Giant challahs, often used for banquet style meals on shabbat or for a festive occasion are something one can truly bake at home. Okay, maybe not the most giant ones, but something large enough to do the job! This past shabbos was the pre-wedding celebration for one of my sons, and we hosted a crowd of 50 for the Friday night and shabbos day meals, which means in my case, that losts of challah, and challah rolls needed to be baked! For the main table where the groom sits, flanked by his father and soon to be father-in-law large challahs are the custom, so I baked something that was big, but still would fit in my freezer drawers, and that turns out to be two large challahs made from 2 kilos of flour. I do do have a large 90cm oven, so I can bake challahs made from 2 kilos of flour on one tray, but if you don’t, you can still bake these challahs one at a time, and they aren’t so huge that you have to worry about whether the inside got baked, just follow your usual baking time and assesment. For the freezing part I put piece of cereal box cardboard under the loaves for extra reinforcement and they were fine, though one left over loaf did eventually break after being handled too much, so croutons anyone?
Above: I photographed the challah together with a coffee mug to give you an idea of the size!
Above: These challahs were braided with a six strand braid, which is really quite simple and holds together nicely.
Above: The two challahs after braiding and before the mandatory rising time of about one hour.
So friends, bake your own giant challahs for special occassions, it is really quite simple!
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