It’s true! Gluten Free Molino Challah actually has the taste and texture of traditional glutenous challah… and it’s GLUTEN FREE! You can braid it, say the hamotzi blessing, and birkat hamazon (Grace After Meals) too*! If I didn’t know better, I’d say that somehow the gluten fairies removed the gluten from traditional gluten filled challah but left it tasting exactly the same! It’s surprisingly easy to prepare. You can braid your favorite challahs and rolls to amaze and delight every gluten free or glutenous person at your Shabbat, Holiday or any-day table! They’re that good!
Gluten Free Molino Challah
Wait. There’s a Gluten Free Challah recipe that actually tastes like Real. Glutenous. Challah???!!!! What the What? I’ve been hearing about Molino Challah for a while now and wasn’t really ready to take the plunge just because everyone says Molino Challah is awesome!!!
So… when I was in Israel this summer, where there is a plethora of the blue bag Molino flour, I bought a bunch and brought them home. Dear Husband thought I was stark raving mad, but I know that finding the Molino flour can be a bit of a challenge, depending upon where you live.
The time has come. Here’s my official Gluten Free Molino Challah recipe.
You’re welcome.
*Always ask your personal Rabbi to determine what’s right for you and your family.
What exactly is Molino flour?
The best place to get that information is right from the source, the Molino Shop website:
“Molino Flour is gluten-free because the base is made from wheat starch that has had the gluten removed.
The process involves making a dough from the wheat flour and rinsing out the starch. The wheat starch will dissolve in the water while the gluten protein does not and sinks to the bottom. The water with the dissolved wheat starch is then evaporated leaving the wheat starch behind. This process is repeated until the wheat starch has been made gluten-free.”
Basically they take regular bread flour and the Gluten Free Flour Fairies come to the factory and magically remove all the gluten from the flour.
It’s true.
Developing the recipe for Molino Challah
You know how they say “It takes a village”? This recipe was developed with the help of many gluten free bakers, on WhatsApp and the Kosher Me & Gluten Free Facebook group. I took all the recipes and suggestions that everyone recommended, as well as the one on the back of the Molino flour bag (yes, it was in Hebrew, and yes… I translated it!) and put them into a spreadsheet.
Basically, all the recipes had different volumes of yeast, water/seltzer, sugar, honey/silan, eggs, oil and salt. One recipe even included baking powder. I took all those recipes, took all the baking science I learned from making my Gluten Free Oat Challahs, and put them together into what I thought would be the best possible recipe.
Gluten Free Honey Oat Challah
But… Molino Flour Doesn’t have the same properties as oat flour…
It turns out that Molino flour doesn’t actually absorb liquid as much as the flours that I use in my Gluten Free Oat Challahs. That meant that when I tried adding a whole 2 cups of seltzer to the recipe, based upon comparable liquid measurements from the Oat Challahs, it ended up like this:
Not even close to what I was intending.
Lesson learned.
This was the second batch of Molino Challah dough. Much better!
What I ended up doing was adding a whole second bag of the Molino flour, transferring it to my mixer (gasp!) and having it knead the extra flour into a reasonable dough. The truth is that those challahs, while a little whiter and slightly more dense, were fairly delicious as well.
These are the two recipes of Molino Challah dough. The top is the second batch that I made with only 1/2 cup fresh seltzer, the bottom is the saved disaster dough. Both were really really good!
I guess which recipe you use it up to you! Both were easy to braid and tasted delicious. I’ll add it in the recipe notes below.
And then there was Molino Challah
It’s hard to say exactly how many challahs the Molino flour actually makes. I guess I would say two large challahs and 24 minis, but that would really depend on how big you made them. I made a lot of challahs.
We ate them with our Plant Based Hamburger Soup for dinner last night and Dear Husband “sampled” seven rolls. I think he liked them 😉
Let’s just say the Molino Challah was really really good (and I look really really tired… sigh).
I was able to braid both doughs into fun shapes…
Molino Challah Rolls
And the big Molino Challahs were beautiful too!
Big Molino Challahs! The smaller ones on the left were from the first batch of dough, the one on the right from the second.
They even were light and “real, glutenous” challah-like on the inside.
The inside of a Molino Challah Roll. It was light and “real, glutenous” challah-like on the inside.
Dear Husband liked them so much he “tasted” seven challah rolls! (Yes… he did give me permission to post this lol)
Here’s the Recipe for Gluten Free Molino Challah
One of the reasons that Gluten Free Challah made with Molino flour is that there is enough “wheat” in the flour that you can do the rituals associated with glutenous bread flour**. There may be other gluten free “bread flours” on the market but depending upon who you ask, there may not be sufficient “wheat” in the flour to make it acceptable for the blessings associated with bread/challah. If this isn’t really an issue for you, you can try the King Arthur Gluten Free Bread Flour, as it’s similar (but not exactly) in makeup as the Molino.
***Always ask your personal Rabbi to determine what’s right for you and your family.
Gluten Free Molino Challah
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Proofing Time: 1 hour + 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 to 40 minutes
- Total Time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- Yield: 2 large or 24 small rolls 1x
- Category: Bread
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: Gluten Free
- Diet: Kosher
Description
It’s true! Gluten Free Molino Challah actually has the taste and texture of traditional glutenous challah… and it’s GLUTEN FREE! You can braid it, say the hamotzi blessing, and birkat hamazon (Grace After Meals) too*! If I didn’t know better, I’d say that somehow the gluten fairies removed the gluten from traditional gluten filled challah but left it tasting exactly the same! It’s surprisingly easy to prepare. You can braid your favorite challahs and rolls to amaze and delight every gluten free or glutenous person at your Shabbat, Holiday or any-day table! They’re that good!
*Always ask you personal Rabbinic authority for what works for you and your family
Ingredients
For Proofing the Yeast
- 1/2 cup warm water, NOT hot
- 1 1/2 tablespoons active dry yeast
- 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
For the Dough
- 1 (500g) blue label bag Molino flour
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon kosher salt
- 1/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
- 1/4 cup honey
- 2 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 1/2 cup fresh seltzer
- vinyl gloves for mixing, or oil for hands
For the egg wash and finishing
- 2 large eggs, beaten
- additional toppings like everything spice or sesame seeds
Instructions
To start
- Preheat oven to 350°F or 325°F Convection Mode.
- Line 2-3 baking sheets with parchment paper. Set aside.
For Proofing the Yeast
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the warm water, yeast and sugar until the yeast and sugar are dissolved. Set aside.
For the Dough
- Place the Molino flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Whisk to remove any lumps and to aerate the flour.
- Make a hole in the center of the flour and pour in the oil, honey, eggs, seltzer and proofed yeast. Mix with a large silicone spatula until ingredients are combined, then gently knead until a dough ball forms. It will start sticky but will become less sticky as you knead it.
- Lightly cover with plastic wrap and let the dough rise for one hour.
- Wearing vinyl gloves or using very lightly oiled hands, braid challah dough into large challahs or challah rolls. Loosely cover with a light cloth and allow the rolls to rise for 20 minutes.
- Brush the challahs/challah rolls with egg wash and sprinkle with your favorite toppings.
- Bake the rolls for 20 minutes and the large challahs for 35-40 minutes until browned.
- Can be frozen in large freezer bags. Defrost and warm before using.
Equipment
Bamboozle Astrik Baking Bundle
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OXO 2 Cup Adjustable Measuring Cup
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OXO Multi-Purpose Scraper & Chopper
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OXO 3 Piece Angled Measuring Cup Set
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I have a proofing mode on my oven, you might too. I set my oven to 100 degrees using bake mode. Thank you Margo Strahlberg for this fabulous tip!
One of the reasons that Gluten Free Challah made with Molino flour is that there is enough “wheat” in the flour that you can do the rituals associated with glutenous bread flour**. There may be other gluten free “bread flours” on the market but depending upon who you ask, there may not be sufficient “wheat” in the flour to make it acceptable for the blessings associated with bread/challah. If this isn’t really an issue for you, you can try the King Arthur Gluten Free Bread Flour, as it’s similar (but not exactly) in makeup as the Molino.
I accidentally came up with a second recipe for Gluten Free Molino Challah. It’s a little more dense than the above recipe, but still absolutely delicious and whiter. Instead of 1/2 cup fresh seltzer use 2 cups fresh seltzer and 2 bags (1000g) Molino Blue Label Flour.
Thank you SO much to the members of Kosher Me & Gluten Free Facebook Group and the Yeah That’s Kosher GF Chat on WhatsApp for you help, tips and suggestions. Specific thanks to Dewey Tessler, Rachel Lebovits and Margo Strahlberg!
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 24 Small Rolls or 2 large Gluten Free Challahs
- Calories: 125
- Sugar: 5.6 g
- Sodium: 162.3 mg
- Fat: 3 g
- Saturated Fat: 0.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 21.8 g
- Fiber: 0.8 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 15.5 mg
More Amazing Gluten Free Challah Recipes!
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