Help! Why is my challah crumbly and sticky? (2024)

FAQs

Why is my challah so sticky? ›

If your dough is too WET: During the second knead, if your dough is really too sticky still or quite wet and overly loose, add in another half cup of flour while it's kneading; you may even need more flour if you really overdid it on the water earlier on.

Adding too much flour is one common mistake for beginning bakers. This produces dry bread with more crumbs. The key is finding the balance between flour and liquid ingredients in your recipe. It can be tricky because bread recipes don't always give you an exact amount of flour.

If it's a very small amount of dough, scrape it up with the dough scraper and continue kneading. If a lot of dough is staying on the countertop, add 1 tbsp of the reserved flour and knead it in. The dough will become less sticky as it gains strength.

If your dough is too sticky and it's impossible to work with you can add some extra flour, just a little at a time. Make sure you weigh the extra flour you add and then you'll be able to adjust the recipe correctly the next time you bake.

For a normal loaf, the more you knead it the less sticky it becomes. Dough is always wet and sticky at first but, once you've kneaded it for five to six minutes, it becomes less sticky and more glossy as it develops a skin, which is the gluten forming.

If your cookie dough is dry and crumbly, there are a few things you can do to fix it. First, try adding more liquid to the dough. This can be milk, water, or even just a little bit of extra oil. If that doesn't work, you can try kneading the dough for a few minutes to help it come together.

Over kneading can make the dough feel tough, and the gluten structure will tear instead of stretching. If you're kneading by hand, really get your whole body into the process in order to work the gluten.

Usually if it overrose just a bit, say, for an hour extra in a cold kitchen, it doesnt really matter. You simply punch it back down and go on to the shaping. However, if the dough is left out for a long time, unrefrigerated, it can spoil, especially in the summertime.

Place the loaf in the oven and bake. After 35 minutes of baking, check the internal temperature of the loaf with your Thermapen ONE. If the lowest temp you see is 195–200°F (91–93°C), the bread is done. Let the bread cool before slicing, then serve and enjoy!

Unsalted dough mixes faster, has little resistance to extension and feels sticky. Bakers who delay the salt addition during mixing find that once salt is added, the dough tightens, becoming more difficult to stretch, but also becomes stronger, and is thus capable of stretching farther without ripping.

What temperature is challah done at? ›

To ensure a proper bake, use a thermometer to check the challah's core internal temperature, which should read 90–93 °C / 195–200 °F. When checking for doneness, take the temperature of a single loaf outside a home oven.

Why? So the challah can be dipped right after the beracha is recited. The Mishnah Berurah (167:27) explains that dipping in salt or condiments makes the first bite tasty and adds honor to the beracha.

Dough can stay in the fridge for up to 24 hours.

If the dough contains at least 1.666 kilo (a little more than 7 cups) of flour, one should take challah with a blessing. If the amount of flour in the dough is more than 1.2 kilo but less than 1.666 (5-7 cups), challah should be taken without a blessing.

Too much water can also produce a damp loaf. Try less water with your flour. Uneven heat in your oven can be the culprit – if you loaf is nicely golden on the outside but gummy or moist in the inside, it's baking too quickly on the outside.

Using too much water relative to the flour. Over fermentation: letting the bulk fermentation (first rise) go too long. Using too much whole wheat flour, rye flour, or freshly milled flour.

Usually if it overrose just a bit, say, for an hour extra in a cold kitchen, it doesnt really matter. You simply punch it back down and go on to the shaping. However, if the dough is left out for a long time, unrefrigerated, it can spoil, especially in the summertime.