No Easter without “Striezel” (not to be mixed up with “Wiener Strizzi” – that’s another story)!
A traditional Austrian Easter without the typical “Striezel” (Challah)? That would be hard to imagine – or let’s say IMPOSSIBLE. And because “Striezeln” will always remind me of those unforgettable celebrations with our grandparents, it was time to create a #brotokoll version of them.
Blondy – YEASTerday…all your troubles seem so far away
That’s a fact. Not a single gram of commercial yeast is necessary for this fluffy fairytale – the perfect snack for your Easter egg hunt.
Blondy – a timeless beauty (of course also bakeable for birthdays, anniversaries, summer parties, Christmas…) which is naturally leavened with a stiff Italian wheat sourdough (Pasta Madre | Lievito Madre). Incredibly tender, mild and with a fantastic aroma which is developed over the long resting time of the dough.
bon´gu – My favorite flour chamber*
Two flours from the fantastic flour-treasure-chest on bongu.de* are used for our Striezel (Challah): T55 Gruau Extra – an award-winning French Brioche and Croissant flour from the Bourgeois mill in Verdelot/Paris combined with a special Italian Tipo 1 flour from the mill of Paolo Mariani: “Mazi” (Greek: “together”) combines more than 2,000 different varieties of wheat, which grow together completely wild and untreated, and are ground into an incomparably aromatic cuvée.
Easter Sourdough Challah
All you need is your Pasta Madre, flour, milk, water, sugar, eggs and butter – and you are ready to take off! Crusty, fluffy, juicy – you’ll love Blondy.
By the way, you may bake this fella also in your Challenger Bread Pan*!
#breadpairing
Even if this Challah alone is a culinary knockout (in a positive way). There’s nothing like a slice of it with a wonderful jam. My favourite? The Decadent Vanilla and Rosemary flavoured Orange jam from my Austrian blogger colleagues Nina and Antonia from Two Sisters Living Life! Make sure to give this jam dream a try!
Tag your results with #brotokoll on Instagram & Facebook. I can’t wait to see your results!
For even more tipps, tricks and recipes, join me in one of my upcoming workshops! Check out my #brotokoll workshops overview.
Happy baking!
I have to mention at this point that this is an unsponsored blog post – however, as for transparency reasons I inform you that the * marked links are affiliate ones. The final sales price for you doesn’t change in any way!
- 100 g Pasta madre (Lievito madre) 3 times refreshed - see recipe instructions
- 248 g T55 Gruau French flour, alternative: T65, Tipo 0 or Breadflour available at bongu.de
- 30 g Mazi (Italian Tipo 1 flour), alternative: weak Breadflour or light spelt flour available at bongu.de
- 70 g Water cold
- 125 g Milk cold, preferably organic
- 50 g Egg yolk preferably organic
- 60 g Butter at room temperature, preferably organic
- 56 g Sugar refined
- 8 g Honey preferably organic or regional
- 5 g Salt
- 1 pinch Bourbon Vanilla
- 1 pinch Orange or lemon peel
- Coarse granulated sugar optional: for finishing
- Egg yolk optional: for egg wash, preferably organic
- 1 pinch Sugar optional: for egg wash
TA (Hydration) 165 (65%) Ingredients
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Before the first feeding (right after taking your Pasta Madre out of the fridge) I recommend to do a so called „bagnetto“, in order to get rid of too much acidity. For the bagnetto you simply soak the Pasta Madre in water (18 degrees Celsius cold - the water amount should be around three times the Pasta Madre's weight, you are going to soak) with a bit of sugar for 15-20 minutes. Now, squeeze out all the water and proceed with the feeding (with fresh water).
After each of the three refreshments let your pasta madre mature at 27-28 degrees Celsius until the Pasta Madre doubles in size. After the second feeding it should be able to double (or even triple) within 3.5 hours.
For the refreshments I recommend you to use the same flour as for the regular feedings of your Pasta Madre (Lievito Madre)
If you don't have a stiff starter yet, start reducing the water amount during a couple of feedings of your regular liquid starter. Important: until ready to be used it has to gain the power of doubling or tripling its volume during 3,5 hours.
70g Water
70g Milk
Mix flour, water and milk in a pot until everything is dissolved, while bringing the mixture to the boil. Keep on stiring: at around 65 degrees Celsius the mixture will get thicker. At that point, remove the pot from the stove, keeping on stiring until you end up with a kind of „pudding“.
Cover the mixture with a plastic wrap (directly on it’s surface in order to avoid that it dries out) and let it cool down. Now place it in the fridge for a couple of hours (or overnight) until you gonna knead the main dough.
220g T55 Gruau Extra (alternative: T65, Tipo 0 or Breadflour)
Mazi (Italian Tipo 1 flour), alternative: weak Breadflour or light spelt flour
168g Tangzhong
55g Milk
56g Refined sugar
50g Egg yolk
60g Butter
5g Salt
8g Honey
1 pinch Bourbon Vanilla
1 pinch Orange- or lemon peel
For the main dough mix sugar, honey, 45g milk (the remaining milk will be added together with the salt) and egg yolk with your kitchen machine, until are sugar crystals are perfectly dissolved.
As soon as your Pasta Madre (Lievito Madre) is ready, add it in small pieces and keep on mixing on high speed until also the Pasta Madre is dissolved. At next, start incorporating Bourbon Vanilla, orange or lemon peel and stepwise all the indicated flour.
Mix on low/mid speed until you end up with a homogeneous dough which starts releasing from the sides of your kitchen machine's bowl. At that point, add the salt with the remaining amount of milk (10g) and increase the speed until the dough releases completely from the bowl.
At last, incorporate the butter (kept at room temperature). Add it piece by piece until you have a very smooth and shiny dough (check by the window-pane test) with a final dough temperature 25-27 degrees Celsius. Now place the dough into a greased container, cover it and let it rest for 30 minutes.
By now the dough's initial volume should have increased by approximately 30%. Place the dough (within the container) well covered in the fridge over night for 12-14 hours at a temperature of 5 degrees Celsius.
Shape each dough piece into a cylinder with tension, cover them and let them rest for another 15 minutes before shaping the cylinders into strands. If the dough seems to bee too sticky, slightly flour the cylinders with some rye flour.
Now it’s time to braid your Challah. Ready? Then let it rest for the final proof well covered at approximately 28 degrees Celsius for 4-6 hours.
The hours are just an indication and depending of your Pasta Madre’s leavening power. The Challah has at least to double in size (while being very light and airy).
Optional: Coarse granulated sugar for finishing
Heat up your oven with your baking stone or your Challenger Bread Pan for an hour at 175 degrees Celsius. Once your Challah is ready, apply the egg-wash (mix the egg yolk with a pinch of sugar) two times, with a break of 10 minutes in between. After the second time sparkle with coarse granulated sugar for a beautiful finishing.
Bake your Challah without steam for approximately 30 minutes at 175 degrees Celsius until it reaches a core temperature of 96 degrees Celsius.
The ingredients are for one Challah with a total weight of approximately 745g.
The indicated hydration includes all liquids of the Tangzhong.
Do you have specific questions or issues? Contact me via the contact form. I am happy to help you.
