Whole Wheat Challah

In the bowl of your stand mixer, dissolve yeast in the warm water. Allow to stand about 5 minutes until creamy/foamy.

With the paddle attachment beat 3 eggs, brown sugar, butter, whole wheat flour, all-purpose flour, salt and oats into the yeast mixture. If doing it by hand, combine eggs and butter with yeast mixture until well mixed. Then add flours, sugar, salt and oats and mix until it becomes difficult to mix.

Once combined, switch to the dough hook and knead for 5 to 10 minutes until smooth and elastic, adding additional flour if needed. Alternately, if kneading by hand, this should take about 10-12 minutes.

Form dough into a round, compact ball. Place in a well-oiled bowl and cover with a kitchen/tea towel. Let the dough rise in a warm area (maybe in the oven with the light on) until doubled in size, about 2 hours.

Once dough has doubled, punch it down and knead for two minutes. Cover again with a towel, allow to rise again for a minimum of 30 minutes up to an hour.

Punch the dough down again. Divide dough in two. Then divide each into 4 equal pieces. Shape each piece into a long strand. Weave the strands into a braided loaf. Pinch together the ends of the long dough threads and begin weaving from the top. Starting from the right: over, under, over. Press together at the other end and tuck both ends underneath.

Repeat for the other half of the dough.

Place shaped loaves onto parchment covered baking trays. Cover with the towel and allow to rise another hour.

Preheat oven to 350 F.

Beat together the egg and water in a small bowl. Brush loaves with the egg wash.

Bake 30 to 40 minutes or until the loaf sounds hollow when tapped on the bottom.

Transfer loaves to a wire rack to cool before serving.

(Source: The Daring Bakers’ Challah challenge /Ruth’s Go-To Whole Wheat Recipe.)