The Siegfried family reveals the secret to the sweetest and fluffiest staple on their Shabbos table.
My neighbors, the Siegfried family, like everything sweet. Mrs. Siegfried makes sure you can always find fresh cake, cookies, nosh, and sweet candies on the counter and chocolate chip cookie dough in the fridge (you know, in case of emergency). When she started baking challah she figured that since her family loves sweet rolls, she would make her challah the same way. They’ve been hooked since then.
On Rosh Hashanah we try to eat sweet things for a sweet new year. This challah is the perfect way to start your meal. For those that like to enjoy spicy dips alongside the fish and challah, you can make a few challahs with crumbs and a few without for dipping.
- 5 cups of warm water, add as much needed
- 2 cups sugar
- ¼ cup dry yeast
- 3 extra large eggs
- ½ cup oil
- 2 tablespoons salt
- 5 pounds flour
- egg, for egg wash
- 1½ cups flour
- 1½ cups sugar
- 1 stick margarine
- Prepare the crumbs. Combine flour, sugar, and margarine. Mix to form coarse crumbs. You can also use any crumbs you keep stocked in your freezer (like Renee does in this post). Set aside.
- Begin by using 4 cups of warm water (3 cups cold water from the sink and 1 cup boiling water). Combine water, yeast, and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer. Stir and let sit 6-7 minutes.
- Add eggs and oil. Add ⅓ of the flour, mix for a few seconds, until combined. Add another ⅓ flour, and mix just until combined, then the last ⅓ of the flour. Add remaining water (or just as much as needed for a nice sticky dough). Mix for 10 minutes on high speed.
- Remove dough from mixer and place in a large mixing bowl. Smear the top of the dough with a little oil. Cover and let rise 2 hours.
- Right before you are ready to braid the challah, preheat oven to 200ºF. When it reaches that temperature, shut the oven off.
- Divide dough into 6 parts. Braid and place in pans. Place braided challah into the warm oven and let rise an additional 1 hour (
otherwise you cover and let rise on the counter until it doubles in size, 1 to 1 ½ hours). - Preheat oven to 350ºF.
- Brush challah with beaten egg and place crumbs on top. Bake until challah is golden. Challah with crumbs
need to bake a little longer than usual challah.
Did you know?
Challah has 7 ingredients, representing Shabbos, the 7th day of the week.
Want to know how to braid round challah? Watch this.
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