This pumpkin apple challah from Modern Jewish Cooking is an intriguing seasonal twist on classic challah. Honestly, I expected this bread would be a little too sweet, or a little too pumpkin-y, or off-balance with the pumpkin-apple combination. But incredibly, it suffers from none of those flaws.
Leah's bread strikes an excellent balance between savory and sweet. It would be equally at home on your breakfast table toasted and topped with honey and yogurt, served with a poached egg on top, toasted and topped with brie or shaved cheddar, or served for dinner alongside roasted Brussels sprouts and apple cider pork medallions.
I made a few modifications to the recipe, a few on purpose and one on accident. I used my favorite pumpkin pie spice from the Savory Spice Shop in place of the cinnamon and cardamom. I added 2 eggs to the dough and used only an egg yolk for the wash, because the ingredient list specified 2 eggs and didn't state they should be divided, so I just assumed they both went in the dough. Also, challah is traditionally a rich dough with multiple eggs, so it seemed like this dough ought to have more than just the one egg. Leah's original recipe calls for just ⅔ cup of apple butter total, but when I spread half that over one of my dough rectangles, it clearly wasn't enough - it barely covered half. So I doubled that amount too.
This recipe seems a little complicated, but it's actually pretty simple. There's not much active time involved, and you could easily do the kneading in a stand mixer or bread machine.
Since I used my bread machine to perform the kneading, I found the dough to be incredibly wet after the first rise. I found I needed to add quite a bit of flour, at least ¼ - ½ cup, to achieve a non-sticky, supple dough. This was really the only major issue I had with this recipe. Like some challah's I've had in the past, the crust was just a touch tougher than I would like. I'm certain there's a fix for that, but I'll have to do some investigating and more testing. In the meantime, I think this pumpkin apple challah is great enough to compensate for that minor flaw.
Not feeling the pumpkin-apple combination? I made this with 2 tablespoons of tahini mixed with 1 tablespoon of honey drizzled over the dough rectangle instead of the apple butter. That combination was pretty successful too.
Original source: Modern Jewish Cooking
Pumpkin-Apple Challah
Ingredients
- 1 ¼ ounce packet (2 ¼ teaspoons; 7 grams) active dry yeast
- ⅓ cup plus 1 teaspoon (70 g) sugar
- 1 cup warm water warmed to 110˚F
- 4 ½ cups (700 g) all-purpose flour plus another ¼-1/2 cup (35-70 g) for kneading/shaping
- ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon ground cardamom
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup pumpkin puree
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 1 ⅓ cups (400 g) apple butter or thick homemade applesauce
- 1 egg yolk
Instructions
- In a medium bowl, stir the yeast, 1 teaspoon of sugar, and the warm water together. Set aside until yeast begins foaming, about 5-10 minutes.
- In a large bowl, whisk the ⅓ cup sugar, flour, cinnamon, cardamom, and salt together.
- Add the pumpkin, vegetable oil, and 2 eggs to the activated yeast. Whisk to combine.
- Make a well in the center of the flour mixture, then pour in the liquid ingredients. Stir gently to form a loose, wet dough. Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface and knead, adding a little more flour as necessary to keep the dough from sticking, until a smooth and supple dough ball forms, about 8-12 minutes.
- Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough ball in the bowl, and turn to coat the dough. Cover with a clean dish towel or plastic wrap and place in a warm spot until almost doubled in size, 1 - 1 ½ hours.
- Line two 9-inch round cake pans with parchment paper circles. Lightly grease the parchment.
- Gently deflate the dough by lightly pressing the center. Turn the dough out onto a clean, lightly floured flat surface, then divide in half. Cover one piece with a dish towel.
- Working with the other piece, roll it out into a large rectangle to ⅛-inch thick (about 10-by-18-inches). Cover the surface of the rectangle with an even layer of ½ the apple butter (⅔ cup), going out to ½-inch from every edge.
- Starting along a long edge, tightly roll the dough into a spiral. Seal the ends by pinching them, then gently, carefully stretch the rolled-up dough out to 24-inches long. Starting at one end, coil the rope of dough into a spiral, tuck the end underneath, and place into a prepared pan. Repeat with the second piece of dough.
- Whisk the egg yolk in a small bowl. Brush the challah spirals with the egg yolk wash. Cover both spirals with lightly oiled plastic wrap and set aside to rise for 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375˚F. Put the leftover egg yolk wash in the refrigerator.
- After the 30 minute rise, apply a second coat of egg wash. Bake for 40-55 minutes, until the loaves are a deep golden brown and an instant-read thermometer reads 195˚F from the center of the loaf.
- Cool completely or serve warm. Challah is best fresh, but it can be stored for up to 3 days or sliced and frozen.
