Gluten-Free Challah
Ingredients
- 100 ml warm water
- 12 g active dry yeast
- 30 g sugar
- 4 tablespoons honey
- 150 g extra-fine brown rice flour sifted
- 100 g extra-fine white rice flour sifted
- 200 g tapioca flour sifted
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 6 grams xanthan gum
- 5 eggs at room temperature
- 60 g peanut or sunflower oil
Instructions
- In a small bowl mix yeast, water, and sugar, and wait a couple of minutes for the yeast to look frothy. Once the yeast is activated, add honey and set aside. This recipe is quite sweet because that is how I like my challah. If you want to reduce the amount of sugar or honey, you can certainly do that.100 ml warm water, 12 g active dry yeast, 30 g sugar, 4 tablespoons honey
- In the bowl of your mixer set up with the hook accessory (or, if you work by hand, in a large bowl with a wooden spoon) mix flour, salt, and xanthan together, then add oil, eggs, and the yeasted water from the previous step.150 g extra-fine brown rice flour, 100 g extra-fine white rice flour, 200 g tapioca flour, 6 grams xanthan gum, 5 eggs at room temperature, 60 g peanut or sunflower oil, 1 teaspoon salt
- Knead the dough slowly. This dough will not, in any way, resemble regular bread dough. What you need to achieve here in terms of consistency is a dense and sticky batter.
- Cover the dough bowl with plastic wrap, and transfer it to a warm and cozy place to allow the dough to rise, for a minimum of one hour, and a maximum of two.
- With the help of a spatula, scoop the dough into a regular bread pan covered with parchment paper or in a well-greased silicone challah mold. It is impossible to braid this shapeless mixture, so you will need to give it some sort of shape with a pan. The silicone one I used is on Amazon, but there are many alternatives. I would recommend not filling the pan over 2/3.
- Let the dough rise for another hour in a warm place, until it reaches the edge of the pan.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F and place inside the oven a tiny oven-safe bowl filled with water, which will create the perfect steamy environment for our challah.
- Bake your gluten-free challah for 30/40 minutes, until it is golden brown. The top part of the bread tends to brown faster than the bottom; if this happens and you feel that the bottom needs more baking, cover the top with foil to protect it, or move the pan to the lower half of the oven.
- When the bread is baked, take it out of the oven, gently remove it from the pan, and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
- Do not try to cut the bread immediately, and do not put it away until it is completely cold, otherwise it will remain too moist inside. You can keep the challah wrapped in foil, whole or sliced, for a couple of days, and warm it for a few minutes in the oven before serving.
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!