Round and Round We Go...Oat Challa I Love You So!

BS"D

So it's that time of year, or new year, I should say. We welcome the Jewish Year  5780 I"H in just a few days. There are certain traditional items used in the Rosh Hashana meals, such as apples dipped in honey and round challas--which symbolize the cycle of the year.  Although there are usually a few round gluten free round challas in my local supermarket freezer, they tend to be expensive even for the small ones. Lillie has expressed she wants one bigger than her usual standard muffin sized gluten free challa she uses every Shabbat, but understands she doesn't need a full sized one for her personal use.  Enter the wonder that are Texas-sized muffin tins. They also go by the name extra large muffin tins. They have come in handy in a number of applications, I decided to use them to make larger, round personal sized challas for the holiday.

Since I'm busy making a wide variety of foods for the four meals we'll eat over Rosh Hashana, I wanted something that wasn't too time consuming to make. I don't find that yeast in oat challa has an especially profound affect. There are no strands of gluten being built up, and no puffing of the challa due to the yeast in the manner you find in wheat challa.  So, I felt that a more quick bread approach, using baking powder or soda would be fine. I was inspired by an Oat-Pecan muffin in Mollie Katzen's The Enchanted Broccoli Forest cookbook, and used some of her ratios as a starting point.  I traded the pecans for golden raisins, another Rosh Hashana tradition, and made a mixture of both oat and all-purpose gluten free flour with xanthan gum.

The result were light and fluffy individual round challas in nearly no time at all. No waiting for the dough to rise, and a recipe that could be mixed by hand if needed.  They froze well and we look forward to trying them out. Have a sweet and happy new year!

I made my oat flour by grinding 2 cups of old-fashioned oats in my food processor until finely ground. You may use this method or buy gluten free oat flour. 

Gluten Free Individual Round Oat and Raisin Challas

Non-stick cooking spray

1 1/2 cup gluten free oat flour (or 2 cups old fashioned oats)

1 1/2 cups gluten free all-purpose flour with xanthan gum (I used Bob's Red Mill 1 to 1 GF Baking Flour)

½ teaspoon baking soda

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

¼ teaspoon salt

1 cup non-dairy milk, e.g., soy, almond or flax (with 1 Tablespoon vinegar mixed in)

1 egg

¼ cup vegetable or olive oil

1/3 cup honey

½ cup golden raisins

Pre-heat oven to 350F degrees. Spray 12 regular muffin cups or 6 Extra-large (Texas) muffin cups with non-stick cooking spray. 

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together oat and all-purpose flours, baking soda, baking powder, and salt. Add milk, eggs, vegetable oil and honey until well combined. You may use an electric mixer on medium or large spoon for mixing.

Stir in raisins. 

Spoon batter into muffin pans. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted comes out dry.

Cool on a wire rack. Best served warm.

May be frozen well wrapped.

Yield: 6 large or 12 regular muffin sized rolls