May 17, 2011 - 6:34am
Challah with semolina flour
CHALLAH made of white flour mixed with semolina flour.
Soft, rich and lightly sweetened CHALLAH
Recipe and more photos - please check my blog at this link
Google translator is available on top left side-bar
Share
Comments
Wow, What a wonderful challah!! Your challah made me squint .. How shiny your challah is!!
Thank you for sharing your great challah!
Best wishes,
Akiko
Dear Akiko
Thank you so much for your comment!
If you'd like you can check my challah-photo-album here - althoug most of the photos were take while I still used my mobile-camera so they are low-quality (sorry for that....)
Dear Winnish,
I saw your album of all of your bread. Oh my... Now I know why you can braid the dough so well! I must learn your effort!
Very impressive, Winnish!
Akiko
Dear Akiko
Thank you!
Baking challah is a passion, and I bake everyweek.
I'd like so much to share this passion and pass it around
Thank you again
Hi, Beautiful Challah. Trying to figure out your braid. I don't think I've seen one like that before. Also, is it too late to see the crumb? I was particularly curious about the one with semolina. -Varda
Hi Varda
Thank you!
The truth is that nothing is ever left 5 minutes after we start eating, and that is why I don't have a photo of a sliced challah. But although I use quite a lot of semolina flour, the texture remains almost the same and it's not noticeable while eating.
For the braiding I use 4 strips.
There are at least 5-6 different ways to braid a 4-strip-challah and I favour this way.
You can see how I do it here
Another recipe that I have is with white flour, semolina and whole wheat flour
That is a stunning looking challah! I looked at your album, too and they are all beautiful (and not just the breads) but I must say those challas are just picture perfect: every one of them. Great baking.
Best,
Syd
Dear Syd
Wowww, thank you so much!
Your breads are so beautiful. I read in Maggie Glezer's book, A Blessing of Bread, that semolina flour is thought to be "solet" in the Torah, the flour for the temple offering. I have never used it for challah, but your example makes me want to try it next time (that is, next week).
Joyful
Hi Joyful
Thanks!!
I've just heard about this book in the last week. She's right!
The word in Hebrew for semolina is SOLET and it was used for temple offering.
We have plain semolina (=solet in hebrew) and we also have whole-semolina, which I use sometimes (It needs more a bit more fluids)
Winnish, the translation of Hebrew to English is not clear. I was able to get some of the original, but not all. The English has words that are incorrect. "Polishing" instead of "Poolish" is one. After "sugar" is the word "Ainoourtti"--? Maybe you can give us an English version. Also, I wonder about "milk powder"--I make mine nondairy. My server will not translate the directions.
I am guessing that you are using commercial yeast, not sourdough. Is that right?
Thanks, Joyful
Dear Joyful
Sorry about the translation, it gets weird (also funny!) sometimes
After the sugar, I add 1 tbs of invertase sugar.
It keeps the challah soft and prevent it from drying . I actually add it to most of my cakes, and my yeast-baking for this reason.
You can omit it but I always recommend using it.
Non-dairy milk-powder is what I use as well, as I always make the challah parve.
Regading the yeast - we have here what we call "fresh yeast" (we also have dry-active yeast and instant-yeast)
if you want ot use dry-active (which I sometime do) the ratio is 1:3, so in this case you shoud use 2 tbs.
Please feel free to ask me as much as you like :)
Have a great weekend (our's starts tonight), Winnie
I have never even heard of invertase sugar, but I did find an online source: http://www.kitchenkrafts.com/product.asp?pn=IN0103&sid=GOOGLE&TID=GL033110&ne_ppc_id=1099&ne_key_id=11110804&ne_sadid=6781778774&gclid=CLmborn4-agCFRx3gwodQlFNUA . It is expensive--$3.95 per 1-oz. bottle, plus shipping in this case--so I can't imagine using it consistently for challah. Winnish, perhaps you have a better source than this one. Perhaps our Whole Foods market has it; I will check. I have never heard of nondairy milk powder; again I'll check with W.F. A group of us here in Santa Rosa, CA, are getting together and want to develop a bread bakers' club. Sunday morning we are doing a demonstration of challah braiding. I'll share your recipe with the group. Hope you had a good weekend,
Joyful
Hi Joyful
I think another word for invertase sugar is - "trimoline" - will this help you find more information?
I can tell you that I buy 1 kg of invertase sugar for the same price that you mentioned, so I use it often.
Regarding the nondairy milk powder - it's like evaporating milk.
I used nondairy as I have to make the challah parve (not meat and not milk). So you may want to try and check in a jewish market. Maybe a dairy powder is the same, but I can't tell as I've never used it.
Have a great time at the club and enjoy the baking!! Looking forward to hear how it went
Winnie
Beautiful challah semolina bread.
New to this site, cannot find the recipe for this shabbat challah bread.