off limits

There are certain sweet treats that I consider hazardous to my health. I try to keep my pantry and kitchen free from these devilish concoctions as much as possible. My mind loses all control, and my fondness for moderation goes out the window. These are things that need to banned for my own safety.

Baked brie in pastry, cheez-its, reese’s peanut butter cups, Ben & Jerry’s Cherry Garcia, M&Ms, truffles, and nutella. They all have a special place in my heart, especially Nutella. I’ve mentioned my infatuation with this stuff here, and here, and while those baked goodies should’ve satisfied me, my craving for this hazelnut spread wouldn’t go away.

Did I want to make a Nutella cheesecake? a Nutella tart? No, folks, I went all out. I baked a beautiful challah bread with Nutella swirled inside. Talk about insane! I’ve made this egg braided bread before but I wanted to try out a new and improved recipe. I adore Ari’s blog, Baking and Books, and have bookmarked many of her bread recipes, including the challah recipe I used here.

Now, this is where I run into problems. I had seen this other challah recipe at Jaden’s Steamy Kitchen, and relished the idea of a no knead challah recipe. In my mind, I thought, why not just combine the two different recipes and see what happens?

Well, it turned out scrumptious, but I’m sure the advanced bread bakers out there would point out the many faults. I wasn’t disappointed with the bread though. Soft insides with a hard crust, the bread smelled sweet and delicious, especially with the Nutella swirled inside.

A couple of things that I would’ve done differently though: instead of combining the two recipes, I’d have stuck with just one. Also, I would have made two separate loaves instead of one big one because I felt like the bread needed to rise longer than I allowed it. No matter what, the end result was one of those treats that is on the off limits shelf for me. I polished off 4 slices before 10am, resulting in a slight food coma, and kept snacking on it all day.

I’m listing Jaden’s recipe since I used her technique, but don’t forget to check out Ari’s recipe since I used the basic ingredients for the bread from her. Both of these lovely ladies won’t let you down.

Nutella Swirled Challah
adaptation of Challah recipe from from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day

Ingredients:
1 lb of Master Challah Dough (below) about a grapefruit sized chunk of dough
4 1/2 tbl Nutella
small handful of hazelnuts
1 egg + 1 tbl water, whisked to make egg wash

Directions:
The first thing you need to do is take that master dough out of the refrigerator, grab a grapefruit sized chunk of dough. Return the rest of it to the refrigerator to use another time. Generously flour your hands and the dough. Shape the dough into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough and tucking it to the bottom all around, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. This creates a taut, smooth surface. Let the dough hang out on counter, covered with a towel to take the chill off while you roast your hazelnuts.

Master Challah Dough
from Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a DayIngredients:
1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tbl instant yeast
1 1/2 tbl kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp table salt)
4 lg eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions:
In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, water, honey, melted butter, yeast and salt. Stir well with a wooden spoon. Add in the flour. STIR, BABY STIR!!! Stir until you don’t see any more dry bits of flour. Cover (not airtight) and stick it in the refrigerator overnight, or up to 4 days. The longer you let it fart around in the refrigerator (literally!), the better tasting the dough will be.

Notes from Jaden: if you want, you can let it rise for 2 hours on the counter, pinch off the dough that you need to make your Challah. However, I’ve found that with only a 2-hour rise, the bread isn’t very flavorful. Still good, but definitely not as good as if you had let it sit 1-4 days in the refrigerator.