🍞 What Makes Challah Different · Crust & Crumb Academy

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🍞 What Makes Challah Different

Before anybody braids a thing this week, I want to walk you through why challah is built the way it's built. Because if you understand the dough, the braid gets easier, the bake gets easier, and the bread tastes like something.

Here's the short version. Challah looks like other enriched breads from a distance, but it has something they don't. Structure. It holds a shape. You can braid it and it doesn't collapse on itself.

The reason is in the ingredients. Eggs and oil, not eggs and butter. Egg whites add the protein that holds the braid. Oil tenderizes without softening the structure the way butter would. Honey feeds the yeast and drives that deep mahogany crust we're after.

And there's a reason for the oil that goes beyond chemistry. Challah is pareve, which means it contains no dairy. It was built that way so the bread could be welcome at any table, anyone's table. We're not Jewish, and we're not teaching religion here. But we honor a tradition this old by getting it right, and that means oil, not butter.

Watch the deck, then come mix with us on Friday.

🍞 Recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/special-round-challah

Perfection is not required. Progress is.

Henry ⭐🔥

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