Green Garlic Challah by bengingi

bengingi

Green Garlic Challah

cook:

4 h

1 challah

It's this time of the year to enjoy green garlic in its pick. Green garlic (also called spring garlic) is one of the first seasonal items to pop up in farmer's markets come March or April and sticks around until May. The young garlic bulbs and edible green stalks have an amazing nutty-oniony flavor that is great fresh or cooked. I decided to blend the green garlic into a sauce and add it to my classic challah dough as a substitute to water. Besides the incredible color it gives to the dough, the flavor of this challah is out of this world. You would expect it to be super garlicky but actually the taste is very delicate. Just before baked, I topped the challah with garlic confit and nigella seeds, and let me tell you guys? it's one of the best challahs I've ever made.

Ingredients

green garlic sauce
• 150 gr water
• 100 gr green garlic
challah
• 500 gr AP flour
• 250 gr green garlic sauce
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
• 50 gr sugar
• 10 gr dry yeast
• 10 gr sea salt
• 1 free range egg
• Garlic confit (for decoration)
• Nigella seeds (for decoration)

Directions

1.
Blanch the green garlic in boiling water for 30 seconds. It will help us to keep the color vibrant!
• 100 gr green garlic
2.
Transfer the green garlic into ice water to stop cooking.
3.
In a food processor- blend the green garlic with water to a homogeneous sauce.
• 150 gr water
• 100 gr green garlic
4.
In a stand mixer's bowl combine 250 gr of the green garlic sauce, yeast and sugar. Stir well.
• 250 gr green garlic sauce
• 50 gr sugar
• 10 gr dry yeast
5.
Add the egg. Add the flour and then the olive oil. Don’t mix.
• 1 free range egg
• 500 gr AP flour
• 50 ml extra virgin olive oil
6.
Knead on the slowest speed of your stand mixer. After 10 min, add the salt.
• 10 gr sea salt
7.
Change the speed of the mixer one notch up. Mix for additional 2-3 min.
8.
Round the dough and place in a greased bowl covered with a towel. Let it rest until doubled in size.
9.
Divide as you like, I divided this beauty to 4 pieces of 150 gr each. I made individual challahs with the rest of the dough.
10.
Round each piece to a ball. Cover with a towel and let it sit for 10 min.
11.
Open the balls to strands and braid. Let the challah to proof. You know it is ready to be baked when you press the strands (gently!!!!!) and it bounced back slowly.
12.
Preheated the oven to 380F or 190C.
13.
Once the challah has proofed, brush with egg yolk mixed with a sip of water. Don't make a pool of egg on the challah. Light Brushing. We don't want an omelette on our bread!
14.
Using your finger, make a space for the garlic confit and decorate with nigella seeds.
• Garlic confit (for decoration)
• Nigella seeds (for decoration)
15.
Bake for 25 min. If the top of the challah gets brown to fast, cover the top with an aluminium foil. You know the challah is ready when the internal temperature reaches 190F or 95C.
16.
YASSS!