Three colour challah
Challah (or Halka) is my favourite bread, we would always get it fresh from the bakery in the mornings when I lived in Poland. This one is such a pretty version, the beetroot and spinach are great food colouring. You can't taste either in the bread as there is very little of them in the dough. You can also make it easier for yourself and make a regular 3 strand braid :)
ingredients
225 ml warm milk
9 g dry instant/easy-bake yeast
75 g honey
5 tablespoons of melted butter
2 medium eggs plus more to brush
1/2 teaspoon of salt
600 g plain flour
sesame seeds to garnish
1 very small beetroot, blended to puree
a handful of baby spinach, blended to puree
instructions
1. Heat up the milk until warm and set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix the flour, salt and yeast.
3. Add the honey, butter and eggs.
4. Add around half of the milk and knead until a smooth and elastic dough forms. Keep adding more milk if the dough is dry.
5. Divide the dough into 3 equal parts (weigh and divide by three).
6. Set one part aside.
7. Add the spinach puree (just enough to reach the desired colour) and knead. If the dough gets too sticky, add a little bit more flour.
8. Repeat for the remaining piece with beetroot puree.
7. Place the three pieces into a separate bowls and leave to rest in a warm place until doubled in size (around 1.5-2 hours) or in the fridge overnight.
8. Flatten the dough and bring out to a lightly floured surface.
9. Divide each piece to two equal pieces.
10. Roll each piece into a long string.
11. Arrange them next to each other, starting from green colour, followed by pink and white, repeat for the remaining three.
12. Connect the strings together at the top and make a six strand plait. It's quite difficult to explain the process so I really recommend you watch this video. It's really easy to follow!
13. After you've braided your challah, leave it to rest until doubled in size (around 1-1.5 hours).
14. Preheat the oven to 220C
15. Brush the challah with beaten egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
16. Bake for 10 minutes then reduce the temperature to 190C and bake for further 30 minutes.
enjoy!
