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Sweet Challah Bread

5.00 Mitt(s) 1 Rating(s)1 vote, average: 5.00 out of 51 vote, average: 5.00 out of 51 vote, average: 5.00 out of 51 vote, average: 5.00 out of 51 vote, average: 5.00 out of 5

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Level: Intermediate

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Description

Sweet, scrumptious Challah bread.

Ingredients

  • 1 Tablespoon Active Dry Yeast
  • ¼ cups Honey
  • 2 cups Warm Water
  • ½ cups Canola Oil, Plus 2 Tablespoon More For Greasing The Bowl
  • A Few Threads Of Saffron Threads, Crushed (omit If You Don't Have Any In Pantry)
  • 1 Tablespoon Kosher Salt
  • ½ cups Sugar
  • 3 whole Large Eggs
  • 2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
  • 5 cups All-purpose, Unbleached Flour And Extra For Dusting
  • ¾ cups Raisins (optional)
  • 1 whole Egg Yolk, Mixed With 1 Tablespoon Water For Glaze
  • 1 Tablespoon Poppy Seeds Or Sesame Seeds For Sprinkling (optional)

Preparation

Recipe adapted from Margaret Hathaway’s “For a Sweet New Year, The Spirit of Food”. Used with permission from Wipf and Stock Publishers.

Makes 2 large loaves.

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast, honey, and lukewarm water and let proof.

When it has turned creamy and begun to foam, after about 5 minutes, add the oil, saffron, salt, sugar, eggs, and whole wheat flour.

Using your hands, mix well until all the ingredients are incorporated.

Gradually add the all-purpose flour, mixing in 1/2 cup at a time.

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until you have a smooth, supple dough.

If using raisins, knead them in.

Clean out bowl and grease it, then return dough to the bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm place for 1 1/2 hours, until almost doubled in size. Dough may also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150F degrees then turned off. Punch down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another hour.

Divide dough in half and cut each piece into thirds. Roll out the dough into long logs and braid. Tuck the top and bottom ends together making into oval, braided loaves.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Cover the loaves loosely with plastic wrap and let rise for another 45 minutes.

Uncover and brush with egg wash. For a shinier loaf, wait 5 minutes and brush with egg again before baking. Sprinkle poppy seeds or sesame seeds if using.

Bake for about 45-50 minutes, until the loaf is lightly browned and sounds hollow when its underside is rapped with a knuckle.

Note: To make fantastic white bread, substitute wheat flour with all-purpose.

2 Comments

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hauenstein0825 on 3.19.2011

I have made this bread a few times now and it is the BEST! I keep wanting to use it for french toast but it just doesn’t stay around that long…. :)

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city baked on 1.22.2011

Challah bread is the greatest. I love mine with chocolate chips and peanut butter.

One Review

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hauenstein0825 on 3.19.2011

This is the best challah recipe I have found! Thank you for sharing!

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