Holla' for Homemade Challah!

How many Fridays come and go and you say to yourself "Next week, I am going to try making challah from scratch!" This may be you, this may never be you-but this was me! I have fab childhood memories of making challah with my mom, and can close my eyes and still smell the fresh bread as I came in the door on a Friday afternoon.

A few years ago I decided I wanted the noses of my little ones to have the same memories and I set off on an adventure to find the perfect recipe. Week after week I made fresh challah using recipes from the Internet, from friends, and from cookbooks.  We ate white challah and whole wheat challah, challah with sugar and holy bread with honey. There was sesame seed and poppy seed and cinnamon sugar depending on the week-there was even a heavenly chocolate chip challah one week! Sometimes I made it fresh each Friday, and other weeks I defrosted a braid that I had made the week before.  After the taste test journey, the front runner was....from A's Star Wars cookbook! Yes-you read that right-Amidalah Challah was the winner!!! She hung around for a while until a friend gave me the new Blue Ribbon recipe, and after M asked me to share a challah recipe on my new blog I couldn't say no!

The key to homemade challah is to remember it is really very easy, especially with a stand mixer and a dough hook (though I have an awesome, big, challah-making bowl that I often choose to knead by hand in!). It is just time consuming as you have to account for the preparation, the rising and the baking. Please try it even just once, and I can sort of safely promise you that the smell will hook you and have you trying it more than just once!

This recipe makes about 4-5 good size loaves, and while you can easily halve it just NOTE that 3 eggs cannot be halved so I use 2 for half the recipe. Best bet is to make the whole recipe and freeze them wrapped in tinfoil and freezer bags.

4 cups warm water
4 tablespoons yeast
1 cup sugar plus 2 tablespoons
3 eggs (or 2 if halving!)
1 tablespoon salt
1 cup oil
5 lbs flour (unbleached, bread, organic-whatever you prefer to bake with)

• Combine yeast and warm water and add the 2 tablespoons of sugar. Let sit until you see bubbling-if you don't see this after about 5 minutes it means your yeast is not active and you must start over.
• Add the remaining ingredients to the yeast mixture, adding flour as you go. You may not need the final cup or two of flour-you want a good consistency that is elastic and smooth but not sticky.
• At this point you want to knead by hand for 5-10 minutes or use the dough hook in your stand mixer.
• Cover and let rise for one hour (can be longer if you are like me and make your dough then realize you won't be home for 3 hours!) in a warm place or in your oven (with it turned off!)
• Divide the dough into 4-5 equal portions, depending on how the dough has risen and the size loaf that you like.
• Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
• Braid the challah and let rise for another half hour, covered.
• Brush tops with a beaten egg and decorate with your favorite-sesame seeds, poppy seeds, cinnamon sugar
• Bake on a greased (or Silpat) baking sheet at 350 degrees for 30-45 minutes until it is golden brown and sounds hollow when tapped. My oven is a bit off at all times so you will need to check your loaves starting at 30 minutes and go from there.

There you have it M! Let me know if y'all have challah questions! It is really pretty easy, not to mention a good way to relieve your tension if you knead by hand! My kids love coming home from school to fresh challah dough that they can braid and "paint" with egg wash and decorate! Hope yours will too-ENJOY!!!