Homemade Challah

Once in a while I am astounded by how well a recipe turns out. Last week, I wrote a bit about my attempt to try and conquer more recipes that are new to me, such as these Biscotti cookies. I recently took on a similar challenge when I decided to make homemade Challah for the first time last Friday, using this recipe as a guide. For those of you who don't know, Challah is a traditional Jewish bread that is typically eaten on Fridays and/or holidays. However, it has an amazing almost cake-like texture that makes it a lovely bread for everyday sandwiches or toast - you can find Challah at almost any bakery.

While I've baked regular bread before, I imagined Challah would have lots of tricky extra steps. I also imaged it would be very difficult to "braid" the dough in order to give it the traditional beautiful shape that it's known for. Nope. Easy peasy. While you can definitely get all fancy and watch You Tube videos on how to braid Challah, I just braided it like a regular old hair braid in three simple strands. It turned out so good that I could not stop metaphorically patting myself on the back. And force-feeding it to my visiting friends. And baking it into some bomb French toast that I will post more about very soon.

Here you go. You're welcome.

Ingredients:
4 to 5 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
1 package (2 1/4 teaspoons) instant yeast
1 cup hot water (from the tap is fine) 
2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup safflower oil or other neutral oil (canola, grapeseed, etc.)
2 eggs
Egg wash: 1 egg beaten with 1 tsp. water

Directions:

1. Whisk one cup of the flour with the yeast and stir in the hot water until smooth. Cover with plastic wrap or a dishtowel and let rise about 45 minutes or until puffy and bubbly.
2. Directly into the bowl, add the salt, honey, oil and eggs. Stir until well mixed, then add the remaining three cups of flour. Stir until dough forms a sticky mass. Add a bit more flour, then turn dough onto lightly floured work surface and knead for just a few minutes, until dough becomes smooth.
3. Transfer to a lightly oiled bowl, cover it with dish towel or plastic wrap and let rise until doubled in bulk, 1-2 hours or longer. (Note: you can make the dough to this point and put it in the refrigerator overnight if you’re short on time).
4. Punch down dough and divide into three equal parts. Grease a baking sheet and, directly on the baking sheet, roll each piece of dough into a long rope that is about as long as the baking sheet. Braid the strands together just like you would braid hair. Brush with the egg wash.
5. Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Let the loaf rise on the baking sheet for about 30 minutes while the oven preheats. Place a second baking sheet underneath the first if you have one handy — this double layer of baking sheets will help insulate the bottom of the loaf and keep it from burning.
6. Brush the loaf one more time with egg wash. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes or until golden brown. Cool completely before slicing.