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This challah can be made in just a few hours from start to finish. It has a lighter flavor than the version with the poolish, but it still tastes like a great challah. It can be baked in the round or in a loaf pan. Expandex is a big helper in this recipe, getting the bread to stretch easily, but if you are not using it, please add extra xanthan gum as indicated in the recipe. Traditionally, a round challah is served to celebrate the Jewish New Year, representing the circle of life and the ending of one year and the beginning of another. The baked bread has a great crumb. The loaf makes excellent sandwich bread and leftovers can be used for Challah Corn Bread Stuffing.
2 and 1/3 cups (300 grams) Nosh AP GF flour (see note)
7 tablespoons (60 grams) superfine sweet white rice flour
5 tablespoons (50 grams) tapioca starch
5 tablespoons (50 grams) Expandex Modified Tapioca Starch or additional tapioca starch
4 tablespoons or 1/4 cup (50 grams) sugar
2 tablespoons (20 grams) instant yeast, Red Star preferred
2 teaspoons (2 and 1/2 teaspoons if not using Expandex) xanthan gum
2 and 1/2 teaspoons Manischewitz Kosher Salt
1/4 teaspoon pectin
1/4 teaspoon guar gum
4 extra-large eggs (240 grams)
3 extra-large egg yolks (75 grams)
2 tablespoons (40 grams) honey or Lyle’s Golden Syrup
1/3 cup (75 grams) Gefen Canola Oil
1/2 cup plus 2 optional tablespoons (110 to 140 grams) sparkling mineral water, Pellegrino preferred
Glicks Nonstick Spray, for greasing
1 extra-large (60 grams) egg, for brushing
2 tablespoons poppy or white sesame seeds
In a large bowl, combine both flours and the tapioca starch, Expandex, sugar, yeast, xanthan gum, salt, pectin, and guar gum and whisk. In a medium bowl, whisk four of the eggs, the egg yolks, and the honey and canola oil.
Add 110 grams (1/2 cup) of the sparkling mineral water to the dry mixture. Add the egg mixture to the dry mixture. Using a fork, work the flour mixture into the wet mixture until it is thoroughly combined. If the dough looks very sticky and tough, work in up to 30 grams (two tablespoons) of additional sparkling water.
Grease a tube pan or an eight- and- a- half-inch by four- and- a- half-inch loaf pan with nonstick spray. Place the dough all around the bottom of the pan, using a silicone spatula. Wet the spatula with water and smooth the dough. Cover loosely with greased plastic wrap and let the dough rise in a draft-free area until doubled in size, but not higher than the top of the pan, one and a half to two hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Beat the remaining egg and brush it gently over the top of the bread. Sprinkle the top with the seeds. Bake for 15 minute and rotate the pan for even baking. Bake for another 17 to 20 minutes and remove when the internal temperature is 185 degrees to 190 degrees Fahrenheit on an instant-read digital thermometer and the top is pale golden brown. Don’t overbake the bread or it will be a little tough. Let cool in the pan for a couple of minutes and then transfer the bread to a rack to cool completely.
Recipe from Nosh on This: Gluten-Free Baking from a Jewish-American Kitchen, copyright © Lisa Stander-Horel, 2013. Reprinted by permission of the publisher, The Experiment. Available wherever books are sold. theexperimentpublishing.com
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What can I use instead of Pectin and instead of Guar Gum?