Purple Potato Challah
Makes two small-medium sized challah loaves.
½ cup cooking water from boiling the purple potatoes
2 ¼ teaspoons dry active yeast
2 tablespoons sugar
⅓ cup canola oil
2 eggs (beaten, plus additional egg for brushing the loaves before baking)
2 tablespoons honey
8 oz mashed purple potato
4 cups bread flour
1 teaspoon salt
Measure out ½ cup of the cooking water from boiling the potatoes (it will be purple!). Make sure it’s warm (not hot) and then add the yeast and sugar. Whisk thoroughly and let it sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy.
Meanwhile in another bowl, whisk the canola oil, eggs, honey and purple potato mash. Add the 4 cups of bread flour to the bowl of a stand mixer (or large bowl) and mix in the salt.
When the yeast mixture is ready, pour it into the bowl with flour as well as the other wet ingredients. Give it all a mix and then let the stand mixer do the work, or knead by hand until you have a well developed dough ball. If using a stand mixer, knead for 4-5 minutes on medium using the dough hook.
Shape the dough into a smooth ball and then place it into a lightly oiled bowl to rise for 60 - 90 minutes, covered (until it has doubled in size).
Gently deflate and turn the dough out onto a floured work surface. Split the dough into two (to create two loaves). Place one half back into the bowl.
Working with the first half of the dough, divide into as many strands as you’d like. Use flour anytime the dough becomes too sticky to work with. For a simple yet beautiful loaf, just braid the dough using 3 strands. For more complex shaping, try a sailor’s knot or a rose shaped challah.
Move the shaped dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet and repeat the shaping process with the second half of the dough. Once both shaped loaves are ready to go, cover lightly with plastic wrap or a proving bag and let them rise for an additional 30 minutes while the oven preheats to 375F.
Remove the plastic wrap or proving bag, brush the tops of the loaves with egg wash and sprinkle on some sesame seeds, everything bagel seasoning or any topping you’d like (or skip the topping!). Bake the loaves for about 40 minutes, tenting them with foil mid-way through if the tops start to darken too much. Let them cool, slice and enjoy!
This recipe is based on a sweet potato challah recipe by Molly Yeh.
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