No I am not Jewish, but when I started making Molly Yeh’s Challah bread a couple of years ago I fell in love! It is actually a relatively easy bread when it comes to bread making - a loaf has never not turned out for me and I wouldn’t say I am an all star baker by any means. Honestly even the most novice baker could bake this bread.

What I love most about challah dough is you can literally stuff it with almost anything. It can be sweet or savoury, a braided loaf like these ones for made into individual buns, even braided individual buns {I think I might try this version next for the holidays!}. I make the dough in a stand mixer which takes all the work out of it. Yes, like any bread it does need some time to rise but you get your mixer going in the morning, do a little dance, a little laundry, a wee clean and voila the dough has risen and are on your way to eating freshly baked bread before you even know it.

Funny enough I was having a conversation with my Momma the other day about my actual heritage, some things I knew already but some things surprised me. Like the fact that both sets of my grandparents were born here in Canada, for some reason I thought they had both been born overseas, but nope all Canadian born. My great grandparents on the other hand were not. I am Irish (Grandpa’s father), English and German (Grandmas’s mother) on my Mothers side and Ukranian (Geto’s, Father) and English, Ukranian (Baba’s, mother) on my biological Fathers side.

My Grandpa was actually born a quarter of a mile from where he ended up homesteading for his entire life. What can I say he loved the farm life and the farm life loved him! The farm is actually the one place I will always think of as home, my best memories growing up are all on the farm, it is the place I talk about in my bio and it is one of the reasons I started this blog. I have so many memories with my grandma in the kitchen, with my grandpa in the garden and on the fields. The house was my most favourite house of all, it is gone now but I can still walk through the entire space in my head, the smells the secret crevices, the spooky spots, all of it.

So I may not be Jewish, a bit of a mutt really, but I don’t believe we only have to make recipes from our own cultures. I think most of the 20th century (that is this century right? I always get confused, 21st maybe?!) babies are going to be sweet little mutt’s with all sorts of cultural backgrounds and I kinda love it the most! So go on and bake some Challah no matter where you are from, where your grandparents are from, where your kitty cat is from, it don’t matter. This bread is damn good and that is all that does matter!

You don’t have to be overly worried about measuring the filling out exactly. You just want to try and make sure the filling is evenly spread out, but if you like more cheese and less chives, more chives and less garlic, feel free to make the filling your own! Don’t like any of those ingredients, maybe use cheddar and chives instead, or butter and herbs?!

Garlic, Chive & Asiago Challah Bread

Slightly adapted from Molly Yeh

Ingredients

2 packets (about 4 1/2 teaspoons) active dry yeast

1 1/2 cups warm water

1/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon sugar

6 1/2 cups flour, plus more for dusting

2 teaspoons kosher salt

2/3 cup grapeseed oil, plus more for the bowl

5 large eggs

1/4 cup butter, melted

handful of chives, finely chopped

6 cloves garlic, minced

3 cups grated asiago cheese

1 tablespoon honey

Flaky sea salt, for topping

Directions

In a medium bowl, combine the yeast, warm water and 1 teaspoon of the sugar and give it a little stir. Let it sit for about 5 minutes, until it becomes foamy on top.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl or the bowl of stand mixer fitted with a dough hook, mix together the flour, kosher salt and remaining 1/4 cup sugar. In a separate medium bowl, whisk together the oil and 4 of the eggs.
When the yeast is foamy, add it to the dry mixture immediately followed by the egg mixture and stir to combine. Knead, either by hand on a floured surface or with a dough hook, adding more white flour as necessary (but try not to add too much!), until you have a smooth and slightly sticky dough, 7 to 10 minutes.
Transfer the dough to an oiled bowl, cover it with plastic wrap and let it sit at room temperature (or near a heater/fireplace) until it has doubled in size, about 2 hours.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 6 pieces. Roll out each piece into a large strip, 1/2 to 1/4 inch thick and about 3 inches wide. Brush down each center with melted butter. Down the center, add the chopped chives, asiago cheese and garlic (you can use your discretion here on how much you like of the filling, more cheese, less garlic, etc). Roll each piece to seal in the filling mixture. Braid 3 of the pieces together, tucking the ends underneath to seal. Repeat with the remaining 3 pieces to make a second loaf. Place on the lined baking sheet.
Whisk together the honey and remaining egg in a small bowl. Brush the bread top with the mixture and sprinkle with flaky salt.
Bake until golden brown and not doughy in the center, about 35 minutes, but start checking at 25-28 minutes. Allow to cool slightly before serving.

If you are looking for something to dip this gorgeous bread in, my go-to winter soup might just be the thing - Kale, Chorizo and Potato soup.