Overnight Challah — Betsy Bakes (2024)

FAQs

Is it okay to let challah rise overnight? ›

Allow the dough to rest and rise for 8–10 hours—overnight is perfect! Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface.

Dough can stay in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

Oil: Vegetable oil, generally used in making challah, is fine—and produces neutral-tasting bread. I prefer olive oil and love the slightly herbal note it imparts to my bread. If using raisins: Make sure the raisins are plump and not desiccated, if using.

It is possible to leave bread dough to rise overnight. This needs to be done in the refrigerator to prevent over-fermentation and doughs with an overnight rise will often have a stronger more yeasty flavour which some people prefer. The longer you let enzymes make sugars, the tastier the dough will be.

During the rising process the gluten in the dough is working as well as the yeast; insufficient time alloted disrupts their baking qualities. Overrising the first rise, which is when the dough is still just a dough, can occur.

On the eve of Shabbat, two loaves are placed on the table to reference the Jewish teaching that a double portion of manna fell from heaven on Friday to last through the Saturday Shabbat.

Challah also plays an important role on certain Jewish holidays like Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. Challah is not eaten at Passover because it's a leavened bread (which is why we didn't sell it at Easter this year).

Challah bread has a Biblical history from the time of Moses in Exodus 16, where God instructed Moses to set aside a portion of each loaf and use it as an offering to local Jewish priests. Today this tradition is still upheld where a piece of bread is burnt inside the oven before the other bread is baked.

Canola oil is the most popular baking oil as it's stable at high temperatures, is cost-effective and has a very natural flavour.

Jewish bakeries use oil so the challah can be eaten with a dairy or meat meal, but we use butter because it tastes so much better. To make a traditional loaf, you can substitute a neutral vegetable oil like canola, corn or sunflower oil.

What happens if you add olive oil to bread dough? ›

Does olive oil make dough softer? Yes - adding olive oil to sourdough bread will result in a softer crust and crumb. The oil as a lipid coats the flour and inhibits the gluten network resulting in a softer, tighter crumb and softer crust. This can be a desirable outcome if you do not like tough, chewy sourdough crusts.

The benefits of the overnight rise go beyond flexibility. Long, slow fermentation in a cold environment leads to better, more nuanced flavor development in your bread. So you can save time and add flavor, all in one go.

It helps to keep the dough at room temperature for the first few hours so that the yeast has time to work before you cool it down. I tend to let my sourdough rise for the first time at room temperature, shape it, leave it at room temperature for about an hour and then pop in the fridge overnight.

Yes , you can refrigerate bread dough after the first rise and bake it later . This is called retarding the dough and it can actually improve the flavor and texture of the bread . The cold temperature slows down the fermentation process , allowing the flavors to develop more fully .

We keep them in the oven (the oven is off) and it doesn't dry out nor does it become all soggy. Almost as fresh as just baked.