As I have mentioned many times, almond is my favorite flavor. Accordingly, I love marzipan and pretty much anything made with marzipan. So when I saw a recipe for Marzipan Challah on David Lebovitz's website (he adapted the recipe from Uri Scheft's cookbook Baking Breads), I had to give it a try.
Making the dough was not difficult. I put all of the ingredients (instant yeast, cold water, all-purpose flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and room temperature butter) into my KitchenAid mixer and kneaded the dough until smooth. I did have to add a little bit of extra water because the dough was so dry. I put the dough in a bowl, covered it, and let it rise in a warm spot for an hour. During that time it hardly rose at all -- it was puffy, but maybe only 20% larger. Because the recipe calls for "cold" water, I had used chilled water dispensed straight from the fridge. Given the large volume of very cold water in the recipe, it makes sense that the dough would be quite slow rising. I gave the dough an extra 45 minutes of rising time, but even so, it was no where near 70% larger as specified in the recipe.
I went ahead with the recipe. I divided the dough into nine pieces, using a scale to ensure they were all the same size. The dough was stiff but not sticky at all. Working with one piece of dough at a time, I rolled each one out into a rectangle, spread marzipan filling (marzipan, sugar, butter, and flour) over half of the rectangle, rolled up the dough with the marzipan inside, pinched the seam and ends shut, and shaped the roll into a long rope. The most challenging part of the process was trying to prevent the marzipan filling from seeping out of the ends of each roll. You're supposed to use seven ounces of marzipan in the filling but I had an eight-ounce box of Solo marzipan on hand and wanted to use it all. So I just scaled up the filling recipe accordingly by about 15% (this was easy enough since the recipe provides weight measurements for all of the ingredients).
I made three loaves of challah that were each braided with three strands. I let them rise in a warm place for two hours and while they did increase in size, they did not come close to doubling (and if they had, there would have been no way I could have fit two loaves on a single half-sheet baking pan). I gave the loaves another 30 minutes of rising time, brushed them with egg wash, and sprinkled on almonds and sugar before baking.
I liked the look of the golden brown loaves after baking. While the recipe makes three loaves, they aren't terribly large. I ended up cutting each loaf into eight slices, which I thought produced a reasonable serving size. My marzipan filling was blond colored both before and after baking, so you could barely see it inside the sliced loaf. But it was definitely there, delivering sweet almond flavor in every bite!
I have to say that as far as the actual bread goes, I thought this challah was average. But as a conveyance for an incredibly delicious marzipan filling and a delightful topping of sliced almonds and sugar, I give it an A. I would make this challah again, but I think I would try it with lukewarm water, and I might use a little more yeast. But this recipe is really all about the marzipan.
Recipe: "Marzipan Challah," adapted by David Lebovitz from Baking Breads by Uri Scheft.
Previous Post: "What I Did During Snowzilla, Part IV: Four-Strand Braided Challah," February 21, 2012.
Making the dough was not difficult. I put all of the ingredients (instant yeast, cold water, all-purpose flour, eggs, sugar, salt, and room temperature butter) into my KitchenAid mixer and kneaded the dough until smooth. I did have to add a little bit of extra water because the dough was so dry. I put the dough in a bowl, covered it, and let it rise in a warm spot for an hour. During that time it hardly rose at all -- it was puffy, but maybe only 20% larger. Because the recipe calls for "cold" water, I had used chilled water dispensed straight from the fridge. Given the large volume of very cold water in the recipe, it makes sense that the dough would be quite slow rising. I gave the dough an extra 45 minutes of rising time, but even so, it was no where near 70% larger as specified in the recipe.
I went ahead with the recipe. I divided the dough into nine pieces, using a scale to ensure they were all the same size. The dough was stiff but not sticky at all. Working with one piece of dough at a time, I rolled each one out into a rectangle, spread marzipan filling (marzipan, sugar, butter, and flour) over half of the rectangle, rolled up the dough with the marzipan inside, pinched the seam and ends shut, and shaped the roll into a long rope. The most challenging part of the process was trying to prevent the marzipan filling from seeping out of the ends of each roll. You're supposed to use seven ounces of marzipan in the filling but I had an eight-ounce box of Solo marzipan on hand and wanted to use it all. So I just scaled up the filling recipe accordingly by about 15% (this was easy enough since the recipe provides weight measurements for all of the ingredients).
I made three loaves of challah that were each braided with three strands. I let them rise in a warm place for two hours and while they did increase in size, they did not come close to doubling (and if they had, there would have been no way I could have fit two loaves on a single half-sheet baking pan). I gave the loaves another 30 minutes of rising time, brushed them with egg wash, and sprinkled on almonds and sugar before baking.
Recipe: "Marzipan Challah," adapted by David Lebovitz from Baking Breads by Uri Scheft.
Previous Post: "What I Did During Snowzilla, Part IV: Four-Strand Braided Challah," February 21, 2012.
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