Maple Glazed Challah Recipe

In the great tradition of Thanksgivingkuh, yeah, this really doesn’t happen and won’t happen for another 70,000 years, I decided to bake a maple challah recipe which morphed into challah rolls. Not that challah rolls have anything to do with Hanukkah, but challah is a traditional Jewish bread. I decided to give mine a Thanksgiving feel because everyone needs rolls for Thanksgiving.

After all, rolls are the only use for  maple butter in my mind and you can bet that maple butter is for sure on my table! I’m hoping I have some leftover for French toast or bread pudding, in which case this challah recipe works great for both!

And as a side note-my friends in Israel laughed at the thought of Thanksgivingkuh! “Only in America”, they said. Well, they are right. Only in America! I know these maple glazed challah rolls will be a hit. As I took them out of the oven two quickly disappeared behind Manservant’s back. If I’d had the maple butter already made, you can bet he would have eaten more.

This challah recipe is perfect for shaping into loaves  in case you don’t want rolls,  but I know these maple glazed beauties will be the perfect challah bun to hold hearty slices of our home smoked turkey. I have always preferred a somewhat sweet challah. The maple in this challah is used for sweetening, though this challah recipe does not have a strong flavor of maple. I added maple extract to give more of a maple taste.

Glazing the golden tops with maple syrup when they came out of the oven also adds maple flavor. Hence, when you bite in, you get the flavor of maple. If you let the syrup soak in, these are not sticky and they keep their gorgeous exterior without sticking together. I will not attempt to tell you how to form these. For that, go to the original source of the recipe-The Challah Blog.

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How do you pronounce challah?

Something else to know. Challah is not pronounced like “ch” as in chair. It is the soft “h” sound that is prevalent. If you speak Hebrew it is a gutteral h, with a deep breath as you utter the h. I don’t really care about the gutteral sound but pleased don’t pronounce the “ch” because I won’t know what you are talking about! I thought this video was kind of funny where they practice pronouncing challah!  If you want to read more about the traditions behind challah, please read my other post on challah bread.

TIPS ON MAKING CHALLAH BREAD:

1. Read the recipe. Really. So many mistakes are made by not becoming familiar with the recipe. Plan your timing and this challah recipe will reward you!
2. I always bake with unbleached flour but this challah recipe does require bread flour. If you can find unbleached, so much the better!
3. Make sure your yeast is fresh, otherwise your bread won’t rise. It should be bubbly. Test it with warmish to mildly hot water and a pinch of sugar.
4. I use my Kitchen-Aid to knead the dough. But of course, feel free to do it yourself. Kneading bread is very cathartic and usually only takes about 10 minutes. If you need to know how to knead (LOL) click  here.
5. Once you’ve baked bread a few times you will get the feel of it. By that I mean that sometimes bread needs more liquid. Sometimes more or less flour. You will understand that bread has feelings and you will get the knack of it. But honestly, it is hard to go wrong!
6. To test if bread has risen enough, place two fingers gently on top of your dough. If the indentation remains, then your bread has risen enough. If it pops right back, let it rise a bit more.
7. Often I’ve kept the dough over night in the fridge and let it rise again the next morning. As it comes to room temperature it will rise, but depending on the heat of your home, this may take awhile.
8. My other method involves preheating my oven to the lowest setting, turning it off after it is preheated, and then placing the bowl of dough covered in the oven to rise. Make sure to leave the oven door open if you try this.
9. Bread sounds hollow and looks golden when it is baked. There are those that test bread with a thermometer but I wouldn’t know what temperature to tell you it should be.
10. This challah recipe can be made in a large loaf pan. Divide into three sections. With your hands form a large strand. Twist it a few times and place it in your loaf pan. Let it rise and bake as per instructions. You can also bake this as two braided loaves directly on a baking sheet and they will probably take about 25-35 minutes.