Honey Apple Challah

Sundays often see us having a Brunch and a high-ish tea, skipping a traditional Sunday main meal in favour of things that we like better… ham, bacon, CAKE…

This morning saw the advent of the Staffordshire Oatcakes, which are very nutritious and substantial and look like keeping us stoked for most of the day. A small tea will be all that we need.

There is a packet of ham sliced from the bone in the ‘fridge, freshly made chutney, and plenty of home-made rolls in the freezer. All that we require is a little something for the sweet tooth. Today, if the baking goes well, that niche will be filled by Honey Apple Challah.

To be honest, as I begin to draft this post, all is not going well. I am substituting Bramley apple for the Granny Smith (an apple to which I do not give house room) so I expect a slightly different finish although I did not expect to be so lacking in wits today that I assembled the thing incorrectly.

So far I have (a) put the eggs and the milk mixture into the bowl in the wrong order (I cannot see this being a critical issue) and (b) added the honey to the butter for sautèing the apples instead of doing the apples in the butter and later adding the honey. Of course, because I am using Bramleys, the juice is drawing out and making the whole thing a tad slooshy.

The good news is that the dough seems to be good. It is wet but light and elastic and not sticky. All augurs well.

I should note that I am using 2 week old “fresh” yeast. It has been in the ‘fridge, on the top shelf and lightly wrapped in cling film. This is the last of the batch of yeast. I had to remove a small patch of green mould but otherwise, it looks, feels and smells fine.

[Rising]

Well, this is a slow-rising dough. I gave it an hour and a half, but it looks as though it would have benefited from two. More than twenty minutes proving time would have been beneficial too. Alas, I am short of time, and need to have this out of the oven in time for tea.

Conclusion – I need to have another go at this recipe, one day when I have plenty of time and can read properly.

[Baking]

I just took a little peek, with 5 minutes left on the clock. I am not going to get the bread brown enough without burning the apples, which are already very brown about the edges.

Decisions, decisions…

[Deciding]