Challah #2 and Schlissel Design

Before Passover, I started watching several new-to-me YouTube channels by Jewish women of varying traditions and levels of observance.  All of them made schlissel challahs after Passover (sometimes spelled shlissel).  I had no idea what that was.  Just more of my barely-Reform upbringing showing a massive gap in my heritage.

Like round challah, schlissel is a design for a specific holiday with its own meaning.  You shape the dough into a key (schlissel is "key" in Yiddish) on the first Shabbat after Passover to wish for a prosperous year.  (There are four new years in Judaism, Passover being one of them.)  It's a Chassidic tradition, according to Google, and is at least a couple of hundred years old.  Some also wrap a house key in foil and bake it into the bread, but between food safety issues and some recent dental work, I wasn't about to do that.

I'm using the recipe from Leite's Culinaria because the photo is of a texture I want.  My challahs tend to come out dry and with an odd texture using the other recipe.  Also, when I went searching for a new recipe, everyone is using the stand mixer dough hook to make theirs.  Fine, I gave it a try, even though I prefer to knead by hand.  Yeah, that didn't even break the egg yolks.  I finished it by hand, and these directions will be more like my usual bread techniques, with only part of it using the hook.

Because eggs have gotten so expensive the past couple of months, I picked up a pint of liquid eggs.  I have several recipes on my meal calendar that use an egg wash or egg as a binder, where it doesn't matter if you whisk it in a bowl or buy it that way.  That was $2.99 for a 10-egg equivalent carton, instead of $3.99 for a dozen fresh.  The three eggs inside the dough are whole, but the egg wash was from the carton.  After getting it home, I noticed that it's cholesterol free, so just colored egg whites?  My cholesterol was 262 at the last check, so maybe the universe is trying to tell me something.

This recipe does make more dough than I can eat before the loaf goes stale, so I made four small loaves to freeze three for later.  The first was to try the Schlissel key.  Then I tried a 5-strand braid, which was far easier than I was expecting, so #3 was one as well.  The fourth, I did the cheaty 6-strand where you lay one braid on top of another.  It kind of slid partway off the top in the oven when the part underneath it rose.  Still, I had made a month of challot in slightly over two hours, so that's a win.  Hopefully this will become a new thing for me.

1 packet (2-1/4 tsp) dry yeast
1 C 100ºF water
1/3 C sugar or 1/4 C honey
4-1/2 C-ish bread flour or 5-1/2 C-ish AP flour
3 eggs, room temperature
1/4 C neutral oil, like vegetable or grapeseed
2 tsp kosher salt
Egg wash

1.  Stir together yeast, water, and sugar.  Allow to sit until foamy, 5-10 minutes.

2.  In stand mixer with the paddle attachment, stir together yeast mixture and 1/2 C flour.  Beat slowly until fully integrated.  Beat in eggs until smooth.

3.  Stir in 1 cup flour, oil, and salt and beat until smooth.

4.  Switch to the dough hook.  Add remaining 3 C of flour (4 if using A.P.) and run on medium.  In about 3 minutes, you will have a lumpy dough.  Turn off the mixer, scrape everything down, and run for 5 more minutes.  At this point, you will have a sticky dough that rides the hook.

5.  Lightly flour a kneading surface.  Pour out dough, including everything sticking to the hook.  Lightly flour the top of the dough and knead until smooth, adding a bit more flour if necessary.  The actual amount will vary with the day's humidity, but should not exceed half a cup.  Round dough into a ball.  Oil a bowl.  Turn dough over in it to coat all sides.  Cover and set in a warm place to rise until tripled, 1 to 1-1/2 hours.  On a cold day, maybe 2.

6.  Punch down dough and weigh.  If making two loaves, cut in half by weight.  I was making four, so there was some math.  It probably would have been easier if I had switched the scale to grams.  The ball was over two pounds.  Cut each piece into however many strands you want to use, again by weight.  For the Schlissel, it was three pieces plus a tiny bit to be the key prongs.  Allow to rest at least 5 minutes before shaping.

7.  To make the key shape, roll each of the three main pieces into a rope.  Braid them about 2/3 of the length of the ropes.  I then sliced the remaining ends lengthwise and twisted them.  There are dozens of designs, but this seemed easiest.  Loop the twisted ends into circles to make the top of an old-fashioned key.  Place on parchment-lined sheet and crumple up a bit of parchment or foil to place inside the loop so it doesn't close as the bread expands.  Make that little side piece into the key prongs and set them at the bottom, where you started the braid.

8.  For a 5-strand braid, take three pieces on one side and do two steps as though you were doing a three-strand braid.  Then switch to the other side and do two passes.  The middle one will move to the other side each cycle.  Repeat until you run out of rope.  It's kind of a Celtic design, and pretty cool.  Also much easier to keep track of than a 6-strand.

9.  Set loaves in a warm place to rise for 30 minutes.  You don't want to over-proof, or they'll collapse as soon as they are egg-washed.  To make the egg wash, beat an egg with 1 Tb of water until smooth.

10.  Preheat oven to 350º.  Brush challah with the egg wash, taking care to get in every crevice.  If desired, decorate the loaves with seeds and/or spices.  Bake larger loaves (1 or 2) for 30-35 minutes, smaller ones, like my quarters, for 20-25.

11.  Cool on a wire rack at least half an hour.  Remove the foil balls before the bread sets completely.  Bread will keep at room temperature about 2 days.  For longer storage, wrap in foil then place in a plastic freezer bag.  Freeze up to one month.

Makes 2 lbs bread, about 12-16 servings

Difficulty rating  :-0