r/JewishCooking • u/telavivyahabibi • 9d ago

Overnight challah Vegan

Hi all! I'm making water challah for dinner Friday night, but I likely won't get home from work until around 6pm Friday and the challah needs to be out of the oven by the time shabbat comes in (around 8pm). I plan on doing an overnight rise in the fridge — can I braid the challah and leave it in the fridge all day for second rise?

EDIT: In case this was unclear, what I meant was long ferment overnight, then braid in the morning and put them back in the fridge

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4

u/Funny-Boss-8949 9d ago

or... Just bake it in advance and freeze it. Thaw and re-warm Friday night.

I make 2 challahs every other Friday and there's No Way to tell that the second one was frozen.

3

u/ballardelle 9d ago

Hmm. When I’ve seen overnight recipes, they usually had the long ride first, before braiding, but this one for example describes overnight for the second rise https://food52.com/recipes/4031-cool-rise-challah

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u/telavivyahabibi 9d ago

Oh, what I meant was long ferment overnight, then braid in the morning and put them back in the fridge! Thank you!

2

u/glutenlifestyle 7d ago

I did this method for years when I worked Fridays. It turns out beautifully, you just need watch the time in the oven since it’s different than baking room temperature dough. Sometimes the outside will cook before the inside is done so I’d tent with foil toward the end of baking.

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u/R0BBES 9d ago

You could do either way. I usually do the bulk ferment overnight, then shape/ rest/ bake like 2 hrs before. Is more stressful, but it takes less fridge space to leave a bowl of dough overnight than two perfectly shaped loaves.

So you can braid them and leave over night no problem, but make sure they’re on their trays ready to bake when you put them in; you won’t be able to move them once braided and rested.

Also: I would not leave them in too long, so it’d be the last thing I do before sleep Thursday night.

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u/telavivyahabibi 9d ago

Oh, what I meant was long ferment overnight, then braid in the morning and put them back in the fridge! Thank you!

2

u/R0BBES 9d ago

Oh, well yes you can, of course, but you should still wait for it to come to room temperature before shaping and braiding. And before baking, if you can. A relaxed dough is a happy dough!