Friday, October 28, 2016

The Holy Grail: Braidable Gluten-Free Challah (Motzi)



I've been working on this recipe for a while, and although it's not perfect and I'm going to keep working on it (so check back for edits) to perfect it completely.

This recipe simplifies on my Best-Ever Gluten-Free Challah recipe, and it also creates a dough that is ... wait for it ... braidable! Yes! Now, it's not going to be braidable like a traditional gluten-based dough, but it fits the bill and makes for some beautifully braided gluten-free challah at last.

Like I said, this recipe isn't perfect, but it works. You end up with a very delicate dough, so make sure you have some spare flour on hand for braiding. This makes roughly five very good-sized small loaves for me. More pictures are also forthcoming (10/28), I just had someone ask me for this recipe and I've delayed long enough so I needed to get it up.



Ingredients

1 package yeast
1 1/4 cup warm water
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 Tbls salt
1/3 cup oil + 1 Tbls
2 eggs
2.5 cups gluten-free oat flour
2 cups Cup4Cup Wholesome Flour 

Directions

  1. Mix yeast with warm water and let it froth. The yeast must activate for this challah to work!
  2. In a stand mixer (I use my KitchenAid), mix the dry ingredients together (flour, salt, sugar) with the dough hook. 
  3. Add in the wet ingredients (eggs and oil).
  4. Mix in the yeast/water mixture. 
  5. Continuing mixing for a few minutes until the dough is stiff and falls easily off of the hook. If it looks too wet, add up to 1/4 cup more of the Cup4Cup. 
  6. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or overnight.
  7. After rising, separate the dough and create 4-5 small braided loaves. You can also roll the dough in balls and place in small loaf pans to create "pull apart" loaves or use a standard challah pan.
  8. Let rise in a warm place for 1 hour. 
  9. Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for ~30 minutes. The timing will vary on the size of your loaves, so keep a good eye on them after 30 minutes. 

Note: The Wholesome Flour is parve/non-dairy, while the Multipurpose Cup4Cup is dairy (for whatever reason). The dairy Cup4Cup actually makes for a more easily braidable and gorgeous, yet denser, gluten-free challah, but I know many looking for a recipe will want a parve/non-dairy version. 

Note Two: The pictures in this post are from using the Multipurpose Cup4Cup.