Orange Challa Bread

Every year at Easter time I try to recreate the orange bread of my childhood. Thick, chewy, perfumed by the last citrus of winter, it’s an ethereal memory that so often eludes me.  In a perfect world, your mouth starts watering when the bread still has twenty minutes of baking to go because the entire block smells like oranges and dreams come true. Finally. FINALLY! I got the recipe right this year.

The stars aligned, the bread was fantastic, and everyone happily devoured the sweet, orange bread with the perfect sugary gloss on top.

This is a modified version of the recipe published by West Of The Loop in 2017.  I swap oil for Greek yogurt (plain – the vanilla one sours during cooking), and the regular salt for specialty salts I had on hand. If you do not have specialty salts available there’s a recipe below for how to make your own. I also mixed the bread by hand, but a stand mixer will get the same results. Personally, I recommend *not* heating the orange juice the way the original recipe did. I only heat the water and added the juice cold. This will lead to a slightly longer rise time, but the challa can be made a day ahead and warmed in the oven before serving.

2 1/4 tsp. instant yeast
4 cups bread flour
3/4 cup orange juice from tangerines or blood oranges
1/3 cup water heated until almost too warm to touch
3 eggs, at room temperature
1/4 plain Greek Yogurt (full fat)
3 TB sugar (plus ¾ cup for dusting)
1 TB orange zest
1 tsp cardamom
½ tsp cardamom-orange zest salt
½ tsp vanilla salt
1 tsp vanilla

1 egg
1 tbsp water

Instructions

• In large bowl mix flour, sugar, half of the yeast, salt and orange zest.
• Heat water, add a pinch of sugar and remaining yest.
• Cut yogurt into flour.
• Make a bowl in center of flour, pour active yeast water in, dust top and let sit for ten minutes.
• Stir in orange juice and eggs
• Knead (7-14 minutes) until a smooth dough forms, adding flour as needed. The dough should be a little sticky but not cling to the bowl.
• Place the dough in a bowl that has been oiled on all sides. Cover the dough with a clean cloth and allow it to rise in a warm place for two hours (for a cooler room 3-4 hours may be needed) or until doubled in size.
• Punch down risen dough and divide into four equal parts.
• Roll each piece into a thin strand. Pinch the strands together at the top and then weave them as follows: take the strand on the left and weave it over the next strand, under the third strand and over the fourth strand. Repeat with the strand that is now the left following the same over-under-over pattern. Repeat until you reach the ends of the dough.
• Take the ends and pinch them closed and tuck the under the loaf.
• Carefully transfer the braided loaf to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
• Cover the loaf with a clean tea towel and allow to rise for an additional 30 minutes to one hour, until doubled in size.
• Preheat the oven to 350.
• Beat the remaining egg with a tablespoon of water in a small bowl. Brush the egg wash on the challah, making sure to get in the crevices of the braids.
• Sprinkle with sugar
• Bake 35-40 minutes until golden brown.
• In the last 5 minutes pull the bread out, brush again with egg wash and dust with sugar.
• Allow to cool on a wire rack prior to cutting.
• If you cool overnight, re-warm the bread in 200F oven by dusting again with sugar, and placing the loaf in the oven until fully warmed (10-20 minutes).

Specialty Sweet Salt Recipe:

This is the very generic recipe for making any kind of flavored salt. Mix different add-ins in, grind, and store in an airtight container (like a small canning jar).

1/2 cup sea salt (not iodized)
vanilla bean
1 cardamom pod or 1/8 tsp cardamom (this is a very strong spice and you don’t need much)
freshly zested orange rind from a washed orange/tangerine/whatever citrus you are using in the bread

• Split vanilla bean and scrape out insides into small mortar and pestle.
• Open cardamom pod and dump contents into vanilla bean
• Add salt
• Add orange zest
• Grind together until salt is finely ground and well mixed
• Store salt with vanilla bean in airtight container.
• Use as needed to season breads, cakes, cookies, chocolates, ect.