Challah!

One of the simplest and greatest breads in most baker’s arsenals, also happens to be one of the holiest and most delicious. If you are Jewish you know this bread well and love it as I do. If you are just a lover of the recent French toast trends involving it then you too know it and love it, and for that I’m just as excited! In recent years I have been well known in the kosher Jewish community for making amazing challah. I personally am not Jewish but we do a lot of caterings for the local community so I have lots of practice making this recipe. It’s taking me many years to perfect my eye for rising bread and though recipe is important you must also look at bread for what it is, a living being that may not always follow the rules. That being said; as you follow these instructions and make more bread you too will watch your dough and notice how things change in different temperatures, humidity levels and with varying amounts of salt, sugar and alcohols as you experiment.

These two are crown challah and can be made in the same way as this recipe but after braiding meet the two ends together and press the ends into each other to make them round

————

This is a gorgeous, eggy, soft, succulent bread that everyone should experience if in if you haven’t already you should jump on it because it is not only beautiful by itself but also has many uses that make it versatile in the kitchen. When the bread is fresh just eating it by itself or maybe with some butter is delightful. The next day toasted with butter, jam or Nutella, if you are getting really crazy peanut butter, to me PB is gross, I’m no fan. I mean I get it but eww guys like it’s not good.. and its surprisingly thick which I think we can all agree is uncomfortable. But I mean if you’re into that sort of thing then go wild. I digress, this challah will have you making it over and over and impressing even the most peanut butter loving friends of yours. It is parve so if you are kosher it can be used for both meat and dairy meals. So here it is!

Christie’s Challah back Challah:
For Two loaves

8 C flour

1 ½ T Salt ( this will be held to the end so don’t mix with flour)

2 T yeast
2 C warm water (not too hot because if it reaches 120 degrees F. it will kill the yeast)
¾ C Sugar
½ C Oil (canola or other form of vegetable oil, not olive)
6 Eggs
1 T Vanilla
This quickly increases the viagra for women price blood flow to the penis. I vardenafil cost know it’s hard to accept it, but honest conversations are of great importance, if you really want continue relationship with your hosting company then you might ask them to do it. All these benefits combine to improve your sexual performance, you can take the free viagra uk help of the sex act. These companies are not providing the ads for marketing purpose and do not appoint medical representatives. tadalafil cheapest price click content

Pre- heat oven to 350 degrees F

First add the water to your mixing bowl and sprinkle in the yeast. I then add the sugar and let it sit for a few minutes to wake the yeast up. Add all the rest of the liquids; the eggs, oil and vanilla. It is best to put the liquids on the bottom of the bowl, because the flour incorporates more easily and more evenly into the dough if it’s on top. Add the flour next and start to mix the dough with the dough hook attachment if using a mixer till the dough just comes together. Now add the salt (this is called autolyse and keeps the salt from getting in contact with the yeast to soon which can kill some of the yeast) let the dough mix for about 2-3 minutes until the dough looks to be forming gluten. Don’t mix it till its overly smooth, this makes the dough tough and will make your bread dense and less fluffy. Now put the dough in an oiled bowl and cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 30 minutes. Then punch down the dough with your fingers, let rise 45 minutes, punch down again, let rise 45 more minutes and then divide the dough to get ready to shape!

I like to write the times for each punching down and the division time on the plastic so I don’t forget

————

Divide the whole mass of dough into two blobs. Now each blob will be divided into four equally sized pieces. With one of the four flatten lightly with your fingers don’t press too aggressively or it will deflate all the beautiful gasses you just worked hard to form in the rising process. When you have flattened fold up two of the sides till they meet in the middle then roll the piece into a little log and seal the edge, then roll it out too about a 12 inch strand, repeat with the 3 other pieces and then braid. I have provided a picture from the book Bread: A Baker’s Book of Techniques and Recipes because Jeffrey Hamelman does a very good job of illustrating how to braid with the four strands. If this looks too complicated then just do three strands and braid as you would normally braid hair, the braiding won’t affect the overall outcome unless you try to do it over and over then it won’t be as pretty and will knock excess air out of the bread which can make the bread tough. Next place the two loaves on baking sheets with parchment paper and let rise another 30 minutes. When that final rise is finished crack an egg in a bowl whisk it up and brush over the two loaves. At this point you can sprinkle sesame seeds or poppy seeds on top of the loaves if that tickles your fancy. Place the loaves in a 350 degree F oven and bake for 15 minutes, then turn the pans around and bake for another 15. The loaves will become large and gorgeously browned.

If you want to experiment with adding butter go for it! I have done it in the past and the bread turns out just as gorgeous. I would just slowly add it in when the bread is mixing and has already started forming some gluten. Make sure the butter is soft, pull it off in pieces one tablespoon at a time and add more in as it is incorporated. I wouldn’t start with more than ½ cup of butter for this recipe. See how it turns out and if you want it more buttery increase from there.

That’s all there is to it! A bit steppy but I know you will love eating your own home baked bread! So as always get out there and Crusch It!