Challah is the bread of Ashkenazi Jews that is prepared for Jewish holidays, but this delicious sweet bread has long since made its home in kitchens worldwide and is used every day.
The twisted appearance of the challah alone enriches the table.
Kubaneh, vanocka, brioche, mouna, tsoureki, Romanian colac, and Portuguese sweet bread are similar in sweet taste.
Therefore, some of them are also implicated, and some are not.
As the best substitutes for challah, we suggest these few delicious substitutions.
Kubaneh Bread
Kubaneh bread is a centuries-old tradition of the Jewish community in Yemen, which has lived in that area for thousands of years.
In the last century, this community moved en masse to Israel, and the fame of kubaneh bread spread all over the planet.
In Yemen, during ordinary days, Jews made kubaneh bread from cornmeal or sorghum flour. Kubaneh bread was made from wheat flour only on Saturdays and holidays.
Traditionally, kubaneh bread was baked for a long time, usually overnight, in a well-greased, sealed container at a low temperature.
Today, this bread is baked like all other bread.
INGREDIENTS:
For bread
450 grams of wheat flour
225 grams of water
15 grams of salt
45 grams of fresh yeast
30 grams of butter
90 grams of sugar
One egg
For greasing the baking tray and shaping the buns
226 grams of butter
For coating kubaneh bread before baking
One egg
PREPARATION:
Pour flour, water, yeast, salt, egg, and sugar into a bowl. Mix with a hook mixer on the lowest speed until the mixture is combined, then add the butter and increase the speed of the mixer.
Cover the bowl with foil when the dough becomes elastic and let it rest for 20 minutes.
Remove the dough from the bowl and cut it into sixteen equal pieces. Grease your palms with butter.
Roll out each piece of dough into a thin surface, then roll it into a rolling pin. In the end, spirally twist each roll into a snail shape. Arrange sixteen spirals in a greased round baking dish.
Cover the bowl with foil and let it rest for an hour. In that amount of time, they should double in size.
Preheat oven to 3500F (1800C). Beat the egg with a bit of water and brush the kubaneh bread before baking. Bake for about 30 minutes or until the kubaneh bread is golden brown.
Vanocka Bread
This twisted bread is a festive Christmas bread in Czech and Slovakia. According to some sources, the first written record of vanocka bread is from 1400.
Interestingly, in the sixteenth century, only a baker with a special guild permit could make vanocka.
Its texture is similar to brioche, but the taste and smell are completely different due to the aromatic ingredients used to prepare the dough for vanocka bread, just as the taste and aromas of modern vanocka bread are different from those that this bread had for Christmas celebrations in 1400.
INGREDIENTS:
For bread
312 ml of lukewarm milk
150 grams of sugar
45 grams of fresh yeast
500 grams of wheat flour
10 grams of salt
lemon
Two eggs
113 grams of butter
50 grams of raisins soaked in rum and drained before use
For coating and sprinkling vanocka bread before baking
One egg
50 grams of chopped almonds
For sprinkling bread after baking
Powdered sugar
PREPARATION:
Mix the yeast, a little sugar, and part of the milk in a small bowl. Allow ten minutes for the yeast to start foaming.
Pour the flour, the rest of the sugar, and salt into a large bowl. Mix to combine, then add the grated lemon peel, two egg yolks, and the rest of the milk and butter. If the yeast is foamy, add it too. In the end, add the drained raisins.
Knead the dough well with your hands to activate the gluten. This is important because in this way bubbles are created which will give the bread an airy structure.
If the dough is sticky, add a bit more flour, but be careful not to overdo it because the dough could be hard if too much flour is added.
Leave in a warm place for 2 hours to rise.
Vanocka bread can be braided like challah. The dough should be divided into eight equal parts. The bottom part is twisted from four parts, the middle part from three, and the top is two twisted parts.
Arrange the braids one on top of the other in a well-greased baking dish, cover them and let them rest for one hour.
Preheat oven to 3500F (1800C). Beat the egg yolks, coat the vanocka bread, and sprinkle it with almonds.
Bake for 50 minutes or until the vanocka bread is golden brown. When the bread is baked, you can sprinkle it with powdered sugar if that suits you.
Brioche Bread
In France, brioche is classified as a pastry that is similar to bread but is sweeter and richer in flavor due to the ingredients added to it.
Brioche is an airy, golden brown bridge between bread and pastry.
In Provence, it is customary to make brioche around Epiphany.
It is considered an excellent substitute for challah bread.
INGREDIENTS:
For bread
450 grams of wheat flour
50 grams of sugar
12 grams of salt
7 grams of dried active yeast
100 ml of lukewarm milk
Four eggs
190 grams of butter
For coating before baking
One egg
PREPARATION:
Place flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a bowl and stir to combine. Add lukewarm milk and mix with a mixer at the lowest speed until combined, then add the eggs and mix for another ten minutes.
Cut the butter into pieces and add one or two at a time, only some at a time. After ten minutes, the dough should already be soft. Cover the bowl with the dough and let it rise for two hours.
When the dough has doubled, transfer it to the refrigerator for another hour of rest.
Divide the dough into seven equal parts. If you want to be precise, you can also measure them. Finally, form the cut pieces into balls.
Line a loaf tin with baking parchment. First, arrange the four balls on one side of the mold and then the other three on the other, so they are in the spaces between the balls already in the mold.
Next, cover the tin and leave it to rest for 40 minutes until doubled in size. The oven should be preheated to 3500F (1800C).
Beat the egg and coat the unbaked brioche bread. Bake for 40 minutes or until the crust is golden brown.
Before removing the bread from the mold, it should be left to cool a little at room temperature, and after about twenty minutes, remove it.
Mouna Bread
Mouna bread is a sweet bread that tastes very similar to challah, kubaneh, and brioche. Sephardic Jews from Algeria prepare it for the holidays.
In France, especially on the south coast, it is so popular that the name Easter brioche has been adopted for mouna bread.
INGREDIENTS:
For bread
500 grams of wheat flour
180 ml of lukewarm milk
95 grams of butter
150 grams of sugar
17 grams of instant yeast
Three eggs
10 grams of salt
lemon
orange
For coating before baking
One egg
PREPARATION:
Mix the yeast and a little sugar, then pour it into the lukewarm milk.
Mix sugar and grated lemon, and orange zest in a bowl. First, add the flour and salt, then the juice of one squeezed orange. Mix well.
Add the eggs one at a time and mix until everything is well combined. Next, add butter and then milk with yeast and sugar.
Knead the dough, and add a bit of flour if it is too sticky. Cover the dough and leave it in a warm place for three hours.
Knead the dough again until it is entirely soft. Make a ball. Cut lines on the top side with a knife. Beat the egg yolks and coat them.
Let it stand for one hour.
Bake for 40 minutes at 3200F (1600C).
Hefezopf Bread
Hefezopf is a sweet bread traditionally made in Switzerland, Austria, and Germany.
Hefekranz has the same taste as hefezopf, and they are also similar in that both are twisted.
However, they differ because the Hefekranz braid is twisted in a circle.
INGREDIENTS:
For bread
500 grams of flour
75 grams of butter
50 grams of sugar
20 grams of yeast
250 ml of lukewarm milk
10 grams of salt
One egg
lemon
For coating before baking
One egg
PREPARATION:
Mix the yeast and sugar, then add the milk and mix. Add one egg, butter, salt, and grated lemon peel. Mix with a mixer. Add the flour and mix for about five minutes.
If the dough does not separate from the sides of the bowl, add a little more flour until it stops being sticky. Cover and leave at room temperature for two hours.
Divide the dough into three equal parts, which should be shaped into rolls 30 centimeters long. Connect the ends and braid.
Put baking paper in the baking dish and transfer the dough. Let it stand for another half hour.
Brush the dough with beaten egg yolk, sugar, and salt.
Bake for 40 minutes at 3200F (1600C).
Tsoureki Bread
Tsoureki is a sweet bread made from flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and milk.
The unique aroma of this bread is obtained by adding orange peel, mastic, and mahlep.
Mahlep is a spice obtained from ground cherry seeds, and mastic is an alcoholic drink.
INGREDIENTS:
For bread
50 grams of fresh yeast
120 grams of water
1 kilogram of flour (150 grams of flour + 850 grams of flour)
200 grams of butter (100 grams of butter + 100 grams of butter)
200 grams of milk
orange
14 grams of mahlep
300 grams of sugar
3 grams of mastic
vanilla extract
Four eggs
10 grams of salt
For coating before baking
One egg
pieces of almonds
PREPARATION:
Mix 150 grams of flour, yeast, and water. The yeast will need about fifteen minutes to activate.
Add mastic to a bit of sugar and mix. Pour milk, mahlep, 100 grams of butter, grated orange peel, vanilla extract, and 300 grams of sugar into a bowl.
Cook on low, stirring all the time. The goal is to melt the butter and mix all the ingredients, but the mixture must not boil.
Leave it to cool down for about fifteen minutes when it’s done. Add eggs and salt.
Beat the bowl containing the yeast with a mixer for five minutes, then add 850 grams of flour and beat for fifteen minutes. Next, add the mixture with milk and melted butter and beat for another ten minutes.
Cover and leave at room temperature for two hours until the dough doubles.
Divide the dough into two parts. Divide each portion in half again. Shape these four parts into 50-centimeter-long rolls.
Connect the ends of all four rolls and weave them into a braid. Cover the braid and leave it at room temperature for another half hour.
Brush with beaten egg yolk and water and sprinkle with almond flakes. Bake for one hour at 3000F (1500C).
Portuguese Sweet Bread
Portuguese sweet bread is Christmas bread in the Azores and Madeira, but it is eaten all year round. It used to be baked in a stone oven called a forno.
The famous Hawaiian bread is a variant of Portuguese sweet bread. It was brought to Hawaii by immigrants from the Portuguese islands.
INGREDIENTS:
For bread
1 kilogram of flour
50 grams of yeast
200 grams of sugar
100 ml of lukewarm water
200 ml of milk
200 grams of butter
10 grams of salt
Six eggs
For coating before baking
One egg
PREPARATION:
Mix yeast and water. In about ten minutes, the yeast should be activated and frothy.
Heat the milk and butter until the butter melts.
Put eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk, then first add milk with melted butter and whisk, then add activated yeast and whisk until everything is combined.
Next, add the flour slowly with constant mixing.
When the dough stops sticking to the bowl, it is ready to take out to the work surface and knead with your hands to make it elastic and smooth.
If necessary, add a little flour, but be careful. If you add too much flour, the dough may be hard.
Cover and let sit at room temperature for forty minutes.
Brush the dough with beaten egg yolk.
Bake for 40 minutes at 3200F (1600C).
Pulla Bread
Pulla is a Finnish sweet bread described as a cross between challah and brioche, like a twisted buttery brioche flavored with cardamom.
This sweet bread is very popular throughout Scandinavia.
INGREDIENTS:
For bread
Ground cardamom
1 kilogram of flour
50 grams of yeast
150 grams of sugar
100 ml of lukewarm water
400 ml of lukewarm milk
200 grams of butter
10 grams of salt
Four eggs
For coating before baking
One egg
sugar
PREPARATION:
Mix yeast and water. In about ten minutes, the yeast should be activated and frothy.
Add lukewarm milk, four eggs, cardamom, salt, and mix. Add flour in several small amounts and mix. Add the melted butter and beat until the dough disappears from the bowl. Cover and let it rest for about fifteen minutes.
Turn the dough onto a work surface and knead until the dough is shiny and elastic.
Cover the dough and leave it warm for about one hour until it has doubled.
Pour holes in the dough, cover it again, and let it rest for another hour until it doubles in size again.
Divide the dough into three equal parts, then divide each into three more. Shape the pieces into long rolls.
Connect the ends of the three rollers and weave a braid. You will end up with three baking braids.
Transfer the braids to the baking trays. Cover them and let them rise for twenty minutes.
Brush the braids with beaten egg yolk and then sprinkle them with sugar.
Bake for 40 minutes at 3200F (1600C).
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