Rebbetzin Kanievsky's Challah recipe

Mevater

Fri, Apr 25 2014, 9:51 am

AZmom09 wrote:

I've made it before. It is very good and tastes similar to an egg challah which surprised me. I am not sure about adding an egg as I never tried it.
But we really like this recipe.

Thanks! I just finished mixing it all as per recipe, with no added eggs. Im curious how we'll like it compared to the Devorah Heller recipe (although I really wont be able to compare fairly as I never made the Heller recipe with all white flour, like I did now with this recipe).

Update: SUPER DUPER RECIPE!!!!! We all loved it!

zaq

Sun, Apr 27 2014, 5:12 pm

Poster who offered to type the original recipe, in its original small form, in Ivrit, would you please? The response about a tablespoon vs. a kapit has me worried about mistranslation, so I'd rather look at the original. It's usually better to get the original, if possible, and make any adjustments oneself.

besides, I work sans mixer (and have small hands) and about 2-1/2 lbs of flour is the most I can handle anyway. I may not be eligible to make a bracha but I figure the KBH knows my limitations and credits my intentions. Schar halicha and all that.

OOTBubby

Sun, Apr 27 2014, 7:52 pm

zaq wrote:

It appears in the Bais Yaakov cookbook in Hebrew as well as translation/adaptation.

Here's the Hebrew:

חלה מהרבנית קניבסקי

1 ק"ג קמח
1/2 כוס סוכר
1/2 כוס שמן
כף מלח
1/2 ליטר מים
2 כפות שטוחות שמרים יבשים
(או חבילה שמרית)
(או 50 גרם שמרית רגילים)

The footnote says:
"This is the original recipe, as given to us by Rebbetzin Kanievsky. She instructed us to multiply the recipe 2½ times as it appears on this page (in the cookbook) in order to be able to make the brocha of hafroshas challah"

My note: the quantity of flour isn't super clear in what is written, but based on the above, 1 is what makes sense.

I also apologize - the numeric quantities should appear to the right of the ingredients, but I couldn't get that to work right when typing it. Any errors are mine. Hopefully someone else has the cookbook (this appears on page 8) and can double check what I've typed.

PinkFridge

Sun, Apr 27 2014, 9:27 pm

rena18 wrote:

The recipe from Reb Kanievsky's daughter Brachah Braverman, in the Artscroll Biography of Reb Kanievsky is as follows

DOUGH
6 1/3 cups (1 1/2 liters) warm water- divided
5 Tablespoons dry yeast
6 1/2 - 6 3/4 pounds (3 kilo) flour
2 Tablespoons table salt ( if using kosher salt: use 3 1/2 Tablespoons)
1 1/2 cups sugar -divided
1 1/2 cups oil

EGG WASH
1 egg
sesame seeds

I just want to mention that when I want to do just 5 lbs. I reduce everything by about a sixth so the proportions are slightly different than in the BY cookbook. E.g.
4 Tbsp. + .5 tsp. yeast
5 tsp. salt (1 Tbsp. + 2 tsp.)

Also, the directions in the biography say to mix some sugar (2 Tbsp? Don't remember) with one cup of the water, then proof the yeast in that. Then add the other ingredients and the flour. When I make 5 lbs. I adjust the water and sugar accordingly. And sometimes I need an extra handful of flour beyond the 5 lb. bag.

I'm mentioning all this because there is a difference between challah made from the biography recipe and the BY cookbook.

zaq

Mon, Apr 28 2014, 6:54 pm

Thanks, OOTBubby. That makes sense. Kapot shtuchot means level tablespoons and kaf melach means one tablespoon. There is no "kapit" measure here. The reason why the doubled (more or less) recipe calls for only 1-1/2 T. salt is that when one doubles a recipe, one usually increases the salt by only half. There must (mustn't there?) be a "kitchen-science" reason for this but my sourcebook doesn't mention it.

ChanieMommy

Sun, Sep 13 2020, 10:00 pm

hodeez wrote:

Has anyone tried this recipe with honey instead of sugar? If so how was the outcome and what amounts did you use?

The sugar mainly serves to feed the yeast...
So I think there is no point in replacing sugar with honey, because the sugar is eaten by the yeast.
If you insist on taking honey, I would use 1 tablespoon of sugar for the yeast in the water, and the rest of the quantity honey...

Personally, I make challa less sweet, so I use just 1-2tablespoon sugar per kilo...

cbg

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 12:37 am

rena18 wrote:

Can someone please explain why it says divided by water and sugar.

Can I make this recipe with 1/2 the sugar

How many large challahs should this make

Odelyah

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 1:03 am

hodeez wrote:

Has anyone tried this recipe with honey instead of sugar? If so how was the outcome and what amounts did you use?

Yes my daughter did, and continued making it that way while she was home. It was delicious! I don't know exactly what amount she used-- maybe a half of the sugar amount? She is back in EY now BH but I can try to ask her..

ChanieMommy

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 9:42 am

cbg wrote:

Can someone please explain why it says divided by water and sugar.

That's for fresh yeast.

You take one glass of lukewarm water, dissolve the yeast in it, add 1 tablespoon of sugar, and set it aside for a while till it makes bubbles...

But then you subtract the water & sugar you used there from the total..

So it's divided in two parts, one with the yeast, one with the rest...

Also, with water quantity, you have to adjust... so either the dough is too sticky and you need less water (I.e. more flour), or it is a bit dry, and you need more water...

Quote:

Can I make this recipe with 1/2 sugar

I do about the same receipe with 2 tablespoons of sugar per kilo flour.. and about 2 tablespoons of oil per kilo flour
Sometimes I add 1 egg per kilo flour

Quote:

How many large challahs should this make

With 3kg flour, you should have 10-15 rather large challot, depending on exact size...
With 1 kg of flour I make 5 medium to large challot

ChanieMommy

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 1:56 pm

cbg wrote:

For the 3 kilo recipe
If I use fresh yeast
How much do I use
If you know it in grams that would be perfect

42 g per kilo, so that would would be abut 130g for 3 kg or three packages of fresh yeast (one cube is usually for 1kg flour)

And you have to mix the sugar in.... the yeast needs the sugar in the water to develop properly...

With 1 kg flour, I get about two baking sheets full of challot... so with 3 kg you would get about 6 baking sheets, I.e. you will have few loads to bake... (but baking is rapid, takes about 20 min at 230°C)

PinkFridge

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 2:08 pm

cbg wrote:

Can someone please explain why it says divided by water and sugar.

Can I make this recipe with 1/2 the sugar

How many large challahs should this make

Yes, this is the recipe.
You use one cup of the water and 2 Tbsp. of the sugar to proof the yeast. Which leaves you with 5 1/3 c. water and 13/8 c. sugar.
When I used sugar, I used a scant cup, maybe less, with no problem. Lately I've been using honey and use just over 3/4 c. honey.
I don't use that much flour. I start off with a bag, then add a few handfuls from another bag. (And I use bread flour.) I knead by hand.
It's an amazing recipe. I'm not sure how large your challos are. I make small challah, using the disposable ovals. This size pan is a little smaller than a smaller loaf pan (the 8x4 one). I get 12 challos.

cbsp

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 2:26 pm

ChanieMommy wrote:

Is 42g yeast per kilo flour a standard baking measure? Or is it just specific for this recipe?

cbsp

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 2:44 pm

ChanieMommy wrote:

Yes! Standard. That's why they sell it in 42g cubes...
And applicable to challot! I always do it like this (I have no kosher dry yeast available).

Lightbulb moment! Not worthy

Is there a dry yeast standard? It's much easier to get dry yeast here than fresh...

cbg

Mon, Sep 14 2020, 7:02 pm

ChanieMommy wrote:

Ok I’m using dry them
I have a very small piece of fresh in the freezer from Shlisel Challah
I guess I’ll just throw It out