- [Host] This episode is sponsored by Anova Culinary.
They take professional kitchen tools
and make them affordable and easy to use.
In particular, I love the Anova Precision Oven
for all of its features.
The Anova Precision Oven combines
controlled steam injection with convection cooking
and probe-based temperature monitoring,
So you can get the precise
temperature control of sous vide,
plus the browning of a convection oven
in one easy to use appliance.
It also makes for some incredible bread,
as you'll see in today's episode on Challah.
let's get down to basics.
(upbeat theme music)
All right, so Challah is a pretty easy,
enriched bread dough.
We're going to start by combining the dry ingredients,
500 grams of bread flour,
7 grams or 2 1/4 teaspoons of instant yeast
and 5 grams of kosher salt.
Tiny whisk until homogenous.
Then in a separate bowl, the wet stuff.
Two large eggs, plus one large egg yolk,
given that this is a very rich and eggy bread.
And it's also a pretty sweet bread,
coming from 80 grams of honey.
And it is also rather a fatty bread.
So we got to add some fat.
60 grams of neutral flavored oil, like vegetable or canola.
We're likewise tiny whisking
the wet ingredients until the homogenous
and then dumping them on top of the dry.
And now using a paddle or dough hook,
we're going to bring everybody together.
And at first you got to notice
that this is a really dry and crumbly mix.
And that's when you're going to realize
that you forgot to add the water.
125 grams of room temperature water, better late than never.
Now Challah requires high gluten development.
So it is ideal to knead it in a stand mixer,
but it can be needed by hand.
And just to prove it,
I'm going to do half this batch by hand.
Because I remember what life was like
before I had a stand mixer.
It's not as fun.
It's not as easy, but it is doable.
Kind of like going through life without socks.
So we're kneading for about six minutes in the stand mixer,
or depending upon your forearm strength,
genetics, and sheer force of will,
about 10 to 15 minutes by hand.
Either way we want it to pass the window pane test.
When you grab a little hunk of dough,
you want to be able to stretch it out
as thin as the laws of physics allow,
so that light can freely travel through it
like a little doughy window.
You also find that it's pliable, less sticky
and can be stretched into a taut, smooth ball.
So while the stand mixer dough is ready to proof
in an oiled, covered bowl for about 45 minutes
at room temperature, or until it's puffed up by about 50%,
depending on how warm your kitchen is.
The hand-kneaded ball still has a ways to go.
No matter how you knead it,
these guys are proofing in oiled, covered bowls
for about 45 minutes at room temperature,
or until they've puffed up just a little by about 50%.
Now onto the more challenging bit,
something I've never attempted before, the braid.
I'm using a scale and maths
to accurately divide my dough into six equal pieces.
Each of which I'm going to keep
under cover of plastic wrap to prevent them
from drying out while I work with each piece.
Once everybody's divided,
we're going to grab a piece of dough
and pat it out into a rectangle.
Just a few inches wide and tall
that we're then going to tightly roll into a log.
Very similar to the way that we'd shape a baguette
or most bread loaves.
Once sealed shut, we're going to start rolling it out
into a sort of torpedo about 14 inches wide.
Trying to keep it thick in the center
and tapered at the tips.
You can make your logs fatter in the center
if you want a more dramatically shaped-loaf.
However you roll it out,
you want to keep relative uniformity between all logs.
Rinse and repeat with the remaining five pieces.
Keep everybody under plastic wrap.
And now it's time to start braiding.
We going to start by arranging these dough logs
into a sort of doughy sunrise pattern,
sort of fanned out in front of you
with all the ends on one side touching
and three on each side from the center.
Now using the heel of your hand,
we're going to press all the dough together
and begin the braiding process,
which I'm sure somebody else
can explain more eloquently, but here's my shot.
We're going to start by taking the two strands
on the outside of the fan
and crossing them over each other
so that they're facing the opposite direction.
I'm going to call these the base strands.
Then with Kendall's guidance,
we're going to lay the first strand
down the center of the four remaining strands.
Then on the opposite side,
the second strand from the bottom
is crossing over the braid
to become the new base strand.
Now we're back to our two base strands
and four other strands fanned out above them.
Now the other base strand,
the opposite of the one that we used last time
is crossing over into the center.
The second strand from the bottom
crosses over to become the new base strand.
And we basically repeat this process until no dough remains.
If any of that made even a modicum of sense,
I consider this a major accomplishment.
We're pinching off all the tiny strands
and tucking the pinched end
underneath the bottom of the loaf.
There's a pinched loaf joke in there somewhere.
And there you have it, a braided loaf,
which we're going to place
on a parchment-lined baking sheet
and administer the first of two
thorough brushings with a beaten egg.
Challah has a deep, golden yellowy, eggy exterior.
So make sure you get every last nook and cranny.
Then we're covering loosely with some oiled plastic wrap
and letting proof at room temperature until doubled in size.
This is where the Anova Precision Oven can come in handy
because you see, it has a proofing setting,
where it perfectly recreates
a balmy afternoon in Florida in October,
about 82 degrees, 60% humidity,
the perfect conditions in which to proof your bread.
You can obviously still do this in your kitchen,
but it may take more time
depending on how cold your kitchen is.
Once doubled in size, we're administering
our second thorough egg washing of the day.
Once every crevice has been egged,
it's time to plop this guy
into a preheated 375 degree Fahrenheit oven,
preferably with convection for 18 to 20 minutes.
Rotating halfway through baking
until it's browned and burnished
and registers about 200 to 210 degrees Fahrenheit
at it's thickest point.
Then this guy's headed onto a rack
to cool completely, about four hours.
Or to cool slightly if you want to sink your teeth
into some fresh, warm, fluffy Challah.
Now, arguably one of Challah's
greatest uses is in a French toast,
for which we're going to need a bigger loaf.
Last batch of dough I used to make two smaller loaves.
So now I'm going to make one big loaf
out of one batch of the dough.
Which because of its greater mass,
is probably going to take a little bit longer to proof
and calls for a slightly, longer, cooler bake time,
350 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 to 30 minutes.
Which should yield a loaf appropriate
for French toast sized slices.
Once this guy's cooled completely,
because I forgot to film it with the other loaf,
we're going to take a look at that crumb.
It should be very soft,
but have a firm structure
with a couple of irregular bubbles,
but no big air pockets or gaps.
Now, while this obviously makes for good eating,
especially with some soft, salted butter,
to accelerate this guy into French toast,
we need to slice him up.
Big, thick, hearty slices that we're going to arrange
on a rack set in a rimmed baking sheet,
and either leave out overnight to stale
or dry out in a low temperature oven,
200 degrees Fahrenheit for about two hours.
We want to get rid of as much moisture as possible
to make more room for sweet, eggy custard to be soaked up.
My favorite formula is three quarters of a cup
each heavy cream and whole milk,
four large egg yolks for an extra bit of richness,
three tablespoons of dark brown sugar,
one teaspoon of vanilla extract
or two teaspoons of vanilla paste.
About a quarter teaspoon of freshly grated nutmeg,
always opt for freshly grated.
The zest of one small lemon,
than all the apple pie or pumpkin spice greatest hits.
Half teaspoon cinnamon, quarter teaspoon ground cardamom,
quarter teaspoon ground ginger,
and an eighth of a teaspoon ground cloves.
Good ahead and tiny whisk that until it's homogenous.
Add a big pinch of kosher salt
and plop in or pour over your dried-out slices of Challah,
which depending on how dry they are can now soak overnight.
So you got French toast ready to go in the morning.
Now this talk of apple pie spice gave me an idea,
why don't we make some apple pie stuffed French toast?
We're starting by peeling and thinly slicing
two large Granny Smith apples.
Bring them on over to the stove top,
where we're going to saute them
in two tablespoons of butter,
along with a quarter cup of brown sugar
and a little pinch of cinnamon.
Sauteing for 5, 10 minutes until they're nice and brown,
soft and have made their own sauce.
Don't forget to season with a little bit of kosher salt.
And if you have any of the apple cider concentrate
leftover from making apple cider donuts,
now's a great time to use it.
Totally optional, but it helps make the apples
taste like they went to apple school
to learn just how great of an apple they could be.
Next step, instead of the traditional maple syrup,
we're going to make ourselves a creme anglaise
to sort of emulate the ice cream aspect of apple pie.
Into a big old heatproof bowl goes two large egg yolks,
a quarter cup of sugar, one teaspoon vanilla extract,
or one tablespoon of vanilla paste
and optionally all those apple pie spices
we put in the French toast custard.
Go ahead and whisk that together until it's nice and smooth.
And then over on the stove top in a small saucepan,
we're combining a third cup each
heavy cream and a whole milk,
heating over medium low flame
until it's just starting to simmer.
Taking it off the heat and slowly streaming it
into the egg and sugar mixture,
while whisking constantly to slowly temper the eggs
and make sure that they don't scramble.
Once everybody's combined,
we're going to add the mixture back to the pot,
clean up the horrible, horrible mess we've made.
Head back on over the stove top
and place this over low heat, whisking constantly
until it reaches about 185 degrees Fahrenheit.
Or it has reached the state of nappe,
where it richly and glossy coats the back of a spoon
and leaves the clean trail when wiped with a finger
and has the texture and flavor of melted ice cream,
because that's what it effectively is.
It's pre-ice cream.
Cover tightly and refrigerate or serve at room temperature
because now it's time to fry our French toast.
Which we're going to do on a cast iron griddle
with a whole bunch of butter
until it's nice and lightly brown on both sides.
Then when it's served, we're gonna make
a sort of French toast sandwich
with our apples in the middle,
top it up with another slice, the requisite pat of butter.
Then don't forget strain your creme anglaise
through a fine mesh sieve before serving
to catch any errant bits of accidentally coagulated egg.
Drizzle over top and serve.
Now while this recipe is not the most
traditional French toast in the world,
there's no denying that Challah
gives brioche a run for its money
as best French toast base.
It's rich, it's got a great texture, it's very pretty,
and it's very easy to make.
especially with the help of today's sponsor, to wit.
Thanks again to Anova Culinary
for sponsoring today's episode.
I used the oven's steam injection and convection fan
to help create the perfect loaf of Challah.
It works just like a professional bread oven
that uses steam to start the baking process
and encourage a perfect rise,
along with dry heat to finish and develop a crust.
The oven has a ton of other innovations,
the wet and dry bulb thermometers
measure, not only the air temperature of the oven,
but also the surface temperature of the food
ensuring you don't over cook anything
and get perfect results every time.
And cooking in sous vide mode gives you
the edge-to-edge done-ness you get
with traditional sous vide, but without a bag.
The Anova Precision Oven also has an app
with recipes, including this one,
that can program the cooking times for you.
For more information, and to get one for yourself,
head to the link in the video description.
(upbeat music)