After the Hadassah magazine article on us, not a day goes by without someone asking us for challah, or at least the recipe for our mock-”challah” rolls.

{Insert wavy “flashback” effect here.}
It all began with Wendy Wark’s Workable Wonder Dough, a recipe I discovered in the book Cooking Gluten Free!
by Karen Robertson. You’ll save time by starting with Multiblend flour mix, from Authentic Foods, which is essentially Wendy Wark’s flour blend but made with all brown-rice flour, no white rice. (Karen suggests using all brown-rice flour, too.)

The first change I made to the original recipe was to replace the dry milk powder with almond meal. (What is the point of a dairy challah? You can’t use it to soak up your chicken soup!) Second, was to add 2 Tbls of sugar into the dry ingredients. (That’s in ADDITION to the 2 Tbls added to the yeast-proofing mixture — I like a sweet challah.) Next…., well, after that you’re on your own. As my dad used to say, “Does Eaton’s tell the Bay?”

Lightly grease your hands and the counter you are working on.

Take a little dough and roll it out like you’re making a “snake” with play-dough. You don’t want it too long and skinny - more like a fat sausage. Shape it into a pinwheel, and ever so slightly make it conical, so the the inside is a little higher than the outside. End by pulling the “tail” firmly under and smushing it into the indentation that is the underside of your cone.

Otherwise the bread will unwind as it rises, and you’ll be left with a hot-dog bun.

Another tip is take care not to stretch the dough tight as you turn it. Gluten is stretchy, but xanthan gum not so much. Leave lots of give when you wind your rolls, or they will rip and tear as the dough rises. (This is why we don’t braid the challah.)

I like a whole-egg egg wash, using one egg beaten with 2 tsp water. I like to add it as soon as the dough is shaped, before it rises. I find it keeps the crust more moist. Then I put plastic wrap lightly over the whole thing, and let it sit approx 90 minutes at room-temperature.

The last tip is the most important: Eat within 24 hours of baking. The reason this dough is “shapeable,” as opposed to every other gluten-free dough in the world, is because this dough uses COPIOUS amounts of xanthan gum. And xanthan gum has this little quirk — it keeps contracting even after it has baked. So what is fluffy and tender when you pull it fresh out of the oven, is dense and tough the next day. You can refresh it a little by re-heating it, but the effect doesn’t last long.

What I used to do, is form the rolls through the egg-wash step, and then freeze them before rising. [NOTE: We do this now at the bakery. You can buy the unbaked rolls - they're even on the menu under "Take and Bake"!] They’ll keep for up to 60 days in the freezer. Thaw in refrigerator overnight or at least 8 hours. Let them rise a little longer - 2 hours, instead of 90 minutes. Then bake them for 25 minutes in a pre-heated 350-degree oven.

Unfortunately, the whole rising / baking thing threw people off, so no-one bought the unbaked rolls. [No, no, I was wrong! After all the press, they do! Try it, it's easy!] We turned them into brioche - because brioche is baked in a pan instead of shaped, it’s possible to get the xanthan down to 25%. And the brioche is REALLY yummy. I finally understand the appeal of a “dairy”-tasting challah!

[OK - THAT part is still true - the brioche is an amazing bread!]

Read on for more about gluten-free challah.

2 Responses to ““Challah” recipe revealed”

1. MichaelK Says:
   June 30th, 2008 at 2:44 pm

   looks good!

2. Gina Says:
   September 12th, 2008 at 10:24 am

   OR freeze before baking, thaw, let rise and bake,
   YUMMY!

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