Challah with Spelt and Amaranth

ב''ה

This time I was awake enough to actually mix the dough after the autolyse. Autolyse 2 1/2 hours. The spelt  gave a nice sweet nutty flavor. Be sure to knead much less than you usually would though!

 The amaranth, on the other hand, had a more gritty texture than the millet. There are black and white amaranth seeds and the black seeds did not soften even after the day of soaking. The white seeds did. However, after baking, overnight they seemed to soften a good deal and the challah was much more edible. I liked it even with the funny texture! :)

The recipe I used:

3 cups AP flour

2 cups whole spelt flour

1/2 cup whole amaranth, soaked for a day in 3/4 cup water

1 1/2 cups Water

1/3 cup sugar 

2 eggs

Challah with millet

ב''ה

I am going to have to get rid of all my different flours before Passover. Some of the millet spilled and I figured I would throw it into the weekly challah. I usually would let the millet soak for a whole day before using but it was thursday night already and the hour was getting late... I had to just give it a short soak.

I have been experimenting with autolyse. Lately I have been giving my challah at least an hour autolyse before retarding the dough in the fridge overnight. I use a rather wet challah dough, even though it is not the usual thing to do with challah (since you want a nice tight crumb.) This time I was so tired I could not even bring myself to knead the dough and just stuck it in the fridge in it's unmixed state. The next morning, before going to work I kneaded it and stuck it back in the fridge until I came home (3pm.)

With a combination of half soaked millet and un-mixed retardation I was truly prepared for a crunchy, tasteless challah.

What a surprise when I bit into it and it was nutty and sweet and not really crunchy, just a nice texture. A real treat. I wonder if it was the abnormal autolyse. This thursday maybe amaranth! :)

The Challah recipe I used:
5 cups flour
2 cups of more of water
1/2 cup millet
2 eggs
1/3 cup sugar
tsp salt
tsp yeast