Sour dough challah recipe

BadTichelDay

Mon, Jul 09 2018, 11:59 am

I experimented with sour dough challah a year or two ago. First I grew my own sour dough in a bowl, 300 grams of flour, about half and half rye and wheat, and a cup of unfiltered beer to get it started. Keep covered at room temperature and stir every 24 hours. Feed with a cup of mixed flour every 48 hours. It took about 1-2 weeks to really mature and had a nice slight citrus smell, like bitter oranges. Then I added some sour dough to my usual challah dough recipe (which is wheat flour, whole wheat flour, oil, brown sugar, salt, and an egg). I used equal amounts of normal challah dough and sour dough. But I had to still add some commercial yeast as well - the sourdough on its own wasn't strong enough to raise the challot properly. Gave them a nice aroma, though, and a chewier texture. I gave up on it eventually because breeding the sourdough continually was too much work and as it grows all the time, I ended up throwing away too much of it. Keeping it in the fridge to slow down growth was no good either, it ruined the aroma. Frozen samples didn't re-start well.