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Peter Reinhart’s (Two-Day) Challah

It is not every day that I have 11 egg yolks in my fridge. But after making a double batch of meringue frosting (all egg whites) for a Dairy-Free Frosted Birthday Cake, I did. What happened to the twelfth yolk, you may ask? I (accidentally) carefully placed it in the drain of my kitchen sink instead of the bowl with all its brethren. Apparently I was bored and distracted by the the time I hit a dozen eggs.

So, with 11 egg yolks I had three options: make hollandaise, custard, or challah. Hollandaise was out; no one in my family would eat it. Custard was a toss-up: perhaps the boys would love a homemade pudding, but it could just as easily go the other. Challah, however, is no-fail in this house. So I settled on a recipe from Michael Ruhlman’s blog, Peter Reinhart’s Challah.

There are two things about this challah that are different from other bread recipes I’ve made before: first, it used all yolks instead of some whole eggs and some divided; second, it calls for the initial rise to be done in the fridge, at least overnight but for up to four days.

I posted some pictures of the dough rising on the Chick in the Kitchen Facebook page, including a photo of the dough after the final (third!) rise and before baking. My dough took a little more flour to come together than the recipe suggests, and I did choose to add the vanilla. The fridge rise was amazing. When we opened the door of the fridge the next morning, it looked as though the dough had tried to escape the bounds of the bowl — it had more than doubled in size. I don’t know a lot about the chemistry of bread-baking, but it was very interesting to experience this “cool” rise cycle.

I choose to make 8 large challah rolls (we call them “nose” rolls because of the nubbin in the middle) and 1 large braided challah. The dough was very easy to work with after the first rise, and braided easily. I used both the recommended thump test (the bottom of the bread should sound hollow) and took the internal temperature of the bread (should be 190 degrees F) when done. I overbaked the rolls by about 2 minutes, so if you are making smaller breads watch the time carefully.

This challah was fantastic. J. said it was hands-down the best homemade challah he had ever tasted, and that it was just as good as something from a bakery. The texture of the bread was light but still with a bit a chewiness, and it didn’t taste overly sweet or eggy. A. preferred slices of the challah which was slightly more moist than the rolls. G. liked them both, but told me he still prefers the Pull-Apart Honey Challah Rolls.

Although the recipe takes two days to complete, it’s not any more complex than any other yeast bread. You just have to have the time. If I were ever in a position again where I had a large number of egg yolks to use up, this would be my go-to recipe. But since I don’t have imminent plans to whip a dozen egg whites, it won’t be in the near future.

5 Comments January 18, 2012

Homemade Pizza (or Calzone) Dough

“Make your own pizza” nights have become a favorite of my boys, although G. chooses to make calzones from the same ingredients as the pizza. I used to buy pre-made whole wheat dough at my supermarket (they kept it in the refrigerated section near the shredded cheese), but although it was serviceable it bounced back a lot. It was hard to stretch it out to the thinness we wanted, so the crust was always relatively thick and turned out chewy at best, and underdone at worst.

Since getting a stand mixer, I’ve tried making my own pizza dough a few times, though I’ve been working on a white flour version from the book that came with my mixer. Last night I got it perfect. We were able to make very thin crust pizza that actually crackled when I cut into it with a chef’s knife. Both boys agreed that this was the best dough we’d ever made, and that it did not need any more tweaks. See how thin that pizza is? It had a great crunch when we bit into it, too.

Because I am new to working with yeast, I use an instant-read thermometer to double-check the temperature of the water I’m using before I add the yeast. Turns out, “warm” water is actually much hotter than I would expect.

Also, my kitchen is the coldest room in my house, even though it’s not drafty. In my parent’s home, we’d let dough rise in the small utility room that held the water heater — it was clean, draft-free, and toasty. I don’t have an area like that, so instead I preheat my oven to 180° F, then turn it off. This creates an insulted, warm space for my dough to rise, but without being hot enough to start cooking it.

Next up: figuring out a whole wheat crust we all love.

Pizza & Calzone Dough
Adapted from Crusty Pizza Dough, in the KitchenAid Stand Mixer manual

Note: This recipe includes 2 hours of rising time.

1 package active dry yeast
1 cup warm water (105° to 115°)
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
2 tsp. olive oil (+ a little extra)
3 c. bread flour, divided (+ a little extra)

Add yeast to the bowl of your stand mixer, and then pour warm water over it. And salt, oil, and 2 cups of the flour. Using your dough hook, mix on Speed 2 for about a minute.

While continuing to mix, add in the remaining cup of flour, a bit at a time, until the flour is incorporated and the dough starts to pull off the side of the bowl. Knead on the same speed for 2 more minutes. Your dough should feel smooth, and not sticky at all.

Lightly coat a bowl with olive oil, and place dough in the bowl, then flip it over so it has a thin layer of oil on top.

Cover the top of the bowl with plastic wrap or a damp tea towel. Let it rise in a warm spot for 1 hour until it doubles in size. If you press a finger into the dough, the indentation should stay there. Punch the dough down, and let it rise, covered for another hour. Punch it down a final time.

Dough can be rolled with a pin or stretched to make pizza or calzones. Bake at 400° F for about 20 minutes, or until done.

1 Comment December 20, 2011

KitchenAid Sixty-Minute Dinner Rolls

Thanks to a great Black Friday sale, I am the new owner of a bright red KitchenAid stand mixer! I’ve been entering blog giveaways to win one of these babies for years, but was never successful. I finally decided to treat myself to one when I saw a price for the Professional 600 that was lower than I’d ever seen before.

I have never been much of a bread maker, but with the new mixer I was tempted to try out the dough hook. I used a recipe for Sixty-Minute Dinner Rolls that came in the instruction manual of my mixer. The recipe comes together easily, and they smell delicious even before they hit the oven — just the smell of the raw dough rising is warm and homey. Out of the oven, they were very tasty if a little plain. My boys loved them and gobbled up several on the spot. They won approval from 2 out of 3 of my dear friend Sharon’s kids as well.

However, once the rolls cooled they were quite tough. The recipe makes 24 rolls, so not all of them are going to be eaten warm. I am a very inexperienced bread maker, so the tenderness issue could be from several technique shortcomings: too much flour, under kneading, or over kneading (I think this is the least likely). I felt that I followed the recipe closely, but I will need to try them (or another recipe) again as I develop my bread legs and get used to what my new mixer can do.

1 Comment December 1, 2011

Campfire Crescent Rolls

We went camping in the Kenneth L. Wilson campground last weekend, just for a night. I couldn’t wait to try out a technique for cooking crescent rolls over a campfire! I originally saw the idea on Pinterest, but there are lots of pictures of this camping treat online.

I used Immaculate Baking Co.’s Crescent Rolls instead of Pillsbury — the ingredients are a little better. The picture above is the first and only roll we cooked on a stick. Unfortunately, the dough didn’t separate into triangles when I popped open the can — it was one big blob. I had to just rip it apart, stretch out the dough, and then wrap that small piece around a stick. It took a while to cook, but once it was done all four of us agreed it was fantastic — we each got a nibble from this one stick.

As good as that roll was, I didn’t feel like standing around for another 10 minutes per roll to make the whole batch this way. Instead, we made a makeshift baking pan from a piece of aluminum foil and pinched off pieces of the rest of the dough to make lots of little rolls. Covered with another piece of foil and set on a grill over the coals of the fire, these itty bitties baked in about 20 minutes and were just as delicious.

Although we need to work on our technique, these Campfire Crescent Rolls will definitely be part of our next camping trip.

4 Comments August 19, 2011