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2d •
🍞 This Week We're Baking Challah
After pizza week we're shifting gears. This week we're baking challah, the braided bread that's been on celebration tables for thousands of years. It's the bread of Shabbat. The bread of welcome. The bread of homecoming. I've got a personal reason for putting this one on the schedule, and I'll tell you the whole story this week. For now, here's the lay of the week. 🥖 𝗢𝗻𝗲 𝗱𝗼𝘂𝗴𝗵, 𝘆𝗼𝘂𝗿 𝗰𝗵𝗼𝗶𝗰𝗲 𝗼𝗳 𝘀𝗵𝗮𝗽𝗲: Three-strand braid: The most approachable shape, and the one most home bakers start with. If this is your first challah, this is your braid. Six-strand braid: The classic Shabbat shape, more involved but absolutely doable. We'll walk through it Friday step by step. Round: The shape used for Rosh Hashanah and celebration. Symbolizes the cycle of the year and the unbroken thread of family. Beautiful at any table. 🌱 𝗖𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁𝗶𝘃𝗲 𝗽𝗲𝗿𝗺𝗶𝘀𝘀𝗶𝗼𝗻: Top with sesame, poppy, or everything seeds. Add raisins to the dough if that's your tradition. The only line we hold is no butter or dairy in the dough itself. Challah is meant to be shared at any table, and that's the rule that protects it. 📚 𝗪𝗵𝗮𝘁 𝘄𝗲'𝗹𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗿 𝘁𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘄𝗲𝗲𝗸: The dough, what makes it different from any other enriched bread. The Herr Sherman story, and why this bread shaped how I teach. Braid breakdowns, three-strand and six-strand, with the round as an alternative. Egg wash, seeds, and getting that deep mahogany shine. The tradition behind the bread, taught with respect, not religion. 🥖 Recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/special-round-challah This is one dough, one teaching, and a room full of different shapes coming out of different ovens on Saturday. Pull out your eggs, your flour, your honey, and bake with us. Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥 Special Round Challah — Yeasted https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/special-round-challah Special Round Challah — Sourdough https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/special-round-challah?variant=sourdough
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🍞 The Story of Challah: Where the Bread Comes From, and What It Means
Before we braid on Saturday, I wanted to tell you where this bread comes from. Because the recipe is only half of it. The other half is the meaning that's been kneaded into it for thousands of years. The word "challah" came from the Torah originally, and it didn't mean a loaf. It meant a small portion of dough that was set aside as an offering, every time bread was made. Over time, the word migrated. The portion, and then the whole loaf, both came to be called challah. The bread carries the name of its own commandment. The braided shape we know came later, in medieval Europe, when Jewish communities in places like Germany and Austria made the braided loaf the standard bread for Shabbat. Two loaves on the table. A cloth over them. Candles beside them. Every part of it carries meaning that goes back further than any of us. I'm not Jewish, and I'm not teaching religion here. I'm a baker who respects what this bread is. And if I've gotten anything wrong in the way I tell it, please tell me. I'll listen. Watch the deck. Then come bake with us Saturday. 🍞 Recipe: https://pantry.bakinggreatbread.com/recipes/special-round-challah Perfection is not required. Progress is. Henry ⭐🔥
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12h •
🍞 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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13h •
Slap and Fold: The Technique That Tames a Wet Dough
Not every dough wants the same hands. A stiff bagel dough and an 80% hydration ciabatta are two different animals, and trying to work them the same way is where a lot of bakers get stuck. Low hydration dough you can knead on the counter like your grandmother did. But take that same approach to a wet, slack dough and you'll end up with a sticky mess glued to your bench, wondering what you did wrong. You didn't do anything wrong. You just need a different tool. This is the slap and fold. You might have heard it called the French fold. It looks a little wild the first time you see it, almost like you're punishing the dough, but there's real method in it. You lift the dough, slap it down on the counter, stretch it toward you, and fold it back over itself. The slap builds tension. The fold traps air and lines up the gluten. On a high hydration dough like this 80%, it develops strength fast without you having to add a pile of flour that would throw your whole formula off. Here's the thing most people miss: at the start it's going to stick to everything, your hands, the counter, your patience. Don't fight it and don't flour it. Keep going. Somewhere around the four or five minute mark the dough stops fighting you, pulls cleanly off the bench, and turns smooth and elastic. That moment, when it goes from shaggy and sticky to silky, is the whole point. That's the gluten doing its job. Going through my archives, I found a short demo you can watch to see the rhythm of it on an actual 80% dough. Watch the hands, watch how the dough changes: Give it a real try this week on a wetter dough and tell me what happened. Did it stick longer than you expected? Did you feel it turn? Drop a comment below. If you've already got slap and fold in your hands, share the tip that finally made it click for you. Somebody in here needs to read it. Henry ⭐🔥
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2h •
Italian Haul
Stopped by the local Italian supermarket today and got a few bags of Italian flours. Can’t wait to make more pizza!! I’ll be using the semolina for pane siciliano as well and for some Italian bread 🥖 I’m going to try!
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