This is Challah: Which Doughs Require Challah Separation?

Hello Rabbi, I occasionally separate challah at home, and I wanted to know which doughs require challah separation, as I understand there are several conditions?

A. Any dough made from one of the five grain species, which are wheat, barley, rye, oats, and spelt (note that buckwheat is a legume, not a grain), kneaded with water or water with eggs or olive oil, milk, bee honey or wine, intended for baking, and containing 1,560 grams of flour, requires challah separation.

B. Any dough made from rice flour or corn flour or any other type of legume, even if bread is made from it - is exempt from challah separation (Rambam, Laws of Bikkurim 6:2).

C. Dough with a soft batter that's baked in an oven, such as a torte cake, and has enough flour to require challah separation - requires challah separation. The separation should be done after baking (Shulchan Aruch YD 329).

D. Dough intended for frying or boiling - according to the Shulchan Aruch, it is exempt from challah separation. However, Rabbeinu Tam holds that it requires separation, and Rabbi Ovadia Yosef's opinion is that ideally it's best to separate challah from such dough without a blessing, but after the fact if one didn't separate - the dough is permitted to be eaten.

E. Dough intended to be cooked in a pan without oil or with a small amount of oil just to prevent sticking, requires challah separation and is considered as baking. This applies to thick dough, but for very soft batters, like blintzes or lahoh, which spread when poured into the pan, it depends on the thickness after cooking: if the result is a thin pastry, such as blintzes, waffles, or thin lahoh, it is exempt from challah separation, but if the pastry is thick (8mm or more is considered thick for the purpose of challah separation) like pancakes or thick lahoh, it requires challah separation, which should be done after baking.

F. Dough in the required amount for separation, even if most of it is intended for boiling or frying and only a small part for baking - still requires challah separation with a blessing, even if that small part alone doesn't meet the minimum requirement.

G. If dough was intended for boiling, but then one changed their mind and wanted to bake it - it requires challah separation. Similarly, if dough was prepared for baking and then one changed their mind and now wants to fry it - it requires separation, since the time of kneading is what determines the obligation.

H. Dough kneaded with fruit juice (except for wine and olive oil) or eggs, without any water at all - requires challah separation without a blessing, and one cannot burn the separated portion but should wrap it in two bags and then throw it in the trash. Ideally, one should not make such dough but should add a little water, even a small amount is sufficient, therefore it's good to moisten the bowl used for kneading with water, thereby avoiding any doubt and allowing for proper separation according to law, and also permitting the burning of the separated portion.

Rabbi Shai Amar is a rabbi in the Halachic department of Hidabroot

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