Challah Mummy's Elderflower Challah

This cordial is utterly heavenly! Just the right amount of sweetness from the honey and sharpness from the lemon and a divine scent. You can taste the elderflower when mixed into your challah dough!

Directions

For Homemade Elderflower Cordial

Place the honey and the sugar in one litre (quart) of water and bring it to the boil slowly before adding the juice of two lemons and slices of the remaining lemons.

2. Take the water off the boil, place the elderflower heads downwards in the water, cover the pan and leave the mixture to infuse for 24 hours.

3. Once your mixture has infused, run the liquid through a sieve lined with a fine muslin (or good quality kitchen roll) until you are left with a clear cordial.

For Elderflower Challah

1. Pour the cordial into a bowl and dissolve the yeast into the water. Once bubbles start to appear on the surface of the mixture, pour in about a third of the flour, followed by the two eggs, the rest of the sugar, the salt and the sunflower oil.

2. Get your hands into the dough and combine the mixture, adding flour little by little as you go, until you get a big ball of dough which doesn’t stick to your hands (you might not need all the flour – just see what your dough needs). Sprinkle a clean work surface with flour and knead the dough for five to 10 minutes, adding a bit of flour if it gets too sticky again.

3. Place the dough in a lightly oiled bowl covered in cling film to rise for about an hour and a half or until it has doubled in size.

4. Once the elderflower challah dough has risen, knock it back and place on a lightly floured surface to shape. Please take a look at the photo of the Challah Mummy Elderflower Challah for shaping inspiration.

5. Once shaped, leave the elderflower challah dough to rise again under a clean cloth or cling film.

6. Once risen again, egg wash the elderflower challah dough using egg white and then bake in the oven at 180 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit) for 25-30 minutes at the bottom of the oven.

Notes:

If using enough flour, don’t forget to separate challah.