It's Jewish!

I'm not Jewish, but I like some things that are.

One of those things is challa. Challa is a yeast bread, typically eaten on the Sabbath in Jewish homes. The dough is easy to make, and its braided shape makes a beautiful loaf.

I hadn't made challa in a long time, so I decided to make a loaf yesterday. The recipe I've always used seemed to be hiding, but several of my cookbooks have recipes for it. I ended up following one from How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman. It turned out ok, but I think there are better recipes out there (like the one I couldn't find).

Here are the ingredients for the loaf I made.

5 cups flour
2 tsp salt
2 tsp yeast
1 Tbsp honey or sugar
3 eggs
1 1/3 cups water or milk, warmed

In his cookbook, Bittman makes all his breads in a food processor. I don't have a food processor large enough to make bread, and probably wouldn't do it that way even if I did, and I think his instructions for making it by hand are goofy, so I'll just tell you how I make it.

First, dissolve the yeast in the water with the sweetener. Add the salt and stir in the eggs. Stir in the flour and  knead until the dough is ready. I let my KitchenAid do the hard work and I think I let it knead for about 6-7 minutes. Then cover the dough and let it rise until doubled. Divide the dough into 4 equal pieces and roll the pieces into ropes about 20 inches long. Braid the ropes together to make a loaf shape. Let rise again. Before baking, brush with egg wash and sprinkle with some coarse salt. Bake at 375 degrees for around 45 minutes.

When it is finished you will have something that looks like this.

Even though it is a little more complicated than only using three strands, I like the way a loaf braided with four strands turns out. Six is even better, but I haven't quite mastered that technique yet.

Happy baking!