A vegan Challah - or sweet yeast bun. So simple but oh so delicious. This is a little treat for Easter and you could add some finely grated carrots to the filling if you like.
I love a good Challah - this recipe works with or without filling, so you could just use the dough recipe for a braided plain Challah and have it for breakfast...
Ingredients:
Dough:
-50g sugar
-27g yeast (I used dry yeast as I couldnt get my hands on fresh yeast due to the Lockdown)
-300g soymilk (you can use a different plantmilk but I find soy works best)
-500g plain flour
-1/2 tsp. salt
-2 TBSP plain soy joghurt
-a dash of soymilk and a bit of sugar to sprinkle on top
Filling:
- 100g marzipan
- 50g margarine
- 2TBSP sugar
- 150g walnuts
Glaze:
- 100g icing sugar
- water
Method:
1. Warm up the soymilk in a pot. Dont let it boil, just warm it up nicely.
2. Stir in the sugar and the yeast.
3. Add now the flour, salt, Joghurt and knead it until it forms a proper dough.
4. Leave it in the bowl, but cover it with cling film or a lid and leave it to rise. I suggest a warm (not hot) area of your kitchen.
5. Leave it 1-2h until it has doubled in size. I just had to leave it 60mins as I had it on the table in front of the window with the sun shining warm on my bowl.
6. While the dough is rising you can already prepare the filling. Melt the margarine in a pot.
7. Crunch the walnuts, I did it with my hands as my walnuts were quite brittle. You could use a food processor or standmixer too.
8. Add the sugar, marzipan (in little pieces) and walnuts to the warm margarine and give it a good mix. You could add now finely grated carrot too.
9. Switch on your oven on 165* Celsius.
10. If your dough has doubled in size take it out of the bowl and cut it into 8 pieces. Shape every piece into a long "string".
11. Now using the method as shown in the pictures braid it into a round braided bun.
12. Place it in your baking tin, using baking parchment.
13. Fill now every gap between the layers with your filling and cover it again with cling film.
14. Let it sit another 20-25minutes, then brush it with soymilk and sprinkle some caster sugar on top.
15. Put it in the oven for 40-50 minutes, depending on your oven. You want it nicely golden brown, not too dark, not too light. It tastes marvellous when coming right out of the oven!
16. Mix now the icing sugar with a few teaspoons of water and pour it over the Challah.
Enjoy!