Challah
Read my review of this recipe.
Ingredients:
- 1/4 cup plus 3 tablespoons lukewarm water
- 1 1/8 teaspoon yeast
- 1 1/8 teaspoon salt
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 2 tablespoons honey
- 2 tablespoons butter, melted
- 1 3/4 cups flour
- Egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tablespoon of water)
- Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or sugar for the top (optional)
Directions:
Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey and melted butter with the water in a 5-quart bowl or lidded (not airtight) food container. Mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon. You can also use a 14-cup capacity food processor or a heavy-duty stand mixer with dough hook. If you’re not using a machine, you may need to use wet hands to incorporate the last bit of flour. The dough will be loose but will firm up when chilled. Don’t try to work with it before chilling. You may notice lumps in the dough but they will disappear in the finished product.
Cover (not airtight) and allow to rest at room temperature until dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top), approximately 2 hours.
The dough can be used immediately, though it’s easier to handle when it’s cold. Refrigerate in a lidded (not airtight) container for a couple hours.
Lightly butter or grease a cookie sheet. Dust the surface of the refrigerated dough with flour and quickly shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around to the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go. Divide the ball into thirds. Roll the balls between your hands (or on a board), stretching, to form each into a long thin rope about 12 inches long. Braid the ropes, starting from the center, and working to one end. Turn the load over, rotate it, and braid from the center out to the remaining end. This produces a more even loaf.
Allow the bread to rest and rise on the prepared cookie sheet for 1 hour and 20 minutes (or 40 minutes if the dough wasn’t refrigerated).
Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Using a pastry brush, paint the top crust with the egg wash. Sprinkle lightly with seeds or sugar if desired.
Bake near the center of the oven for 25 minutes or until the challah is golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack and cool completely before slice.
Makes 1 loaves.
Nutrition:
Substitutions:
This makes amazing french toast.
Recipe courtesy of Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day