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no time to bake - how to divide time in recipe over a day

Hello, I bake Challa once a week but suddenly have almost no time on my hands so I wondering how I can divide up the recipe into stages so I can do it over a few days perhaps. IT takes me say 20 minutes to mix the ingredients and then 2 hours letting the dough rise and punching it down every 20 minutes or so (can this step be left out?), I then shape the challas and let them rise for around an hour followed by baking.

How important is the punching part? If I didnt' do that I could leave for the 2 hours and come back afterwards. Can I freeze the dough after the 2 hour rise. How would I procede to defrost and continue? Would it be better to shape the challas first and then freeze?

How much flexibility do I have with this recipe?

Thanks all.

Reply to
moshe0613
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Since I haven't actually seen your recipe, it's hard to say. I've also never seen a Challa recipe, only Challah recipes.

However, I make a sourdough Challah and the process is something like this:

Refresh the starter Mix the dough Let the dough rise for about 2 to 4 hours (this could be retarded by putting the dough in the fridge for up to a day, after the dough was out for an hour or so) Scale the dough. Roll the dough into strands. Braid the strands. Wash with an egg wash. Let the dough rise for 1 to 2 hours (this can also be retarded by putting the dough into the fridge for up to 24 hours after the dough has been out for an hour or so) When the dough is risen, brush with an egg wash again, sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds and bake.

It is not necessary to punch dough down. Ever. Simply folding it or kneading it has the same effect, but punching it down tends to damage the gluten structure.

If you have to punch it down every 20 minutes, I suspect you used too much yeast. WAY too much yeast.

Hope that helps, Mike

Reply to
Mike Avery

Hi,

I can't tell you exactly, as I don't have your specific recipe, but I bake a lot of challah. My family loves it, and I also bake for friends. My specific recipe calls for the dough to rise for an hour after it is mixed. Once the dough has risen, I then make it into loaves and let it rise for another hour. When it has risen a second time, I remove the loaves, brush them with egg wash and bake for 25 minutes in a 350 degree oven. I do have to handle the dough after the first time, but don't necessarily "punch it down". There are many challah recipes of course, so many ways to bake them.

In one of the cookbooks I use, there is the choice to mix the dough and let it rise in the refrigerator over night. I don't usually do that, but if time is really short, that could spread the work out for you into a two day process. Also, bread freezes really well, so I often will bake a double or triple batch and then freeze the leftover loaves to use the following week. As long as the bread is totally cooled and wrapped well before freezing, it should keep fine in the freezer.

H> Hello,

Reply to
claire

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