The Great Bread Making Adventure: Kugelhopf, Challah, and Cheese and Onion Loaf

Admittedly, it's been a long time since I've made a bread post. I don't even remember if I mentioned that I finally dumped all of my sourdough starter and discard. I hadn't touched either for months and it was just taking up space in my fridge. I figure if I want to tackle sourdough again, I will just start from scratch. And I might, but not right now, not with Christmas so close. I have too many other things to deal with. 

Back in August, I picked up this pan at a thrift store. I did a reverse image search to see what kind of pan it actually is. It's supposedly a muffin pan, but I knew better. So, I shared it on Facebook, asking if anyone knew what it was. One of my French/European/Canadian friends said that it's a gugelhopf pan. I don't think that's how she spelled it, but I don't remember. And it doesn't really matter because it can be found under various names. I decided that I wanted to try it (otherwise, why would I buy the tin?) And I found it in my World Encyclopedia of Bread, where it's "Kugelhopf". It's in the French breads section, even though it has a German name, and the book has this to say about it, "This inviting, fluted ring-shaped bread originates from Alsace, although Germany, Hungary and Austria all have their own variations of this popular recipe. Kugelhopf can be sweet or savoury; this version is richly flavoured with nuts, onion and bacon."
Because this was the first time I was making this bread, I decided to stick to the recipe (at least the veganized, whole grain version of it), and make it as a whole ring-shaped loaf, rather than as individual rolls in this tin. I used hard red whole wheat flour in place of the white bread flour and quick rise yeast (2¼ teaspoons, mixed in with the flour and salt) rather than fresh yeast, which I don't even think is commercially available in Canada. I substituted veggie bacon (store bought, not homemade) in place of the bacon and plant-based butter to replace the butter. For the eggs, I used 1¼ cups of aquafaba (garbanzo cooking water), ¼ cup for each egg, as per the instructions on the King Arthur website. I generally use ground flax seed and water, but "King Arthur" says that aquafaba was the best substitute, and better from canned chickpeas than homemade. I bought store brand chickpeas and found the aquafaba rather watery, so I added 1 tablespoon of ground flax seed to it. In addition, because I wasn't using fresh yeast, I skipped the semi-proofing step for the yeast, and went straight to mixing all of the wet ingredients in with the dry (aside from the bacon, onions and walnuts, which I added at the appropriate time, after the first rise). 
I've also been wanting to make Challah for awhile, planning to use canned pumpkin to substitute for the eggs to give the bread the slightly orange hue that the egg yolks would impart. Unfortunately, the leftover pumpkin from Thanksgiving went moldy before I had a chance to use it. However, I used part of a butternut squash in another recipe, so baked the remainder to use in place of pumpkin. I made some squash muffins to take to the sew/craft day at the local Lutheran church. And then used some in the Challah.
This bread is found in the "Breads of the Americas" section. I'm not sure why, since Wikipedia says that Challah originated in Europe, which is what I figured. Bagels, which originated in Poland, are also in this section. I think both should be in the Eastern European section, or Middle Eastern, but I didn't write the book. The World Encyclopedia of Bread and Bread Making has this to say about Challah: "Challah is an egg-rich, light-textured bread baked for the Jewish Sabbath and to celebrate religious holidays. It is usually plaited with 3 or 4 strands of dough, but 8 strands or more may be used to create especially festive loaves." Before I go on, I just want to point out that it is not the "Jewish" Sabbath. It is God's Sabbath, as given to humanity in the Garden of Eden and was "made for man" (or all humanity), according to Jesus, in Mark 2:27. As a member of the Seventh-day Adventist Church, I do choose to "Remember the Sabbath day", the seventh day, or Saturday, according to the 4th commandment. Anyway, many people do call Challah "Sabbath bread". 
Again, I used plant-based butter, whole wheat flour and ground flax seed and water for the glaze, in addition to the squash to replace the eggs. 

The challah made a beautiful loaf, moist and tender on the inside with a nice crunchy crust. 

The kugelhopf was quite tasty, but a little too crumbly. And I found the inside of both loaves were like store bought bread - if I squashed them up, they would likely turn back to dough. So, I think if I make these loaves again, I will bake for the longer period of time suggested in the recipes. I might also knead both a little longer. I'll give that more thought because, technically, kugelhopf is considered a yeast-raised cake, so perhaps the crumbly texture is what is desired. 

Back in July, I made the Cheese and Onion loaf, which I hadn't blogged about, until now. I used Daiya cheddar shreds in place of the dairy cheese and it was very tasty. But it was also very high in fat, so I would likely use less cheese if I were to do it again, and maybe less butter. My loaf looks like it has a lot more cheese than the picture in the book, although I did weigh the Daiya, and only used as much as the recipe called for. I also found that the loaf tended to separate between the sections and that it was very soft and a little underdone inside. I would likely choose to make it as a whole loaf, incorporating most of the cheese into the loaf, sprinkling just a little on top, and perhaps adding more flour and/or baking longer at a lower temperature. 

Now my blog is up to date with my bread adventures. I'm going to try to continue with the British Breads section of the book. I just got slightly side-tracked to try the kugelhopf and the challah.