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Rich Sourdough Barches (Challah)

by
Carol Ungar
April 18, 2021
Rich Sourdough Barches (Challah)

My mother had always insisted that her mother was an amazing baker, and her challah was second to none. So, when I first started baking challah, I wanted my grandmother’s recipe. But my grandmother wasn’t available for asking. She was dead, murdered by the Nazis.

Back in the late 1980s, when I was a new bride, I phoned my mother long distance, from my home in Jerusalem to her home in New York. “I don’t have a recipe,” she told me. “Why potchke? Buy! The bakery makes such good challahs.”

But I wanted to bake. I wanted to stretch my muscles, dirty my fingers, and knead my prayers into my dough as I imagined my grandmother had done.

“Are you sure you don’t remember?” I prodded.

My mother remembered one detail about my grandmother’s technique: “She used to save a piece from the dough and put it into the next week’s dough.”

Featured in: Grandma’s Lost Challah, Found

Ingredients

Sourdough Starter

  • 1package dry active yeast
  • 2cups warm water
  • 2cups all-purpose flour

Sponge

  • 1 ⅔cups bread flour
  • 1cup warm water
  • 4Tbsp sourdough starter, from recipe above

For the Rich Sourdough Barches

  • 5cups bread or all-purpose flour
  • 3 ¼tsp table salt
  • 5Tbsp sugar
  • 2tsp instant yeast
  • 4large eggs (3 for dough, 1 for glaze)
  • ⅓cup oil
  • 2Tbsp seeds (sesame, poppy, black nigella, or a combination) for sprinkling
Yield: Two loaves or 12-15 rolls

Preparation

Sourdough Starter

Challah

  • NOTE: Several days before you plan to bake the challah, start by making sourdough starter. Here’s a recipe for starter from Joy of Cooking:

  • Step 1

    Mix together in a nonmetallic bowl using a wooden spoon. Let stand lightly covered in a warm place for 4-7 days, stirring once a day. When it bubbles and emits a pleasantly sour smell, it’s ready to use. If it turns green or orange or blue, throw it out and start again.

  • Step 2

    To replenish, discard all but one cup of the starter and wash the crock well. Add the remaining cup of starter from your first batch to 1 cup all-purpose flour and 1 cup lukewarm water. Let stand overnight until fermented and bubbling and then use or refrigerate.

Sponge

Challah

  • Once your sourdough starter is ready, proceed with the rest of the recipe for Rich Sourdough Barches.

  • Step 1

    The evening before you plan to bake the challah, make the “sponge”. Combine flour water and starter in medium-sized bowl. Cover and leave in warm place until it doubles in bulk and is soft and bubbling on the surface, 8-12 hours. This is called the sponge.

To make the Rich Sourdough Barches

Challah

  • Step 1

    The following morning, mix the sponge with a wooden spoon, and then continue with the rest of the recipe.

  • Step 2

    Combine flour, salt, sugar, and instant yeast and blend for 1 minute. Combine sourdough sponge with vegetable oil and 3 of the eggs, beaten, and add to dry ingredients. Using a dough hook, knead at low setting for about 10 minutes until the dough forms a smooth glossy ball that leaves the sides of the bowl, or knead by hand on a well-floured work surface for 12-14 minutes.

  • Step 3

    Form dough into ball, put into greased bowl and cover with damp towel, and allow to rise until doubled in bulk, about 1 hour. Braid and then let the loaves relax for approximately 40 minutes. Brush with remaining egg, beaten, and sprinkle with seeds.

  • Step 4

    Bake in preheated oven at 350F until both sides are brown, approximately 35-40 minutes. (For rolls, bake 25-30 minutes.) Transfer to wire rack and let cool before cutting.

  • Adapted from Inside the Jewish Bakery: Recipes and Memories From the Golden Age of Jewish Baking