LittleNYCKitchen

As someone who in 27 years of life has never been described as patient, I find it hilarious my first ‘official’ blog post is about my 7-hour long experience of baking challah. I rarely bake. Of the 27 cookbooks I have in my apartment (wow, who knew I had that many?), not a single one is focused solely on baking. 

I’m staying in my NYC apartment this holiday season, but I found myself wanting to have the typical ‘zone out’ time that I would have if I were traveling to my childhood home in Michigan. We all know that time…wearing the same pajama pants and high school sweatshirt for 2 (or 3) days straight, not going outside unless you count going to the freezer in the garage ‘outside’…yep, that is the kind of chill time I was aiming for. 

But, when I woke up Thursday morning, my type A personality was getting loud: ‘Let’s cross something off the list today!’, ‘Let’s accomplish something!’. Ugh, the other side of my brain was looking outside, seeing the gloomy weather and saying, ‘Nope, we’re going to watch Law and Order: SVU all day today’. Was there a way I could have the best of both worlds? That answer was yes, bake challah. 

I was up pretty early so I had a bit of time to research before getting started (almost always my ‘research’ consists of reading the NYT Cooking comments sections or looking on instagram for plating inspiration), but this seemed more serious! I, who had never baked a loaf in my life, was about to create, as Claire Saffiz says ‘the biggest thing out of the least amount of ingredients’…or something like that. I watched the full 38 minute ‘Claire Saffitz Makes Perfect Challah and Babka | Try This at Home | NYT Cooking’. My eyes widened at 16:45 when she started the six-stranded braid, but I was committed! 

I ran over to Whole Foods to buy bread flour and Dunkin to grab a large iced coffee. Once back home, I was ready to begin step 1…which was incredibly underwhelming! ‘Mix yeast with water and bread flour and rest for 1.5 hours’ LOL, I guess it was time to wrap my christmas presents, water my plants and put away my laundry. 

Then, things got a little more exciting (and strenuous)! I laughed out loud thinking about how 2 hours earlier I thought kneading the dough would be a breeze. WRONG. Is anyone selling a gently used KitchenAid with a dough hook?? 

After my (very serious) 20-min workout, it was PROOF TIME (read: Best of Benson and Stabler marathon). Because I live in a NYC apartment building built in 1920, the temperature of the apartment is completely dependent on the super’s mood (JK just sometimes the radiator doesn’t kick on until later in the day) so I decided to do the proofing in a cold oven with a shallow baking dish filled with boiling water below my bread bowl – a trick I learned during my additional research that morning. 

After the first round of proofing came (yikes!) the braiding! When I braid my own or someone else’s hair it usually looks like a 6-year old could do a better job so this was definitely the defining moment of the day. Thankfully, Claire (I guess we’re on a first name basis LOL) structures her videos in a way that is so clear and informative and probably made for people like me who have no idea what they are doing. Comparing my dough to hers, mine was not as smooth and little pieces kept separating as I rolled out the strands, but overall the process worked and I completed a six-stranded braid! 

I spent the next 2 hours (yes, more proofing) debating poppy seeds, sesame seeds, Everything Bagel Seasoning…which would I choose for the topping? I wasn’t planning on eating this bread with anything besides butter and salt, so settled on Everything Bagel Seasoning. Thankfully, it warmed up in my apartment and I was able to keep a close eye on (i.e. stare) at the braided loaf which sat next to me and the radiator on the coffee table. Speaking of radiators, did anyone else know that THESE once existed? I imagine this was the single bonus of living in NYC the Victorian era! 

At 3:30PM (yes, a little over 6 hours after I made the pre-ferment) it was finally time for the show to begin! I preheated the oven, coated the loaf with another layer of egg wash and sprinkled on the seasoning. The recommended baking time was 35-40 minutes and at the 20 minute mark I flipped the sheet pan around (the back of my oven is HOT) and at the 35 minute mark took her out of the oven to rest. 

Since I had plans Thursday evening and I really wanted to share and enjoy the bread, I wrapped it in saran wrap to preserve until early the next morning. If you know my family you know they are ~extra~ so I was not surprised when I got to their apartment Friday morning and saw a cute little cutting board/plate/salt/butter setup on the counter! Although a bit denser than I was hoping for, I was still pretty happy with (and proud of!) the final product. A ‘do nothing day’ well spent!