The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Pumpkin Challah

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

Pumpkin Challah

 

The recipe is from Maggie Glezer's " A Blessing of Bread: The Many Rich Traditions of Jewish Bread Baking from Around the World" I got the book from the library and just love it! So much fascinating history and background information, along with many recipes, I had no idea challah breads have so many variations. This time of the year, I am in a pumpkin kick, so I immediately made pumpkin challah. Even though there are many interesting braiding techniques in the book, my shaping/braiding was from Hamleman's "Bread", which consists of 20 strands, 6 sets of six strand braids, and one 2 strand braid in the middle. I have been wanting to try this massive braiding project for a while now, so glad it turned out well!

The pumpkin flavor is quite subtle, I would probably increase the amount of pumpkin puree next time, but the spice combo was on the mark, crumb was soft, and crust was slightly hard from the egg brush.

I love the golden color, combined with the star shape, I think it's quite a looker! And I think I will buy the book, a worthy addition to my already huge bread book collection.

 


Comments

dstroy's picture
dstroy

That is BEAUTIFUL! It looks like a sea star!

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

It's indeed called a "sea star" pattern in his book.

Shiao-Ping's picture
Shiao-Ping

That looked like a massive braiding job to take on, but I bet it was a lot of fun! 

A great looking star!

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

It's actually easier than I thought. As long as you are familiar with 6 strand braiding, the rest is just repeating and assembling. I worked on one part at a time and kept the rest in the fridge to avoid uneven and over proofing.

arlo's picture
arlo

And I have the hardest time trying to do 3-braids! Wow, that is amazing! Wonderful work!

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

I highly recommend this book in my post, lots of pictures showing various braiding techniques.

flourgirl51's picture
flourgirl51

WOW! You are a true Artisan!

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

Still lots to learn!

Marni's picture
Marni

Really beautiful!  Impressive.  How many pounds of dough was this? Terrific photos too!

Marni

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

So I'd say about 900g of dough in total.

ciabattaventi's picture
ciabattaventi

Have you tried an overnight fermentation with challah? I'm making some for Thanksgiving at the in-laws, but there won't be time for me to do the whole process on the day of. What do you think?

txfarmer's picture
txfarmer

I haven't done it for this recipe, but it's totally OK to put it fridge for either the fermentation or the proofing, I think even the author of this recipe said so somewhere in the book.