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| Challah Braid with Flax Seeds |
Who caught the error in
yesterday's post? Anyone? Well, I didn't and so things went a little differently then I'd planned.
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| Braided dough in a ring |
Let me illustrate the problem. This was the original ingredient list (before modification) for Peter Reinhart's Challah in
Artisan Breads Every Day:
- 510g lukewarm water (about 95 degrees F)
- 1.5 tablespoons of yeast (14g)
- 8-10 egg yokes (170g)
- 5 tablespoons vegetable oil (71g)
- 4.5 tablespoons honey (85g)
- 964g unbleached bread flour
- 19g salt
1.5
tablespoons (14g) is an awful lot of yeast. I'm not
sure what Reinhart had in mind for this bread, but I made the bread
around 6pm and by about midnight the dough had tripled in size (I was
using a half batch and I used less than half of the yeast he asked for--
0.5tbsp + a small pinch) and was on the verge of collapse. To keep this
in perspective, 1.5 tablespoons is the same amount it takes for my
old version of challah
to raise the bread in 2.5 hours at around 70-72 degrees, which means
that the same amount of rising should happen in about 6 -7hours (in my
refrigerator which is slightly too warm because it is very old). To be
fair, I did also have a bit of sourdough in the dough, but it was
primarily for flavoring and usually the sourdough is inhibited by such a
large amount of instant yeast. Something obviously went wrong, but I'm
not sure what it was.
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| Servia's traditional braided Challah |
So, around 1am, I decided to
shape the dough. I was going to stay up and wait for it, but I was too
tired, so I put it back in the refrigerator overnight and crossed my
fingers that it didn't overproof.
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| Close up on braiding |
Fortunately, when I
came down this morning, all seemed to be well. The bread cooked nicely,
although the one that was steamed lost its egg sheen during the
steaming.
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| Crumb shot 1 |
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| Crumb Shot 2 |
It doesn't have the same open crumb structure
as Reinhart's. Maybe I should have let it rise longer? Who knows. Maybe
I'll experiment again sometime. However, it's not as easy to
experiment with challah because it's highly caloric and Servius doesn't
like it (i.e. experimentation entails weight gain). However, maybe I'll
try it again at some point.
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| Braiding Close-Up |
The Challah tastes amazing. The sourdough didn't taste sour at all, but did definitely add some richness to the flavor.
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