100-Calorie No-Fail Whole-Wheat Challah

100-Calorie No-Fail Whole-Wheat Challah

4.3 of 5 (25)
member ratings
Nutritional Info
  • Servings Per Recipe: 24
  • Amount Per Serving
  • Calories: 104.9
  • Total Fat: 3.3 g
  • Cholesterol: 27.1 mg
  • Sodium: 107.6 mg
  • Total Carbs: 16.4 g
  • Dietary Fiber: 1.5 g
  • Protein: 3.1 g

View full nutritional breakdown of 100-Calorie No-Fail Whole-Wheat Challah calories by ingredient


Introduction

Challah is certainly not the lightest of bread, but this portion-controlled version can fit with your diet. I make this at least once a month, and I've never managed to mess up this recipe! Challah is certainly not the lightest of bread, but this portion-controlled version can fit with your diet. I make this at least once a month, and I've never managed to mess up this recipe!
Number of Servings: 24

Ingredients

    2 tsp instant yeast
    1/4 cup all-purpose flour
    1/4 cup warm water
    3 large eggs, plus 1 for glazing
    1 tsp table salt
    1/4 cup vegetable oil
    1/4 cup honey
    1 1/4 cups white flour
    2 cups whole wheat flour
    Sesame or poppy seeds

Directions

1. In a large bowl, whisk yeast, 1/4 cup white flour, and warm water. Let it stand uncovered 10-20 minutes, until begins to puff up slightly. (A good rule of thumb is to wait until bubbles burst on the surface.)

2. Whisk 3 eggs, salt, oil and honey into the yeast mixture. With wooden spoon, stir in remaining 1 1/4 cups of the white flour and 2 cups of the whole wheat flour. (Add all the flour at once.) When you can't mix with spoon any more, knead by hand in the bowl for no more than 5 minutes. Should be very firm dough.

3. In same bowl, let rise for 2 hours (or refrigerate for up to 24 hours, then let rise). Rise until doubled in bulk (approx. 2 hours in warm kitchen). Tip: you can speed up the process by microwaving hot water for five minutes, then placing the bowl of dough in the warm, moist microwave!

3. If you want individual challahs, separate into 24 pieces. (I divide into thirds, then divide each third into half, then divide each sixth into half, then divide each twelfth into half. Alternately, I weigh all the dough and divide by 24 to figure out how big each piece should be-- about 35 grams, or a rounded tablespoon.) Shape each piece into a snake and loosely knot each snake, pressing the two loose ends together. You could also separate into three loaves, braid each one, and cut into 8 pieces each when you serve. Let rise on a parchment-paper lined cookie sheet or in individual oiled muffin tins until doubled in size, another two hours.

Baking: brush the loaves with egg wash from final egg-- you'll only need half the egg. Sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds-- sesame shows up better against whole wheat loaves. Bake for about 20 minutes, until lightly browned.

Each of the 24 loaves is one serving. Uneaten loaves can be frozen in a sealed bag for up to three months.

Note: I adapted this from a recipe from Maggie Glezer's A Blessing of Bread, reprinted here: http://www.epicurious.com/recipes/food/views/My-Challah-235867 I tweaked the preparation method, reduced the sodium, replaced most of the white flour with whole wheat, and figured out how to portion this challah so that it's just 100 calories each personal portion.

ALSO-- next time I make this recipe, I'm going to cut the oil and honey down to 2 Tablespoons each and add 1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce. If you try this before I do, let me know how it was, and I'll change the recipe! This adaptation would be 92 calories per individual challah.

Member Ratings For This Recipe


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    Incredible!
    7 of 7 people found this review helpful
    I used the applesauce variation and it was great! - 11/20/10


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    Incredible!
    5 of 5 people found this review helpful
    Good fresh, but doesn't really freeze well - 1/26/10

    Reply from YIYEHTOV (1/26/10)
    It defrosts well if you place it in the microwave on LOW for about 15 seconds. Add a few seconds if that's not enough. I love having one of these rolls anytime I eat soup!



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    Bad
    2 of 3 people found this review helpful
    Way too much trouble! - 12/15/18


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    2 of 2 people found this review helpful
    The name says "whole wheat", but if1/2 of the flour is all purpose, white flour, then how you can classify it as whole wheat?? Can you suse 100% whole wheat flour? The whole wheat flour you buy at the store is horrible. I grind 100% hard white winter wheat to make nice, "white" whole wheat flour. - 12/27/14

    Reply from YIYEHTOV (8/16/17)
    I've made it with 100% whole wheat too. It works well either way!



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    O.K.
    1 of 1 people found this review helpful
    It was okay, but not really whole wheat - 12/15/17