Easy Cholla in a Breadmaker
Cholla is a Jewish traditional bread, eaten especially at festivals such as
the weekly sabbath. It's a little more chewy and stretchy than traditional
loaves because of the added vegetable oil. And it's richer and sweeter,
because of the sugar and egg. It's also delicious, and pretty easy to make
by hand. And even easier if you have a bread machine to assist. Which, for the
purposes of this recipe, I'll assume you do.
Unfortunately I have yet to come across an automatic breadmaker which can do
plaits. So you'll have to do the final stage by hand, and bake it in the
oven. But it's not difficult, and the total time required is around 3
hours.
You'll need the following. For simplicity, both solid and liquid ingredients are specified in grams:
390g strong white bread flour
7g salt
36g caster sugar (granulated will do)
7g instant yeast (one sachet of the stuff made especially for bread machines)
30g egg yolk
30g whole egg
36g vegetable oil
155g water
Poppy seeds for dusting (optional)
You also need a pastry brush, and some digital scales that weigh in grams and which have a feature that allows you to reset the counter while there's still something on the platform.
In case you're wondering why the amounts aren't rounded up or down to something a little neater, I've adapted this recipe so that the quantities are correct for precisely one 7g sachet of yeast. It keeps things much simpler.
OK, to work. Into your bread machine's pan, add all the ingredients except the eggs. Keep things as accurate as you can. Breadmaking is more chemistry than cooking, and the reactions work best if the quantities are within 1 or 2 grams of the formula.
Next, add the eggs. The way I do it requires 3 average-size eggs, and
is as follows. Reset the scales, crack egg 1 and discard the white.
Add the yolk to the pan. It's unlikley to hit 30g, so crack egg 2, discard
the white, and carefully add more yolk until it hits 30g. Discard the
remains of egg 2 and reset the scales. Then crack egg 3 into a glass, beat
it, and
carefully add this to the pan until it
reaches 30g.
To the remainder of egg 3, which is in the glass, add a pinch of salt, cover it,
then set aside. You'll need it later.
Right, that's the hard bit done. Stick the pan in the machine, set it for a dough cycle, and come back in however long it takes. If your machine doesn't have a dough cycle, just give it about an hour, which is generally enough time for the dough to be thoroughly kneaded and allowed to rise for a while.
When the dough is ready, tip it onto a surface that has been wiped with a small amount of oil (don't use flour - oil works better and is less messy). Divide it into 4 even pieces.
Squash and knead each piece for a few seconds to remove any large air bubbles, then roll it into a sausage about a foot long. As far as possible, make sure that each sausage is the same length and thickness.
Arrange the 4 pieces on the bench and pinch/twist/squeeze the tops together.
Next comes the plaiting. Keep everything as tight as you can. The order is:
2 over 3
4 over 2
1 over 3
The numbers refer to the current position of a strip. Ie, when 2 goes over 3, the strip which used to be 3 is now 2, and the strip which used to be 2 is now 3.
Keep repeating the above, from the top, until you can go no further, then twist the ends together. It should look like this:
Now put the loaf on some lightly oiled greaseproof paper on a baking tray, and cover loosely with a tea towel. Leave it for 45 minutes or so to rise. Don't leave it too much longer than that, or the cholla will crack and split when you bake it.
Finally you're ready to bake. Set the oven to 180 degrees C. Gently brush the loaf all over (thoroughly but lightly) with the salted beaten egg you set aside earlier. Sprinkle with poppy seeds if you wish, for the genuine authentic Jewish experience (at least for those Jews who aren't allergic to nuts).
Once the oven is hot, bake in the centre for 25 minutes. Check after 22 minutes or so, and remove or turn if it's looking burnt rather than a dark brown.
Allow to cool, then slice. It's great with butter and/or smoked salmon. Don't tell anyone I told you, but it also makes a pretty good bacon sarnie too!
Rob Schifreen
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