Challah

Name: Challah
Cuisine: American
Ingredients: 1/2 oz active dry yeast; 1 tbsp honey; 1/4 cup warm water; 3 large eggs; 4 tsp salt; 1/2 cup butter, melted; 2 cups warm water; 7 cups AP flour; 2 egg yolks

Ryan Goodwin @cook_3814251

San Francisco, California

I adapted this recipe from a popular recipe I found online, but that one used shortening and had too much salt.

I sorta lazily skipped most of the kneading. And I think that's why the loaves didn't really have a true braided definition like you would expect from a challah. Probably should have used a bit more flour as well. But, it turned out so good that I'm not sure I want to do it the right way.

I adapted this recipe from a popular recipe I found online, but that one used shortening and had too much salt.

Ryan Goodwin @cook_3814251

San Francisco, California

I adapted this recipe from a popular recipe I found online, but that one used shortening and had too much salt.

Saved

Ingredients

1/2 ozactive dry yeast
1 tbsphoney
1/4 cupwarm water
3large eggs
4 tspsalt
1/2 cupbutter, melted
2 cupswarm water
7 cupsAP flour
2egg yolks

Saved

Steps

1

Whisk together the first 3 ingredients. Note: when baking recipes say 'warm water' they usually mean around 100F, maybe a bit higher. I usually just run water over my wrist until it feels a little warm.
2

To a separate bowl, add salt and eggs. Whisk in the melted butter and 2 cups warm water.
3

Whisk the second mixture into the first, the butter and eggs into the yeast.
4

Stir in the AP Flour. The dough should be pretty gooey. Once the flour is completely incorporated, put a moist towel over it and set it in a warm place for an hour or two, until it doubles in size.
5

Now for the tough part, forming the loaves. Turn out your big lump of dough onto a lightly floured surface and cut it into 6 pieces of roughly equal size. Place 3 of the balls back under the moist towel.
6

Grab 2 baking sheets, line them with tin foil, and rub a little butter on each piece of foil. This is mostly to keep your dough from sticking when you form it.
7

Take each of the 3 balls of dough and roll them into long strands, 15"-17". Add little dustings of flour to keep your dough from sticking. As you finish rolling the dough strands, line them up on one of the greased sheet trays. The strands should be of equal lengths.
8

Join the strands at one end by sorta folding them under and squishing them together. Then, braid them. Right strand over middle, left over right, middle over left, etc. until you reach the end of the strands. Fold the terminal end over and squish it a bit as you did with the beginning. This can take some practice. Don't beat yourself up if it's not perfect.
9

Repeat with the remaining dough balls and the other baking sheet.
10

Cover each formed loaf with a moist towel. You should probably do a little dusting of flour before putting the towel on top to keep it from sticking. Set it aside for an hour or so in a warm spot.
11

Preheat the oven to 325F.
12

Whisk up the egg yolks with a little bit of water and use a pastry brush to coat the first loaf.
13

Bake the first loaf for 10 minutes, then bump up the temperature to 425f. Bake for another 10-15 minutes. At this point, it should have a really nice golden sheen. Pull it out and put the oven back to 325f.
14

Once the oven has cooled, repeat the process with the second loaf. Egg wash, low bake, high bake.
15

Let your bread cool a bit, but not too long. If I were you, I'd break into the first loaf while it's still hot. Fresh bread and butter, yes!