Cheryl’s Sourdough Challah

This recipe is from Cheryl Hardesty Hunt of Carlsbad New Mexico.

Cheryl has been part of the Galiee Green family for over three years!

After we posted Valerie Walker’s “Seared Salmon with Summer Succotash”  on our FB page, Cheryl countered with a photo of her braided sourdough challahs ready to go into the oven!

We didn’t have a sourdough challah recipe on our Galilee Green Site yet, so we asked Cheryl to share it with us and here it is!

If you are a bit adventurous.. this is really worth trying!

Cheryl’s Sourdough Challah

(adapted from sourdoughhome.com)

Ingredients

Here is a picture of my sourdough challah loaves rising. They are made with GG Olive Oil!

• 1/4 cup Galilee Green olive oil (GGOO)
• 1 cup active sourdough starter at 100% hydration
• 1/2 cup water
• 3-2/3 cup White flour (all purpose or bread flour)
• 2 tsp salt
• 1/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg, lightly beaten
• 2 egg yolks, lightly beaten (when making 2 loaves, that’s a lot of eggs so sometimes I’ll just use another whole egg in place of the two egg yolks and it seems to work fine)
• Another egg for egg wash (if using yolks for the bread, I’ll save the whites for the egg wash)
• Sesame seeds optional

Directions:

1. Mix the starter, water, egg, sugar, oil, salt and 1/2 of the flour.
2. Then start adding flour a bit at a time til too thick to stir.
3. Pour dough out into lightly floured surface. Knead, adding flour a little at a time, until smooth and satiny, has lost most of its stickiness and is fairly firm. You probably won’t need to use all of the flour called for.
4. Cover and allow to rise until tripled in volume. This can take up to 10 hours so it would be a good idea to start on your challah on Thursday evening.
5. Punch down dough, knead briefly, cut into pieces and roll out into ropes to braid. Let rise til doubled in size, about half the time of the first rise.
6. Mix egg or egg whites with a tsp of olive oil and a tsp of water for egg wash. Gently brush onto loaves and sprinkle with seeds if desired.
7. Bake in a 350 F degree oven for 35 minutes, or until white lines between braids are gone.

Thank you so much for sharing your great recipe Cheryl!