Honey & Co’s cheese & onion challah
This fantastic bread by Itamar Srulovich and Sarit Packer is always on the menu at Honey & Co Daily, the couple’s new London bakery. Challah is popular over Hanukkah (7-15 December), but this one is so good you’ll want it every day
PHOTOGRAPHS INDIA WHILEY-MORTON
The food we cook at home.
For us, challah has always signified the coming of the weekend… It’s our bread, the bread of our people, traditionally eaten on Friday nights to bring in the Sabbath, but we now produce it all through the week at our new bakery because it’s so delicious and so in demand. This is a real centrepiece of a loaf, decorated with chives and with caramelised onion and goat’s cheese plaited through the dough. It’s so good!
Sarit Packer, Honey & Co
Caramelised onion and goat’s cheese challah
Serves 6-8 Hands-on time 40 min, plus proving Oven time 30 min
• 250g strong white bread flour,
plus extra to dust
• ½ tsp fine salt
• 30g caster sugar
• 7g fast-action dried yeast
• 100ml warm water
• 30g olive oil, plus 2 tbsp
• 1 medium free-range egg yolk
• 250g onions (1-2), finely sliced
• 80g soft goat’s cheese
• Nigella seeds to sprinkle
• ½ bunch chives
1Put the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a dough hook. Dissolve the yeast in the warm water, then add it to the bowl with the 30g oil and egg yolk. Slowly mix until the dough comes together into a ball, then increase the speed to high and knead for 4 minutes. Transfer the dough to a clean bowl, then cover and set aside to rest in a warm place for 20 minutes.
2Meanwhile, make the filling. Pour the 2 tbsp olive oil into a large frying pan over a low-medium heat, then add the onions with a pinch of salt and pepper. Cook, stirring regularly, until softened and caramelised (14-15 minutes). Leave to cool.
3Roll out the dough on a flourdusted work surface in
