We’re finally breaking down the difference between the classic white Bosch bowl and the stainless steel challah bowl. Read the run-down here.
For my first 8-ish years married, I didn’t make challah. There! I said it! A perfectly capable and respectable grown woman who bought challah, every week. I was perfectly content making the fish, soup, chicken, and kugel, and letting my local grocery store make the challah.
So, what changed? I was making a shopping list for a 3-day Yom Tov, and finding myself overwhelmed by the math. How many challahs would I have to buy for 6 meals? Would they even taste good three days later? It was time, I decided, to grow up. My sister-in-law gave me a recipe that she promised was fool-proof, I took out my biggest mixing bowl, and got baking. You know the rest of the story, right? How thrilled my family was, how I realized that I really loved baking challah, and how I haven’t bought challah since?
Yes, I’m a cliche.
My first two years of baking challah, I did it by hand. I hadn’t received a challah machine when I got married, then I didn’t need one because I always bought challah. Once I started baking, I got used to doing it by hand and found it a lot harder to justify the expense of a machine and the space (minimalism, always!) it would take up.
When my elbows needed a break, I finally hit ‘buy now’ on the Bosch; I was baking often enough that I was ready to streamline the process. I checked with the team: did I need the challah bowl too? The consensus was to start with the classic machine and add the challah bowl on eventually.
So for the first few months of making challah in the Bosch, I used the white machine with the white bowl. It was SO MUCH EASIER than kneading the dough by hand! Baking challah became so much easier: it was easier to bake, easier to clean up, and most importantly, really saved time. I found that when using the white Bosch with the classic white bowl I did need to pause kneading a few times, open it up, and take out and reposition the dough to give it a more even knead.
Eventually, I decided to buy the stainless steel challah bowl. Why? I was baking challah often enough that I wanted to see the difference between the bowls for myself. I wanted the process to be as easy and seamless as possible, and wanted to see if using the stainless steel challah bowl would make a better dough.
The main difference between the two bowls is that the classic white bowl has the dough hook on top of the machine with a center column and the challah bowl has the dough hook on the bottom with no center column.
Practically? With the challah bowl, I didn’t have to stop, take off the top, take out the dough, and reposition it throughout kneading it. I left it alone and cleaned up the rest of the baking-challah-mess while the dough got a much more even knead.
It’s designed for bread, so the bottom drive dough hooks aren’t intimidated by your dense challah dough the same way that it sometimes seemed the top drive dough hooks were.
Important to note! This bowl doesn’t ‘lock into’ the mixer, so if you’re trying and trying and it’s not working, it’s not you! It works super well but without that ‘click.’
Here’s the bottom line: Do you need the stainless steel bowl? It depends. How often are you baking? When you’re baking, how often do you need to reposition the dough? Is the process easy enough, or do you want your dough more even with less effort? Personally, I’m excited to have a way to make baking challah even more streamlined. With the bottom drive stainless steel bowl, I can really set it up and let it knead, no extra work required.
Also, while some have made challah with the white bowl for years, for others, the dense dough blows out the motor and repairs cost almost as much as a new machine. I haven’t had that experience, because I hadn’t been baking for long enough.
Thanks! Every week I spend almost as much time wondering if I should invest in this bowl as I do baking my challahs! I’m going to try it and get back to you! Ty BCP for being helpful as always.
I was always worried about my white bowl cracking from the pressure and decided to invest in the challah bowl. It was the best decision I made! I make challah often and knowing that I have a machine that can withstand the job, makes it easier to make!
How long do Bosch mixers last? Mine is 8 years old and stopped working. Should I fix or replace?
I have it already 14 years and still great condition, with silver challah bowl it very important to have for big dough lic
Ke cohosh cake and challah the white bowl I use for small doughs
I tried doing it in the white bowl w 7lb flour and I killed the motor. My machine works slower now. Does anyone know how many lbs the silver bowl can handle?
My Bosch came only with a silver bowl, but has the dough hook like the white bowl pictured in the post. Is that good enough for challah? Any reason why I need to get a white bowl? Thanks!
I recently had to buy a new Bosch and the store explained to me that the biggest difference between the two is that the machine that comes with the silver bowl is 1000w and the one that comes with a white bowl is 800w. It is not so much the bowl that is making the difference but the strength and power of the machine.
I could’ve written this post!
As a single girl I won a Bosch with extra challah bowl in a Chinese auction. When I got married, I didn’t have room for the extra bowl, and I didn’t really know what it was for, so I left it by my mother.
I tried making 5 lbs a couple times in the white bowl. It felt like it was straining the machine and I was nervous it would burn out. It also had a lot of nooks and crannies that were very hard to wash. I was disappointed because the Bosch is known for kneading challah, so wasn’t sure what I was doing wrong. I ended up just making challah by hand, which I had been doing for my mother for years and it came out very good.
Several years later I heard someone mention the challah bowl. Maybe that was the solution! And I even owned one. So when we moved into our house I was able to find space for it.
Now I make challah every few weeks and it doesn’t feel like I’m destroying my machine. It also fits better in the bowl. The challah does come out more delicious if left to knead for a while!
I knead it in the machine and immediately dump it out to rise into the large plastic bowl that I formerly used for hand-kneading. It’s best to wash out the metal right away or it’s very hard to clean.
Summary:
If you don’t want to make it by hand, get a challah bowl. The white bowl is not ideal for a 5 lb recipe.
My Bosch broke after 8 years and I had to
Pay for repairs – same price as the silver bowl. They said we should never use the white bowl for 5lb of dough… I still do, because I don’t want to store another bowl .. I’ll get it fixed if it breaks again
You can store the white bowl inside the silver bowl so it’s not like you have to store another bowl.
Best news ever! With all my talk about minimalism, I never tried that! Thanks!
Now we need a post on. how to clean the bowl! 😉
Can you make everything in the silver one, or is the white bowl better for somethings?
The bottom drive stainless steel bowl only works with the dough hook.
So I never chapped how to put the challah bowl in, so I never used it to make challah! How stupid! Can someone explain? Place bowl on base, then put dough hook there?
Yes
I had just the white bowl for the first 6 years of my marriage, I made challah many times in it and had no issues per se with the motor or with how my challah came out However, I was so frustrated because the bowl would shake while kneading and the lid would fly off ( once it cracked!). I therefore had to hold down the lid the entire time it was kneading which was so annoying because I couldn’t be cleaning up or doing anything else in the meantime. It saved me the hand work but, was so inefficient like that. I got fed up and tried researching if the stainless steel bowl would work without shaking. I wasn’t so sure, but I decided to spend the money since I was so fed up and BH I’ve never had my lid fly off with it and I’ve been able to accomplish during the kneading time. Also, I had black stuff (motor oil?) coming out of the machine with the white bowl, but I don’t have that with the challah bowl.
Bottom line, I’m so happy I spent the money on it and I put it in the dishwasher so I have no clean-up.
I started off using the white bowl (beaters on the bottom) and ended up burning out the motor. The stainless bowl is made for heavy use like 5 lbs of challah. Don’t take the risk
I only ever used the metal bowl for 15 plus years. Advantage… j take out the dough hook and let it rise in same bowl. Less to clean later. Just put a tea towel over while rising. My daughter in law has the plastic bowl with the column in center. She cannot let it rise in the bowl because of the column. Extra work in my book. I know people transfer to a clean garbage bag, but the Bosch metal bowl is my largest. I would never do any other way
I just bought the Bosch and the separate metal bowl for challah dough. The center dough hook that came wirh my metal bowl is not removable.
I realize there are spiritual benefits in baking challah and I would love to bake challah . However, the structure of my life makes it exceedingly difficult to do so. My family loves the challah we buy and so am glad it supports that family’ bakery’s Parnassah. I am so grateful it is delicious and available. Maybe some day my life’s rhythm s and schedule will allow for baking challah and I will invest in a Bosch. But for now , I find it challenging cooking for my family all week and for Shabbos ( and to event attempt guests on Shabbos and Yom Tov) . I am so grateful for your cookbooks and recipes. I don’t need more stress in my life so my simplification and self care is buying challah. I am offering Janother perspective because it can be so easy to compare oneself to others and despair that one *should* be doing it all. I can’t do it all and this is probably the one thing I feel no guilt in doing more simply….buying my challah.
Will you be running another promotion for Bosch on preside ts day??
Any tips for braiding challahs? My braids always look great before baking but come out of the oven very flat.
How can I get my challah loaves to keep their height?
Thank you for any ideas!
Ive been making challah with the white bowl since i got the Bosch a bunch of years ago. Zero issues. Have never needed to move the dough Kneading is smooth and problem free. I use it all the time and even have a challah gemach. No reason to spend the money, in my opinion.
I’ve made (in fact tried to make) challe for YEARS!! out of the 10+ times I did I think only 4 times did the dough rise at all
I don’t have a bosh, I have a Kenwood. The few times I tried kneading with my hands I felt the dough was not mixed evenly cuz honestly I takes too much strength.
does it make sense that because of the machine it doesn’t rise at all??
Even if I baked the challe (if u can call it that) from the doughs that didn’t rise it was total leather
If I get the “challa bowl” do I Need any other attachments? I stopped using my Bosch because of the black gunk that came out and ruined my dough, been doing it by hand since then when I make challah every few weeks. Has anyone had experience making cookie dough in the challah bowl? Also I live in Israel is there any place to buy it here?????