yeast

Six Strand Braided Challah Bread

March 23, 2020 by Alyssa

Looking for an at-home baking project? Why not master the six-strand braided Challah Bread with my lastest Baking Bucket List post.

My baking bucket list for 2020 started with Challah Bread. I have no idea why I chose it other than because it meant needing to work with yeast, and I find braided baked goods especially beautiful.

Initially, I thought working with the yeast would be the difficult part of this whole bake but in reality, it came down to the six-strand braid.

I gave my bread dough a real working while attempting to braid it and scrapped the braid so many times I lost count. I watched countless videos and reviewed a number of diagram tutorials.

Eventually, I stopped trying to think so hard about it, and the braiding naturally flowed….

…Or at least it resulted in Challah Bread that looked braided. I’ll let one of you review my handy work and tell me if it was actually braided correctly or not. (Like seriously, someone look at this braid and tell me if I did it right).

Either way, I don’t care too much. The result was a beautiful loaf of bread that actually tasted really good too with a delicious, subtle eggy-ness to it that you would expect when eating Challah Bread. I especially enjoyed it’s crusty outside (thanks to a splendid eggwash!) when toasted with a little strawberry jam on top.

I don’t have a recipe to share this go-round as I defaulted to the King Arthur Challah Bread recipe and followed it to a T.

Challah bread, braid completed

An egg wash before baking results in a nice golden color

Just a Couple Tips

My two tips for those of you attempting a six-strand braided Challah Bread is to 1) practice with some string before you head into braiding your dough. I’m sure my own bread would have baked a little bit lighter if I hadn’t beat it up so much figuring out the braiding sequence. I would also 2) ensure your dough is laid out in the same direction as whatever video or diagram you’re following. Watching someone do it from a different angle made the task even more difficult than it had to be.

Here are a few resources for completing the six-strand braid

helpful YouTube video, just pause it frequently
King Arthur’s six-strand braiding video
the most informative graphic on braiding (according to me)
maybe coloring your bread strands could help?

If I were to make Challah Bread again, I would probably stick to a three or four braided bread as I truly enjoyed the eggy flavor of the bread once baked and it’s an easy way to use up an abundance of eggs.

So, who’s making Challah Bread as we head into the Easter season?

Chocolate Babka

April 11, 2019 by Alyssa

For my March baking bucket list, I tackled Chocolate Babka, a sweet brioche bread with a chocolate twist and fudgy chocolate filling.

Although I’m posting this in April, I actually tackled my March Baking Bucket List Challenge in March. Life was pretty busy in March so I pushed this off until the very last day and spent Sunday, March 31st in the kitchen tending to this Chocolate Babka.

To be honest, I’m not sure I’ve ever had Chocolate Babka until I made it myself. In fact, it only ended up on my Baking Bucket List because I was intrigued by the beauty of the twisted bread and knew it would truly challenge me since it required me to work with yeast, something I’m slowly becoming comfortable baking with.

For my chocolate babka, I chose to follow the New York Times Cooking recipe and made it almost to spec. This recipe intrigued me because it strayed slightly from traditional babka recipes by adding a chocolate crumble to the top of the bread prior to baking. The chocolate twist was also sandwiched with a fudgy, frosting-like spread (which, as a twist, you could always replace with Nutella!).

I consider myself an experience baker and even for me, at first glance, this recipe seemed intimidating.

However, after breaking it down a bit, it’s really quite straight forward. Chocolate babka requires a few ‘mini recipes’ which come together to great the delicious, chocolate bread. If you’re able to break each of the recipes up and tackle them one by one, this chocolate babka is really quite manageable.

However, I suggest you dedicate a full afternoon to the process due to the the multiple recipes, double proofing, and time it takes to twist & bake the bread.

The only major hurdle I faced during the chocolate babka recipe was working with the dough. As mentioned earlier, because I’m not quite comfortable with yeast and have never made brioche bread before (a bread that requires you to beat room temperature butter into the dough resulting in a unique, squishy texture) I doubted my dough. Since I wasn’t confident with the texture of the brioche bread dough after my first rise, I believed I had done something wrong — like having killed the yeast.

This led me to trashing the entire dough and starting from scratch.

After the first proof on the second dough, I had the same results as the first. I quickly Googled brioche bread and learned that the ‘puckered’ texture of the dough was quite common so with a bit more confidence, I pushed forward, crossed my fingers, and hoped it would all turn out.

Note: At this time, I also strayed slightly from the New York Times Cooking recipe. The author suggests letting the dough sit in the fridge for a day or overnight for maximum flavor. However, since I was determined to finish my chocolate babka before the end of March, I skipped this process. I believed skipping the overnight rest was completely fine since other chocolate babka recipes I had researched did not call for this step. If you have the time to let the dough rest overnight, I’m sure you’ll have an even tastier result that I did.

After the first rise is when the fun truly begins!

At this time, you split the dough in half, roll it out into a huge rectangle and spread it with the decadent, fudgy chocolate filling. After rolling it into a tight little log, much like cinnamon rolls, you place it in the fridge for 10 minutes to chill and repeat the process with the other half of the dough (since this recipe results in two loaves of babka)

After chilling, using a pastry cutter, you split the rolled log straight down the center, revealing the beautiful chocolate center and twist the two strips together creating a dark and light braided masterpiece. (I could stare at the twisted dough all day long, so pretty!). Once twisted, you fold the log in half and place it into a loaf pan for a second rise. Right before baking, the proofed dough it topped with the chocolate crumble and baked to perfection.

rolled babka dough

chocolate fudge filling

rolled dough

split dough prior to twisting

twisted chocolate babka dough

second proof

chocolate crumble

After baking, the New York Times Cooking author suggests brushing the bread with a sugar syrup. I made the sugar syrup but after looking at my baked bread, I chose not to brush it with the sugar syrup. I felt the bread may get soggy or become too sweet and chose to skip the syrup out of personal preference.

I loved the chocolate babka. It was addictingly delicious and one of my favorite bakes ever. And I don’t even like sweet breakfast breads!

The babka was soft with a slight chew. The chocolate swirl added a hint of sweetness and the chocolate crumble on top added texture with a touch of saltiness. It hit all my favorite flavor notes! I savored this bread, wanting it all to myself but ultimately, with a bit of remorse, ended up sharing it with coworkers.

I will definitely be making chocolate babka again in the future and came out of this experience with more confidence in yeast breads, proud of my diligence to complete the challenge in March, and damn proud of the end result when never having tasted chocolate babka before.

How ’bout you, have you ever made chocolate babka before? What was your experience?

The Cinnamon Rolls Project: Mastering a Breakfast Staple

December 3, 2018 by Alyssa

In hopes of mastering cinnamon rolls, I set out to remake cinnamon rolls until I perfected the technique. Read on to hear my tips and find my no-fail cinnamon rolls recipe.

Yeast breads have never been my strong suit. I really only ever use yeast when making cinnamon rolls which is often why I choose to make no-rise cinnamon rolls — simply to avoid the fuss of yeast.

Baking shouldn’t be stressful.

When I do make yeast cinnamon rolls, I find the first 20 minutes of the endeavor to be beyond stressful. I ponder whether or not my yeast is still active, or if I killed it with too hot of milk, or worry that I didn’t add enough sugar to help it activate. It’s all like a crazy scient experiment — just to make cinnamon rolls!

The stress continues as I work the ingredients into a dough and pray that the dough rises. And when I do have success with yeast when making my cinnamon rolls, I always find the rolls themselves after baking never turn out quite right.

Sometimes, when I pull the final product out of the oven, the result is a dense cinnamon roll. Or, other times, the texture is visibly rough after baking. Other attempts leave me with cinnamon roll swirls that look more like a whirling tornado than a beautiful, pristine pinwheel.

So, in an attempt to perfect my cinnamon roll making, I decided to make cinnamon rolls for a few weeks in a row until I perfected the process. After a few attempts, I landed on a recipe and mastered the technique that results in cinnamon roll perfection. My preferred dough is made in a stand mixer and it rolls out beautifully. It’s not sticky whatsoever, and when you press your fingers into it, it springs back into place.

I also learned to seal my cinnamon rolls before slicing with a bit of egg wash which helps the rolls hold their shape and ensures the pretty swirly pinwheels stay in place. Lastly, using the string slicing method, something I’ve always done and my Mom taught me as a child, helps preserve the swirls before placing the rolls into the pan.

After my cinnamon rolls experiment, here’s what I learned and how I perfected my technique:

When proofing the yeast, ensure the milk temperature is between 105°F and 110°F
To help the yeast proof, sprinkle a teaspoon or two of granulated sugar into the milk
Don’t be afraid to knead the dough! Once proofed, the yeast is relatively stable and can withstand 2-3 minutes of kneading in a stand mixer. And this, the kneading part, is key to smooth, supple, beautiful cinnamon roll dough
Before rolling the dough into a long log, dab one long side of the dough with a whisked egg yolk to help seal everything together
Trim the ends from the log so you start with a clean, beautiful swirl. Do this using a thin sewing string, crossing the two ends to cleanly cut the cinnamon rolls
Always, always, always, slather cream cheese frosting on warm cinnamon rolls so it seeps into the crevices

Use the tips above and my recipe below for no-fail, cinnamon roll perfection.

The Cinnamon Rolls Project

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Prep time

2 hours

Cook time

25 mins

Total time

2 hours 25 mins

Author: Alyssa

Serves: 18 rolls

Ingredients

Dough:
¾ cup warm milk (2% or whole milk, 105°F to 110°F)
.25 ounce dry active yeast (1 pack)
2 teaspoons sugar
⅓ cup unsalted butter, melted and slightly cooled
⅓ cup granulated sugar
¼ cup yogurt (Greek, 2% or whole milk)
1 large egg, beaten
¼ cup milk (2% or whole milk)
4 cups all-purpose flour, divided
1 teaspoon salt
Filling:
¾ cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 large egg, lightly beaten
Frosting:
4 ounces cream cheese, softened
1½ tablespoons softened unsalted butter
1½ cups confectioners’ sugar
1-2 tablespoon whole milk

Instructions

In a medium bowl, combine ¾ cup warm milk, 2 teaspoons sugar and yeast, stirring gently. Let stand until mixture is foamy, about 10 minutes.
In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together butter, sugar, yogurt, beaten egg, and ¼ cup milk.
In a large bowl, sift 3½ cups flour and salt. Stir half of the flour mixture into butter mixture. With the mixer on low, add the yeast mixture until just until combined. Mix in the remaining flour mixture.
Remove the paddle attachment and replace with the dough hook. Add remaining ½ cup flour. Knead with the dough hook at medium speed until smooth and elastic, about 2 minutes.
Spray a large bowl with non-stick baking spray. Place dough in bowl, turning to grease top. Loosely cover and let rise in a warm (or in your oven using the proof setting) until doubled in size, about 1 hour.
Grease two 10-inch round cake pans with butter and set aside.
In a small bowl, combine brown sugar and cinnamon.
Lightly punch down dough then turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface, and roll into an 18x12 inch rectangle.
Spread 4 tablespoons of butter onto the rolled dough, and sprinkle with sugar mixture, leaving a ½-inch border on one long side. Brush egg over the dough border without filling (to help seal the dough).
Starting with the long side without the egg, tightly roll dough into a log, pinching the seam to seal (the egg helps the seal). Using a piece of thread, trim the ends of the log to create an even spiraled, starting point. Mark the log into 1-inch sections then, using the thread, slice the roll into 1-inch rolls. Place the rolls in the prepared pans. Let rise in a warm place (or the oven on the proof setting) until puffed and rolls are touching, about 30-45 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Bake the rolls until a baking pick inserted in center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Let cool in pan for 10 minutes. Remove from pan.
For the frosting: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the cream cheese and butter at medium speed until creamy, 1-2 minutes. With the stand mixer at low speed, gradually add confectioners’ sugar, beating until fluffy. Stir in milk until combined. Spread onto warm rolls.