At the risk of being a total and complete DOWNER…I’d like to preface this post by saying that culinary experiments—while fun and exciting and spontaneous—are not always a good idea. Best to stick with what you know…at least if you’re about to serve a hungry crowd.
It’s just the truth.
SO SUE ME.
…but!!!!!
This particular experiment is so simple, it hardly fits into that “maybe-don’t-do-this-if-you’ve-got-people-coming-over” category. Plus, who the heck has people coming over these days?
So…GO FOR IT.
I actually baked up this beauty one year ago and am republishing the post today in anticipation of the Fourth. I remember waking up one day last July with a totally free day for some reason—no work, no alarm, no nothing. And I figured if there were ever a good time to do something really weird in the kitchen, that was it.
(Not that the lack of time has ever stopped me before. See: gefilte fish cookies.)
Anyway, that’s when I thought up this red, white, and blue challah, and the rest is carb-loaded history.
YAY.
Here’s how I did it:
For this stunner, I used my fabulous friend LeAnne Shor’s challah recipe as a base (only a few minutes of kneading required, and absolutely no stand mixers or bread hooks or other fancy equipment needed) and adapted Step 3 slightly.
Here’s what I did when I got to that part: Before kneading the dough, I separated it into three sections. I left the first section uncolored or “blank,” if you will, kneaded it, and set it aside to begin the rising process in a lightly-oiled bowl. Then, I set out to color the other two sections.
(Side note: As might be expected, that process is a little time-consuming, so it’s especially important to cover the first section with plastic wrap to keep it from drying out while you work on the others.)
To make the red section (which is more of a muted magenta-y pink than a true firetruck red; I’m a fan of a more subtle color palette), I mixed in a few drops of pure red food coloring and a few drops of neon pink from the McCormick Neon food coloring set. But you can really just opt for the usual red drops. If you’re not into the whole artificial coloring thing, you can always make your own food dye.
I also want to add that I didn’t use gloves for this color-mixing process and my hands were totally unscathed. I suggest ripping off a small subsection of dough, placing it “over” the liquid color, and “hiding” the color within the dough piece before you begin kneading.
If you do get a little messy, though, don’t sweat it. Soap and water, peeps. Soap and water.
For the blue section, the technique is the same, but (DUH!) you’ll want to use blue coloring. For the color you see in the photos here, I used the blue dye from the McCormick Neon set I mentioned earlier and mixed that with a bit of the neon purple.
You’ll find that it’s a little tough to mix in those colors. It really takes a bit of elbow grease (like, ~8 minutes per section / ~16 minutes total!). But they do eventually mix together all the way—promise.
This year, the Fourth falls on a Saturday, so you’ve got every excuse in the world to make a patriotic challah. Here’s hoping you do!
P.S. If you haven’t been on the ‘gram today, make sure to head there sometime soon…there’s a sweet lil giveaway on my page right now.
Love you all, stay sane out there.