Challah experts, I need your help!

Chickpea

Mon, Jun 26 2017, 1:26 pm

I think I ruined my challah dough (6 1bs). I don't know how this happened, but I forgot to put in all the oil into the bowl as I was hand kneading it. At about 5 minutes of kneading, I realized that I didn't pour in most of the oil. At this point all the ingredients already came together as a glob. I poured the rest of it(about 1/2 cup)all over the glob of dough. It eventually absorbed the oil, but I had to knead it more than I normally do. So now I have two issues to deal with: 1- Does adding in the oil too late affect the quality of the challah? 2-Does over-kneading ruin the dough?
Right now it's in the process of rising. I'm thinking of all the work that I have ahead of me, making all the ropes and loaves. I don't know if I should just throw the whole thing out and start from scratch.
If you could answer me within the next hour I would really really appreciate it. Ty

iyar

Mon, Jun 26 2017, 1:41 pm

Don't throw it all out.
Adding the oil last might make the dough a little stickier than usual, but I think once it's all done you won't notice much difference in the taste or texture of the finished challah.
Do you have baking spray? It's like oil spray (Pam) but it's a mix of oil and flour. It might be helpful to spray your hands and the countertops with a light coating of it to help you if the dough is super sticky.
Come back and let us know how delicious your challahs were.

Bluesky 1

Mon, Jun 26 2017, 1:45 pm

I'm not the biggest expert but I'll tell you that you should not throw it out

If it's all together now and rising just shapethem and bake. This will be one that will you will learn from. It's a pity to throw away. There's no such thing as over mixingchalla dough. The more you mix the better it is.

Last week I made 2 doughs like I always do. One came out great the second one not so. Exact same ingredients. Even dh was there and saw that it was done exactly the same. So I don't know what changed.

Please clue us in on how it turns out after shabbos.....so we could all learn

Chickpea

Mon, Jun 26 2017, 2:04 pm

Iyar, Bluesky1, you're both so nice! Thank you sooo much for the chizak.
I normally put a tiny bit of oil on my hands when rolling out the ropes. I actually have about 1/2 cup of leftover flour that I'll use instead, if the oil method doesn't work.
I'll keep you posted....

Chickpea

Mon, Jun 26 2017, 11:19 pm

Op here.
OK, the verdict is in:
I'm guilty as charged. The anticipation got the best of me. I couldn't wait until Shabbos to see how it tasted, so I ate a slice.
When I first posted, the dough was so ridiculously sticky that I couldn't get it off my fingers. I had originally planned on using 5 1/2 pounds of flour from a 6 lb bag. I had no other choice but to add about 2 more cups of flour to balance out the moisture. The dough was still unacceptably sticky. It was almost like the consistency of sticky glue. I'm also wondering if today's high humidity was a contributing factor. Never experienced anything like this before.
iyar, I didn't have baking spray but I followed your train of thought by dusting the counter (challah dough board) with flour. It actually corrected the problem! I thank you so much. Wave

Making the ropes was a big challange, but it worked, B'H. The challahs actually came out beautifully, uniformly braided. The texture wasn't affected.
However, because I added so much more flour to the recipe, they weren't as sweet as I intended them to be, but at least I have 6 large challahs. Btw, I let the dough rise twice in the bowl with 2 punch downs, and another rise when braided.
I assume that you've all figured out that I'm not a seasoned challah baker. It's such a spiritually rewarding mitzvah for me.
Thanks again to bluesky 1, Zak, Chayalle, and Cozyblanket for taking time out to respond in my time of *knead*!

Last edited by Chickpea on Tue, Jun 27 2017, 2:51 am; edited 1 time in total

Jalapeño

Tue, Jun 27 2017, 2:49 am

Glad they worked out!
FYI kneading encourages gluten development, which in bread is great, as gluten contributes to the an elastic, good bread texture. (combined with the fermentation in rising, this allows a network of gluten/stability to spread throughout the dough and also helps bread stability.)
Basically kneading corresponds to chewiness, such that if you were making bagels or pizza dough, you would knead a lot.

This is why with things like brownies or pie crusts, you don't want to over mix, as they'll end up too gummy and tough instead of flaky and crumbly.