🍋🌿 "וְשָׂמַחְתָּ בְּחַגְּךָ וְהָיִיתָ אַךְ שָׂמַח"🍋🌿
Allegra Benitah shares with us the full recipe of this stunning Lulav & Etrog Challahs! She made them with her children! 😍 These Challahs will not only put you in the holiday mood but also serve as a wonderful activity to do with the kids!
Ingredients-
For the challah dough:
1 kilo of all-purpose flour (approx.)
1½ cups of lukewarm water
1 portion of fresh yeast (approx. 40g, otherwise 1 tablespoon of active dried yeast)
4 tablespoons of baking sugar (plus one more teaspoon to mix in with the yeast)
1 teaspoon of green gel food colouring
1 teaspoon of yellow gel food colouring
2 eggs (plus one more egg white for the egg wash)
1 tablespoon of salt
¼ cup of sunflower oil
Rolling pin
Method
Pour the water into a bowl, add the extra teaspoon of sugar and dissolve the yeast into the water. Once bubbles start to appear on the surface of the water, pour in about a third of the flour, followed by the two eggs, the rest of the sugar, the salt and the sunflower oil. Get your hands into the dough and combine the mixture, adding flour little by little as you go, until you get a big ball of dough which doesn’t stick to your hands (you might not need all the flour – just see what your dough needs). Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour and knead the dough for 5-10 minutes, adding a bit of flour if it gets too sticky again. Divide the dough into 2 pieces and add the green food colouring to one piece and the yellow food colouring to the other piece. Massage the colour into the dough until there is an even colour distribution. Place the doughs in two lightly oiled bowls covered in cling film to rise for about an hour and a half or until they have doubled in size.
Once risen, knock back the dough (to take the air out) and then roll them out on a floured surface with a rolling pin so they become thin, long and flat rectangles. Using a sharp knife, cut the green and yellow dough into long strips of equal width and braid three at a time. Shape the braids into a Lulav and Etrog shape as shown in the photos and add decorations. Cover and leave your shaped challah to rise again for 30 minutes under a clean cloth or cling film. Egg wash your challah using egg white as this ensures that the finish on the challah is not too dark. Bake the challah for 25-30 minutes at 180 degrees C / 350 degrees F at the bottom of the oven.
Happy Sukkot and Chag Sameach to you all from the Jews of NY family