Pistachio Cardamom Challah Buns - A New Icing Bun Twist

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My new recipe for challah buns is filled with a pistachio cardamom mixture and topped off with a zesty lemon vanilla icing. Perfect for breakfast or a teatime snack.

What is Challah Bread?

Challah is an Eastern European egg-enriched bread, traditionally associated with Jewish cuisine. It is a common celebratory bread and often prepared as large braided loaves.

Plain challah is an eggy, sweet bread, soft inside with a browned crust and often lightly salted on top. There are many variations in form as well as flavour. The dough works well paired with all manner of fillings or toppings!

Making Challah Buns

Ingredients

• Dry active yeast - this recipe calls for one sachet of dry yeast, which is usually equivalent to 2¼ teaspoons.
• Warm water - you do not want the water to be too hot, so do not use freshly boiled water. I like to boil water and allow to cool for about 10 minutes, to ensure it is well warmed, but not so hot it will kill the yeast.
• Sugar - this recipe calls for both plain white caster sugar and also light brown muscovado sugar.
• Flour - in the UK, plain flour is not quite equivalent to all-purpose flour in the US. For this recipe, I use a mix of plain flour and strong white bread flour. You can replace the full amount (3¼ cups) with all-purpose flour in the US.
• Salt
• Eggs
• Oil - you will want to use a flavorless oil such as canola or sunflower.

Process for Making Challah Dough

Making challah dough is an easy three step process:

1. Activate the yeast using warm water

Add the warm water to a small bowl, with ½ teaspoon of white caster sugar and sprinkle the dry yeast over top. Give this a quick stir and allow to sit for about 10 minutes until foamy on top.

You do not want to use boiling water for this as having too hot of water can kill off the yeast. Ideal temperatures are around 100°F (38C). If you don't have a thermometer, I find that using water that boiled about 10 minutes previous or generally water that is warm but not hot to the touch works well.

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2. Prepare the wet and dry ingredients separately

In a jug, whisk together the wet ingredients: the oil, eggs and brown sugar. Set this aside.

Meanwhile, using a large bowl or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, stir together the flours, remaining caster sugar and salt.

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3. Knead everything together!

Once the yeast is foamy, add this to the bowl of dry ingredients, immediately followed by the whisked up egg mixture. Mix to combine into a wet dough and then continue to knead.

In my standmixer, fitted with a dough hook, I knead my dough for 10-12 minutes on a low speed until the dough is pulling itself off the sides of the bowl. It will still be a wet dough, so don't worry if it is still clinging to the bowl a bit and a bit sticky to touch.

If you are kneading by hand, this will take a bit longer than using a stand mixer.

Once your dough is kneaded, transfer this to a separate, oiled bowl. Cover with cling film and allow to rise.

Proofing Challah Dough

There are two options for proofing this dough. You can either:

1. Proof for 2 hours at room temperature. In a reasonably warm kitchen, the dough should double in size in two hours.
2. Proof overnight in the refrigerator. Following a slow proof process in the refrigerator is great if you are making this recipe for breakfast or brunch. Simply place the covered bowl in the refrigerator for about 8-10 hours (overnight). Allow to sit at room temperature for about an hour

Pistachio Cardamom Filling

Ingredients

• Pistachios - these should be shelled and unsalted.
• Ground cardamom - if you cannot find ground cardamom, you can use cardamom seeds, removed from the pods. As you will be blitzing the ingredients in a food processor these will be ground up in the process.
• Salt
• Sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Butter
• Egg white

Making Bun Filling

The process for making this pistachio filling could not be easier! Simply blitz the dry ingredients in a food processor, then mix with the vanilla, butter and egg white until you form a paste.

If you don't have a food processor, this isn't a problem. You can achieve similar results in two ways:

1. Finely chopping the pistachios and crushing these together with the cardamom with a mortar and pestle.
2. Alternatively, place the pistachios and cardamom in a sealed ziploc bag and beat to crush with a heavy rolling pin or meat tenderiser.

In either case, once the pistachios are ground down a bit, mix this with the vanilla, butter and egg white to form the paste.

Dividing Challah Buns

Once your dough has finished its first proof, tip this out onto a lightly floured work surface and divide into 12 pieces. I do this with a dough cutter, but a sharp knife would work too.

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Filling Pistachio Cardamom Challah Rolls

If you've tried to fill bread rolls in the past and struggled, you are not alone! I've often had my buns burst a bit when adding a filling.

To be on the safer side, I suggest using only about ½ tablespoon of filling per bun in my recipe, which is not a huge amount, but does give a good filling and flavour without too many explosions in the oven!

Another key tip is do not be afraid of handling the dough. You will want to work your dough a bit to make a rough and then flatten this for the filling.

Also do not be shy about pinching the dough together. Pinch the seam together strong to ensure any openings to the filling are well concealed and also be sure to place the buns seam side down for their second proof (and bake). This will help prevent too much leakage.

Once ready, you can help fashion the spherical shape by forming a cage with your fingers on a work surface and lightly rocking the dough back and forth, with the seam side remaining against the work surface.

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Baking Challah Buns

Once you've filled your rolls, place these well spaced on silicone baking sheets or parchment paper and allow to rise again for 30 minutes. Meanwhile preheat your to 350°F (175C/155C Fan) and make a quick egg wash using the egg yolk leftover from the filling and a dash of water.

Brush each bun with this egg wash and bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes until nice and golden.

Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool, while making the icing.

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Icing Pistachio and Cardamom Challah Buns

My zesty lemon and vanilla frosting is the perfect topping for these challah buns. Honestly, I'm a massive fan of iced buns in all forms and frosting is my weakness. I could happily just eat spoonfuls of this simple bun icing (and may have when making it...)

The ingredients are very straightforward:

• Powdered icing sugar
• Vanilla extract
• Lemon juice - I juiced half a lemon for this recipe, which roughly equaled 1 tablespoon of lemon juice.
• Milk

To make the frosting, mix together these ingredients and use a table knife or offset spatula to frost the buns.

You can play around with the consistency of the frosting by adding the milk last and slowly. If you would like a thicker frosting, simply reserve some of the milk instead of adding it. Alternatively if you would like a thinner frosting, like a glaze, you can add additional milk to thin this out. My recommended measurements will achieve a relatively thick frosting like you would find on an iced bun.

Sprinkle chopped pistachios over your frosted challah bun and you are ready to dig in!

FAQs for Pistachio Cardamom Filled Challah Buns

If you liked this recipe, check out some other breakfast bread bakes:

• Banana Chocolate Chip Bread
• Nectarine Bread
• Pumpkin Pecan Bread