Easy Cinnamon Challah {Recipe} (2024)

FAQs

Is challah better with bread flour or all purpose flour? ›

Myrna's original recipe calls for all-purpose flour, and you can substitute that here. But I find bread flour gives the challah a nice chew without making it tough, and also helps the braided loaf maintain its shape after baking. For some novice challah makers, that braid can seem like the hardest part.

Challah needs to fully proof before baking. That means that it should respond to a light press of the fingertips by very slowly rebounding. It could also be that your dough is too dense, or that you're not shaping it well.

When cinnamon rolls turn out too hard and dense, the yeasted dough didn't rise adequately, according to Miss Vickie's Pressure Cooker Times. If the dough used in a cinnamon roll recipe hasn't doubled in size before being rolled around the sweet filling, too few air bubbles will form.

Once it looks like a smooth and elastic dough, STOP adding flour; too much flour will dry out the dough! Add a bit more OIL instead and your dough will be great!

A crucial mistake that is often made is not passing the flour through a sieve before using it. If you don't sift the flour, the result is bread that is too dense and heavy. Sifting is what gives challah its soft, airy texture.

You get your liquid, your sugar, and some added flavor. Oil: Vegetable oil, generally used in making challah, is fine—and produces neutral-tasting bread. I prefer olive oil and love the slightly herbal note it imparts to my bread. If using raisins: Make sure the raisins are plump and not desiccated, if using.

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

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.

Overrising the first rise, which is when the dough is still just a dough, can occur. Usually if it overrose just a bit, say, for an hour extra in a cold kitchen, it doesnt really matter. You simply punch it back down and go on to the shaping.

It can also cause the dough not to rise at all. Most of the time, yeast levels have to increase, for example in cinnamon rolls, to compensate. However, cinnamon's anti-microbial properties are said to be responsible for limiting the growth of Listeria and E. coli in foods, which can extend a product's shelf life.

Why did my cinnamon bread sink in the middle? ›

Oven should have a consistent temperature

Some ovens run colder than others. You need consist oven temperature to prevent your quick bread or cake to sink in the middle.

It's the moistened dough separating from the dry cinnamon-sugar mixture as it bakes. To help prevent this, make sure you are brushing the dough with egg white before adding the cinnamon sugar.

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!

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.

Make it whole wheat: While challah made with 100% whole wheat flour will be heavier than that made with all-purpose flour, it will still be soft and delicious. For best flavor, we recommend substituting white whole wheat flour for the all-purpose flour.

If you use bread flour in place of all-purpose flour, be careful not to overwork the dough: The higher protein content will increase the amount of gluten and make for a tougher finished product.

While bread flour is the best option, it can sometimes be used if you don't have bread flour. “Check the protein content,” advises Chef Jürgen, since it can vary from brand to brand, and an all-purpose flour that contains protein on the higher end of the range, 12 to 13 percent, will produce a better outcome.

All-purpose flour is the most common flour called for in recipes, for both cooking and baking. But if you don't have any in the pantry, or can't find any in the store, there are other flours you can use in its place. Bread flour and cake flour—on their own or mixed together—can substitute for all-purpose.