Matcha Challah

I love playing with new challah creations. All it takes is a few tweaks to my staple challah recipe. 

For this weeks challah, and the first shabbas of the new year 2021, I wanted something festive with sprinkles and maybe a little healthy and green. That’s where matcha comes in. Matcha green tea lattes are so delicious! The matcha gives the challah a green hue and you can taste the earthy green tea. Plus, matcha has many health benefits, like antioxidants, but that’s not why I chose it for this week. 

What you will need:

2 tbsp yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/3 cup warm water

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

1 tbsp matcha powder

4-4 1/2 cups flour

Rainbow sprinkles

Directions: 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the yeast, sugar, and water, stir to combine. Add the 2 eggs and mix the eggs with a beater attachment. Then add the oil and mix together again. 

With the mixer on the lowest speed, add flour cup by cup until the dough starts forming a ball and pulling away from the sides of the mixing bowl. At this point, swap out the beater attachment for a dough hook and add the salt and matcha powder. Keep adding flour cup by cup until the dough is no longer sticky to the touch. In total this should be roughly 4 cups of flour. 

Knead the dough together by hand to make sure everything is incorporated together. 

Place the dough back in the bowl and cover the top of the dough with a thin layer of oil and cover with a wet towel. 

Let the dough rise until it doubles in size, this should be about an hour, or in the fridge up to 24 hours. 

Punch the dough down and let it rise for another hour. 

At this point, you are ready to form the challahs. I like to do simple 4 strand braids. 

Once all of your challahs are formed, let them rise for an additional half hour, or up to an hour in colder weather. 

Top each challah with egg wash (one egg with a little bit of water) and some rainbow sprinkles. 

Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

 

Enjoy!

Pumpkin Challah

I love everything pumpkin! I also love playing with new challah creations. All it takes is a few tweaks to my staple challah recipe.

I have been on a challah kick and a pumpkin kick lately. Who said pumpkin is reserved just for Fall? Not me! I love pumpkin all year, whether it’s a savory dish like pumpkin soup or pie or sweet like pumpkin ice cream, cake, cookies...I could go on and on.

You can definitely used can pumpkin purée, just make sure it’s one where it’s just pumpkin on the ingredients, not a pie filling that has other ingredients added in. I use pie pumpkins that I roast and purée my own, check out my how to here. 

What you will need:

2 tbsp yeast

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup warm water

1 cup pumpkin purée {make your own here}

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs

1 tsp salt

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

4-4 1/2 cups flour

Directions: 

In the bowl of a stand mixer, add the yeast, sugar, water, and pumpkin purée, stir to combine. Add the 2 eggs and mix the eggs with a beater attachment. Then add the oil and mix together again. 

With the mixer on the lowest speed, add flour cup by cup until the dough starts forming a ball and pulling away from the sides of the mixing bowl. At this point, swap out the beater attachment for a dough hook and add the salt and pumpkin pie spice. Keep adding flour cup by cup until the dough is no longer sticky to the touch. In total this should be roughly 4 cups of flour. 

Knead the dough together by hand to make sure everything is incorporated together. 

Place the dough back in the bowl and cover the top of the dough with a thin layer of oil and cover with a wet towel. 

 Let the dough rise until it doubles in size, this should be about an hour, or in the fridge up to 24 hours. 

Punch the dough down and let it rise for another hour. 

At this point, you are ready to form the challahs. I like to do simple 4 strand braids. 

Once all of your challahs are formed, let them rise for an additional half hour, or up to an hour in colder weather. 

Top each challah with egg wash (one egg with a little bit of water) and some pumpkin seeds and cinnamon sugar if you want it sweet. 

Bake at 350°F for 30 minutes.

Enjoy!

Gingerbread Loaf

Every year around this time I like baking something pepperminty, or warm and satisfying with spices in it. And this gingerbread loaf is just that! While I enjoy my pumpkin, fall spices, and peppermint all year round, everyone is baking a lot more this time of year!

This loaf is easy to prepare and comes together pretty quickly, which means you will be smelling the warm and delicious spices sooner.

What you will need: 

GINGERBREAD LOAF 

2 cups all-purpose flour 

½ cup granulated sugar 

1 tsp baking soda 

½ tsp salt 

1 tbsp ground ginger 

2 tsp cinnamon 

½ tsp ground nutmeg 

½ cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, melted or oil

½ cup molasses 

2 large eggs 

1 cup buttermilk (sub with milk + 1 tbsp lemon juice or vinegar)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract 

VANILLA GLAZE 

1 cup confectioners' sugar 

1 tbsp milk (more, as needed) 

2 tsp vanilla extract 

Directions: 

GINGERBREAD LOAF 

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9x5-inch loaf pan. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together flour, sugar, baking soda, salt, ginger, cinnamon, and ground nutmeg. 

In a separate bowl, whisk together the melted butter and molasses until incorporated. Beat in eggs until combined, then buttermilk and vanilla extract. Beat until thoroughly combined. (Mixture may look curdled.) 

Stir wet mixture into the dry ingredients until combined, do not over mix. 

Pour batter into prepared pan, and bake until a toothpick inserted into center of the cake comes out clean, about 50 minutes. Allow the cake to cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn out onto cooling rack to finish cooling. 

VANILLA GLAZE 

Mix all ingredients together until smooth. Add more milk or confectioners' sugar as needed for desired consistency. Drizzle cooled cake with glaze.

Enjoy!