Why are my challos so dense?

Amelia Bedelia

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 1:35 am

My husband complains each time I bake my own challos that they're too heavy and dense, instead of light and fluffy. What am I doing wrong? I use dry yeast, and put the dough to rise for two hours before I braid them (if they rise for less than that he complains that the challos are too flat - did not rise enough) , and an hour after I braid them.

chani8

Sun, Jul 06 2014, 2:13 am

Here is my recipe, so so easy, and fluffy.

1300 ml of soda water (bubbly water - thanks to an imamother's tip)
2 packets of instant dry yeast
1 T of sugar
2 Kilo of flour (sifted)
1 T of salt

Here are some tips:
- I used to add "bread improver," which is more gluten, to make it fluffier.
- Soda water makes it fluffier.
- Stir up the dough, let it rest for 1/2 hour, then add the salt, then knead.
- For raising, baste the dough with Oil, then cover lightly. Even once you braid the dough and it's raising in the pan, also baste each loaf with oil. The oil helps to allow for a good raise.
- Raise it for as long as you can until it almost looks like it's going to collapse and then ever so carefully put it into a hot oven.

Good luck!

amother

Tue, Jul 08 2014, 7:28 pm

lovemytwins wrote:

I would also suggest substituting half the warm water for seltzer. Every challah recipe I try, I use half seltzer-half water and they always come out fluffy.

How does this work? When do you add the seltzer? Proof the yeast in 1/2 the warm water and then add 1/2 seltzer? Or put in warm water, seltzer and yeast all at the same time?
Should the seltzer come from the fridge or should it be room temperature?

baker1

Tue, Jul 08 2014, 8:56 pm

I had a very interesting happening. I made challah last week and let it rise the reg. amount of time, then in the middle of braiding -meaning I braided about 4 of them, I got busy with something else for about 30 min. When I came back I finished braiding them and then dumped them all in the oven.

What happened? I noticed the 4 that had risen that extra 30-40 min were light, fluffy and delicious, the other 4 were so dense...

I really think its important to let it rise that second time. cover with a towel and put it in a warm place..

Good Luck!

Notsobusy

Tue, Jul 08 2014, 11:04 pm

mommyhood wrote:

Try using bread flour which has more gluten and knead the dough for a long time. I use a kitchen aid and let it run for 10 minutes.

When I let my kitchen aid knead the challah dough for that long it killed the motor. I had to get a new kitchen aid. Unfortunately I couldn't afford a Bosch.

savta13

Tue, Jul 08 2014, 11:32 pm

When you let the challahs rise, put the bowl in the middle of the oven, and put a pot of boiling water on the bottom of the oven. Then, every 45 minutes, put fresh boiling water in the pot. The heat makes the challahs rise better, and they come out lighter and fluffier. I let them rise for one and a half hours. (I also mix the ingredients together in a food processor, which may help how they turn out).

allrgymama

Tue, Jul 08 2014, 11:34 pm

Where do you live? Altitude and humidity make a tremendous difference.

I live in Lakewood and I find that (for an egg free challah, using high gluten challah), I need about 5 1/2 cups of (slightly more than just) warm water during most of the year and 6 cups during the summer for 5 lbs of flour. Your dough should be slightly sticky and elastic when finished kneading.

Personally, I find I get a much better result using slightly more water and then dusting my work surface and dough with flour if it's too sticky to work with, rather than using less water. I also find that dusting the surface (rather than having a different ratio in the kneaded dough) means that the extra flour doesn't get worked through; it stays on the surface which keeps the inside from being dense but helps the outside to crunch up.

Some other tips:

1) From Susie Fishbein: Yeast should be allowed to bubble for up to 8 min (on a timer). It should not need more than that. The timer is important because if you set it for 10 and get lost for an extra 2-3 minutes, it can kill your yeast. Setting the timer for 8 min and getting lost for 2-3 minutes still leaves you with something workable.

2) Do NOT overknead your dough.

I have a Bosch and it certainly doesn't need more than 12 minutes.

3) After an hour long rise and braiding, let your challah do a second rise in a 200 degree pre-heated oven for 20 minutes before raising the temp and continuing to bake.

I have noticed a tremendous change in my challah since I started doing this.

Also: egg wash your challah immediately after braiding (and not before placing in the oven). Egg washing after the rise will deflate them.