don’t need such a bit so much such large portions could you give me a smaller portion to do the חלה thank you. I’m in a place and it’s hard to get Hala.
This recipe lends itself well to simply divide all the ingredients in half. Good luck!
Any absolutely brilliant recipe, thank you! I use it every week.
so very happy to hear it, thank you!