Water Challah Recipe (2024)

FAQs

Why is my homemade challah so dense? ›

Amount of flour: The key to a soft loaf that isn't dense is to use as little flour as possible. I start with 930 grams of flour and add up to 70 more grams based on what the dough needs. The amount of liquid in the dough will vary from loaf to loaf because “large” eggs are similar but not uniform in volume.

If your dough is too WET: During the second knead, if your dough is really too sticky still or quite wet and overly loose, add in another half cup of flour while it's kneading; you may even need more flour if you really overdid it on the water earlier on.

Be careful not to over proof your loaves; if they proof too much, the air bubbles get too big, causing them to pop and then deflate in the oven.

Keep folding the dough into itself until the flour is worked into the dough. If the dough feels too dry or crumbly, a little bit of oil works wonders to bring moisture and pliability back.

If your dough is not kneaded enough, the right amount of gas will not be released and it will result in a very dense bread with little moisture.

Dense or heavy bread can be caused by not kneading the dough enough, not letting the dough rise enough, or using too much flour. To fix this issue: try kneading the dough for longer or allowing it to rise for a longer period. You can also try adding a little more liquid to the dough or using a higher protein flour.

If you have a high hydration dough, it's going to be sticky. That's all there is too it. If you add more flour, you'll end up with a really tough, dry loaf, so don't add more flour! First thing you can do is set the dough aside after you've added your water and mixed it together.

Knead on medium-low speed until you have a sticky dough that clings to the bottom of the bowl, 5 to 7 minutes. The dough may seem too wet but have faith—it's supposed to be. Dust your hands generously with flour, then scrape the sticky, elastic dough out onto a lightly floured work surface.

Similar to the signs of over proofed dough, an over proofed loaf will be very flat, without much rise or retention of shaping. Over proofing destroys the structural integrity of the bread, so loaves that have gone over are unable to hold their shape in the oven.

Place the dough in a large bowl, cover with a thin layer of oil and cover with plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rest and rise for 8–10 hours—overnight is perfect!

How do you know if challah is done? ›

Place the loaf in the oven and bake. After 35 minutes of baking, check the internal temperature of the loaf with your Thermapen ONE. If the lowest temp you see is 195–200°F (91–93°C), the bread is done. Let the bread cool before slicing, then serve and enjoy!

Cover the loaf with lightly greased plastic wrap and let it rise at room temperature until it's very puffy, 60 to 90 minutes. Toward the end of the rising time, place a rack in the upper third of your oven and preheat the oven to 375°F. To make the topping: Whisk together the reserved egg white and water.

The best baking temperature for *most* challahs is about 190°C / 365-375°F.

If this is what's happening, it could be that your challahs have simply not been inside the oven long enough. If so, increase your baking time by another 5 minutes for your challahs. Don't worry if the tops get browner, that's fine.

If your challahs look like they may burn or are browning too early there are a few things you can do. First of all, check that your oven is on the right setting and temperature. If the temperature of your oven is set too high, the challahs will brown too quickly on top, and the tops may burn before the middle is baked.

Too much extra flour worked into the dough while folding and/or shaping can cause dense bread. Over mixing can cause a dense loaf by the weakening and breakdown of the gluten (not likely to happen if you fold dough or hand knead). The flour you used is a whole grain with coarse bits of bran and grain in it.

Similar to the signs of over proofed dough, an over proofed loaf will be very flat, without much rise or retention of shaping. Over proofing destroys the structural integrity of the bread, so loaves that have gone over are unable to hold their shape in the oven.

The reason why whole wheat loaves end up so dense is because whole wheat flour has very little gluten as compared to white all-purpose flour. Gluten is important for giving the dough – and final loaves – structure. Without it, loaves tend to end up flat and dense.