Catatan irma

Description:
Challah is traditional Jewish yeasted bread, it is the hebrew word for loaf. It is made with eggs, as well as flour, yeast, and water, and may be sprinkled with sesame seeds. It is sometimes called egg bread, and has a distinct yellowish interior if egg yolks are used. It is a part of many Sabbath celebrations, and also is consumed during many Jewish holidays.

Challah usually is braided in threes, but during Rosh Hashanah, a high Jewish holiday, the challah is in a form of a circle to represent life. There are many variations of this bread :-)

This is my entry for World Bread Day event hosted by Zorra. Actually it is for World Day of Bread on 16th Oct, but since I am flying tomorrow, Zorra said it is ok to post it today :-)


This is my second Challah, I made another version before and very impressed with the result, because out of such simple ingredients can create so fluffy and soft bread. This one too is a winner I would say :-)

One of the ingredient is mashed potato, which is interesting for me because usually breads are made mostly just with flours, so I know I have to give this a try when I read the recipe.
This is adapted from Das Buch vom Backen.





Ingredients:
275 gr cubed potato
7 gr dry yeast
80 ml oil
2 Eggs, size L
2 egg yolks
2 tsbps honey
1 1/2 tsp salt
560 gr bread flour

glaze:
1 egg yolk
poppy or sesame seeds

Directions:
Cook the potatoes with 625 ml of water until very tender, about 10 minutes. Drain and mashed. Put the potato water aside .

Mix yeast with 125 warm water, let it sit for 10 minutes until it is frothy.

Mix oil, eggs, egg yolks, honey, salt, 125 ml potato water and the mashed potato in a big bowl until well blended.
Add in the yeast mixture and then 250 gr of flour, mix it well.

Add another 185 gr of flour, knead it.
Put the dough onto floured working table and knead it for 10 minutes.
Add the rest of the flour if necessary, knead it well.

Put the dough in oiled bowl, brush some oil on to the dough surface, cover it with plastic wrap or damp cloth. Let it sit in warm temperature about 1,5 hour until it is double in size.

Knead the dough another 5 minutes. Cut the dough into 2 pieces then divide each of them into 1/3. Let them sit another 10 minutes then roll into a long sausages. Make braid with 3 of the dough rolls (I made 4), tuck the end underneath the braid, then put it on the baking tray.

Brush the surface with egg yolk then sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds.
Let it sit for 30 minutes until it doubles then bake for 50-55 minutes, 180°C.

Note:
You can also make 1 big and 1 small braid and put the small one on top of the big one :-)