Challah

I have officially made my first Challah. The recipe is simple but time consuming. You must carve out an hour for the dough to rise and another hour to knead the dough, braid it, and bake it (a little less time depending on your oven).

I'm not sure where the recipe I used came from, but it has turned out lovely (thanks, ma).

Here is the recipe:

1 stick of pareve margarine

1 package of yeast

1 TBSP of sugar

1 cup of warm water, not HOT water

1/4 cup of sugar

1 TBSP of salt

3 eggs

4 cups of bread flour

Dissolve yeast and 1 TBSP of sugar in warm water to proof

Melt margarine in microwave, make sure it is not hot, just melted

Add eggs in bowl with above ingredients then add the yeast mixture

Add the flour and then cover the bowl with a cloth and allow it to rise

When it has doubled in size turn it out on a floured board and divide in to sections to braid

Place the braided challot onto a cookie sheet sprayed with oil spray

With a pastry brush, brush with an egg wash, which is one egg and add some water then beat it and brush the challot with this.

If you want you can sprinkle the top with sesame seeds or poppy seeds, or not

Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

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Knead the dough after it has risen (I used bleached and enriched flour to cover the counter yuck).

Separate the dough into three parts, make them long coils, and braid the pieces together.

Bake after egg wash and VIOLA! 

I altered this recipe slightly by using whole wheat flour, raw sugar, and honey instead of sugar. For some reason, the whole wheat made the challah a lot less...pliable. That's not really the word I'm looking for. It made the challah less chewy and more airy--bread-like--which is not how challah is supposed to be (I think). Regardless, it's delicious.