My challah always flopps

zaq

Thu, May 12 2011, 8:13 pm

First thing that comes to mind is you may be killing the yeast by either using water that's too hot or letting it come into direct contact with salt. Try using water at room temp and see what happens. It'll take longer to rise but you won't risk killing the yeast. Or get a thermometer and use water no hotter than 90-100 degrees Fahrenheit or 37 celsius. OMG, are you using water heated to 90 degrees Celsius? Also, add the salt last, after you've mixed in everything else and about half the flour. If you use the "well" method of mixing, reserve about half the flour, make a well in the other half, drop the rest in the well, mix, add the salt and the rest of the flour, mix and knead.

How long are you letting the dough rise? If you use cooler water, it takes longer to rise. Ditto if your kitchen is on the cool side. You can speed rising by putting the bowl in an oven with a pilot light, on top of an electric heating pad set to the lowest temp., or in a box with a rubber hot-water bottle. Let rise till doubled in volume or till a hole remains and doesn't fill back up when you poke a finger in it. This can be up to several hours depending on conditions. you should also let it rise again for half an hour to 45 minutes after shaping the loaves.
Don't let it rise so long that it starts to deflate, or you'll lose gas and the loaves will be dense and hard. If you do overinflate, punch it all down, knead a little bit, work in a little more yeast if you have it, then reshape and let rise again. This will usually rescue it.

One more thing: always proof your yeast before using. This means mixing it with a teaspoon or so of sugar in half a cup of water and waiting 5-10 minutes to see if it foams. If yes, the yeast is alive and you;re good to go. If not, wait another 5 minutes. if still nothing, say kaddish over that yeast and buy new.

ETA one last thing: are you kneading by machine or by hand? If by machine, knead only briefly. It's very easy to overknead by machine. If you do, you break up the gluten, which is the stretchy protein that traps the expanding gas in the dough and causes the dough to rise rather than to let the gas escape. kill your gluten and there's no network to hold the gas, therefore no rising, therefore a hard, dense loaf. It's almost impossible to overknead by hand unless you're the Incredible Hulk, but if you don't knead long enough, you don't develop that nice gluten network that traps the gas. Again there's nothing to hold the gas, gas escapes and dough doesn't rise.

Aren't you glad you asked?

thekosherchannel

Tue, May 24 2011, 6:40 am

Try my recipe, I used to have so much trouble but with this recipe, it comes out great every single time and I am NO baker. If you try it, please let me know how it works for you. B'Hatzlacha!

5 cups very warm water
1 to 1 1/2 cups sugar depending on how sweet you like it
1 cup vegetable oil
4 tablespoons Kosher salt (3 T if you are in Israel)
4 tablespoons dry yeast
5 pounds flour
1 egg, beaten

1. Pour the warm water into a very large mixing bowl.
2. Stir in the sugar. Sprinkle yeast over the water and stir once. Allow to stand about 10 minutes until bubbly and frothy. (good time to say Tehillim 90)
3. Add the flour to the bowl.
4. Pour in the oil & add salt
5. Stir well until ingredients are moistened. Allow to stand 10 minutes so the flour can continue absorbing liquid.
6. Either in the bowl or on a clean flat surface, knead the dough until very smooth, adding small amounts of flour if the dough becomes sticky and oil if the mixture is dry.
7. Oil the sides of the bowl, roll the dough in the oiled bowl until it is completely coated. Cover with plastic wrap. Place covered bowl in a draft free place, a closed oven is good, to rise for an hour or until doubled in bulk.
8.When the dough has risen, preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover, punch gently in the center with your fist, the dough will deflate. Take challah.
9. Shape dough into eight loaves. Place shaped breads baking pan lined with parchment paper or in pans coated with baking spray. Cover with a towel or plastic wrap. Allow to rise for 30 minutes to one hour, until almost doubled. After rising, brush with beaten egg and bake 25-35 minutes until golden. Remove loaves from pans to cool on a wire rack.

active time: 45 minutes ~ total time: 3 hours
this challah recipe makes eight 1 pound loaves
wrap well to freeze for up to 1 month