Honey Apple Pie Challah

If people chose religions based on bread products alone, I’m pretty sure the Jews would have it every time. Challah is debatably the most delicious bread on the planet. (The Jews also have the bagel on lock, so they are hashtagwinning.) Like, no offense, Catholics, but hot cross buns need to step up their game if you ever hope to see me in a pew. And are the Buddhists even trying? Challah is also super fun to say, and there are endless puns to be made. “Challah atcha girl,” for one example. “If I had a challah for every time I made an amazing bread recipe…” for another.

I know I’m too late for Rosh Hashanah, but that’s okay, because I’m not religious and challah is delicious 100% of the time. I was invited to a Jewish friend’s dinner party last week, however, and in a stunning feat of arrogance (chutzpah, if you will), I decided I would make homemade challah. Not only have I never made challah before, but my bread-making skills in general are severely underdeveloped. I have made sweet rolls exactly three times in my life, and that was as far as my experience with yeast went before this. So as far as ballsiness goes, this is pretty high up there.

I turned to my favorite Jewish baker (and possibly my favorite baker of all time, really), Deb Perelman of Smitten Kitchen, for my recipe. Deb had an Apple & Honey Challah recipe that looked killer-diller (shhh, it’s the ’50s). And in her recipe note she was all, “I didn’t add cinnamon because I wanted the apples to stand out on their own.” And then I was all, “Apples, I think you need a helping hand. Please bathe in all of these apple pie spices, plz.”

That’s not to say I don’t trust Deb. In fact, if Deb Perelman told me that I would be delicious battered and deep fried, I would probably jump head first into a vat of oil. That’s how much faith I have in her. But I just love apple pie spices, and I wanted to give you an alternative to plain apples. I think the spices make it more of a fall recipe. I don’t buy commercial apple pie spice, because I keep all of the necessary components in my pantry already. But if you prefer, feel free to substitute 2 teaspoons of apple pie spice in lieu of all of the spices.

I made this bread twice; once for the dinner party (those are the raw dough pics) and once the day after (the finished bread photos). I didn’t want to slice into the challah for photos just before the dinner party, especially because you are traditionally supposed to rip the challah apart. Which we did! Like ravenous animals. The dinner party was also a testing-ground for me to see what I wanted to tweak in the recipe.

I decided that in my next batch I wanted to up the sweetness so it was more of a dessert bread, which meant adding more honey and also more flour (to make up for the added liquid from the honey). The McIntoshes that Deb suggested did exactly what she said they would… “bake down into almost sauce-like puddles.” But I prefer apple chunks, not puddles, so when I went apple picking this weekend, I picked some Jonagold apples (a cross between Golden Delicious and Jonathan apples, so I’m guessing either of those varieties would do if you can’t find Jonagolds.) The higher acid content in these apples makes the pectin stronger, which means they hold up better while baking. Consider that your science lesson of the day.

My second weaving wasn’t as pretty as the first, because it was late and the apples were going rogue and I was like “Enough is enough.” It still tastes delicious and I have no regrets. Like Deb, I chose to top my bread with pearl sugar, which I have been dying to use since my mom bought it for me on a whim while we were in Miami this spring. It looks so beautiful against the glossy brown of the challah. (My dinner party co-guests thought maybe it was pretzel salt, but I assured them otherwise.) This adventure into bread making has been so successful, I foresee a lot of yeasty sweet rolls in our future, guys.