The Obsessed Homemaker: Challah Bread- Not Just for Passover.

There really isn't anything like a home filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread. For the last six years I have tried countless times to make bread and most of the time, to my chagrin, it just hasn't worked out. I never perfected even a simple white bread, so the idea of doing bread that needs to be braided or shaped was wholly frightening! (I have a low fear tolerance.) Who wants to waste 8 cups of flour??
One bread that I always wanted to try to make was challah bread. (Pronounced "HAllah") I had it at a diner in Philadelphia about 10 years ago and I never quite got it out of my head. Interesting fact: my husband worked there as a baker at the time and is more than likely the person who made the bread I ate! So the first time I went to make it I had him help me out. Since then, I've done it on my own and it is the only bread I've ever succeeded at every time! I don't even try to make other breads anymore, although one day I'm sure I will. (Especially since I love potato bread so much and have a recipe for it I still need to try.)
So this is the recipe I used today. I like that it only requires two rises. I would have liked to take more pictures, but it's difficult to knead bread and hold a camera at the same time! If you have never made bread before and you want to know how exactly to knead, or any of the finer points of how to bake bread, I suggest doing a little research on youtube first.
Also! Challah bread is a traditional Jewish bread. I've found a great recipe for it, and some neat variations, on http://www.theshiksa.com/. If you're interested in jewish cooking and history, I highly recommend that site!

Challah Bread
*makes 2 loaves

What you'll need:

1T active dry yeast
2 1/2 C. warm (NOT HOT) water. Too hot water will kill your yeast and your bread will fail to rise!
1/2 C. honey
4 T. cooking oil
2 eggs, plus 1 for later
2 t. salt
7- 8 cups bread flour

Warm your mixing bowl and dump in your water. Sprinkle yeast over the water and gently dissolve. (I used a plastic baby fork.) Let sit for 8- 10 minutes. Put your dough hook on and mix in the rest of the ingredients, excluding flour. Once those are mixed, slowly add flour, 1 cup at a time. It took me several minutes to get all the flour in. If you have a stand mixer, you can let the machine knead your bread, but I still prefer to do it by hand- it is a great upper body workout and also it's fun! Your bread dough should clean the sides of the bowl and be pretty gummy and slightly sticky. Go ahead and dump it out onto your counter, which should be lightly floured, and knead for 10 minutes. Finish kneading by making your dough into a ball and put it in a greased bowl. Let rise 1 hour, or until doubled, in a warm place. I like to let it rise in my oven. Indentation should remain when poked lightly.

Lightly flour your counter again, punch down dough, and dump out. Knead for 5 minutes. Now comes the fun part!! Divide dough in two (A and B) and set piece B aside. Divide piece A into 4 equal parts. Roll each piece into a tube about 14 inches long and have it be slightly wider in the middle. Attach the tubes at the top and braid them starting at the right. Go over, under, over. Repeat until the end, and squeeze the ends together, and tuck them under the bread. Do the same with piece B. (Re-reading this I can see that my instuctions sound a little vague! Check out the pictures.)

Place both loaves on a greased baking sheet, cover and let rise for about an hour, until doubled. Now remove the bread from the oven and preheat to 375. Beat your remaining egg and brush loaves lightly with it using a pastry brush. Bake for about 30- 40 minutes. If bread gets too dark on top, cover loosely with tinfoil. You'll know the bread is cooked through when it makes a hollow sound when tapped. Tap the bottom, too.
Enjoy!