Walnut Challah

Name: Walnut Challah
Ingredients: 3 large eggs; 1 to 1½ cups walnut pieces, coarsely chopped; ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water (105°F to 115°F); 1 envelope dry yeast (¼ ounce or 2½ teaspoons); 1 tablespoon sugar; About 2¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour; 1½ teaspoons salt; ¼ cup vegetable oil; 2 tablespoons walnut oil or additional vegetable oil

Chef

Faye Levy

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Cookbook

1,000 Jewish Recipes

Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt

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This image courtesy of Joseph DeLeo

Walnuts are a favorite accent in Ashkenazic yeast doughs, and this rich challah contains plenty of them. Taste a few walnuts before using them in this bread to be sure they are fresh. The walnut oil really enhances the bread’s flavor, but it will still taste great without it. A food processor whips up this dough in no time.

Makes1 medium loaf

Cooking Methodbaking

CostInexpensive

Easy

Total Timeunder 4 hours

Make Ahead RecipeYes

OccasionCasual Dinner Party, Family Get-together

Dietary Considerationvegetarian

Equipmentfood processor

Mealbreakfast, dinner

Taste and Texturenutty

Type of Dishyeast bread

Ingredients

3 large eggs
1 to 1½ cups walnut pieces, coarsely chopped
½ cup plus 2 tablespoons warm water (105°F to 115°F)
1 envelope dry yeast (¼ ounce or 2½ teaspoons)
1 tablespoon sugar
About 2¾ cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1½ teaspoons salt
¼ cup vegetable oil
2 tablespoons walnut oil or additional vegetable oil

Instructions

Set aside 1 egg and walnuts. Using remaining ingredients above, prepare Basic Challah Dough, Prepared By Food Processor through step 4.
Grease a 9 × 5-inch loaf pan. After dough has risen for second time, pat out dough into a 9-inch square. Sprinkle evenly with all the walnuts. Press them into dough. Roll up tightly in a cylinder, pressing firmly. Pinch ends and seam tightly. Then roll cylinder again on work surface to press seam further. Place in pan seam-side down.
Cover loaf with a warm, slightly damp cloth and let rise until nearly doubled, about 1 hour. Preheat oven to 375°F.
Beat remaining egg with a pinch of salt. Brush risen loaf gently with beaten egg. Bake about 45 minutes or until top and bottom of bread are firm and bread sounds hollow when tapped on bottom. Run a metal spatula or a thin knife carefully around bread. Turn out of pan and cool on a rack.