Challah! Or the longest Saturday in the kitchen

Last Friday, still all jazzed from making my own bagels, I decided to take a stab at another bread. I wanted to make challah. If you are not familiar with challah, it is a delicious eggy, fluffy bread often served during Jewish holidays. It is also beautiful to look at. It's braided and glossy from an egg wash, creating a gorgeous mahogany color. Little did I know just how long I would be in the kitchen trying to create this masterpiece. As with anything life, mistakes happen. Point blank, I had a little oops. But in keeping with my resolution (trying to believe in myself and not giving up), I asked my husband for help. I regrouped and was determined to finish what I had set out to do. I was in the kitchen late into the night, but in the end it was worth it.

Recipe from King Arthur Flour (the flour of choice in our house) http://www.kingarthurflour.com/recipes/classic-challah-recipe. Here is the doubled recipe because I wanted two loaves, one for now and one to freeze.

Ingredients:

1 cup of warm water
12 tbsp of vegetable oil
1/2 cup of honey
4 eggs
8 cups of All Purpose Flour
3 tsp of salt
2 tbsp of instant or active dry yeast

Glaze:
1 Egg
1 tbsp of water

I grab the biggest bowl we have. This bowl is massive, even next to our enormous fruit bowl.

All the ingredients go into the bowl. And here is what I think is my first oops. The recipe doesn't require proofing the yeast, but I actually think it could use it. So next time, I will add the yeast to warm water and let it do it's thing and get fizzy before I add it to the dry ingredients.

I actually have to position the bowl on a chair propped up against our cabinets, just to hold it steady while I mix it in by hand.

And here was oops number two. I just don't think I kneaded the dough long enough. After kneading, I covered the bowl with plastic to let it rest for 2 1/2 hrs. It should have doubled in size. It didn't wah wah. But instead of being defeated by a damn loaf of bread, I called in for backup. My husband, who I often see has MacGyver, had a suggestion. He took out the food processor and small sections of the dough and started reworking it. Adding a little yeast, the dough blade did it's magic. We finally had the right consistency. Covered it again and let it rest for another 2 hours. 

Magic.

Now I gently punch down the dough and put it on a lightly greased surface. I cut it in half and then into 4 sections. I roll those sections into 6 inch logs. Those needed to rest another 10-15 mins.

Then I rolled them out until they were about 15 inches, it's really like making Playdoh snakes here lol. Let those rest another 10 mins. Then roll again until they are about 20 inches. They may reduce down to 18 inches or so.

Time for the braiding. Pinch the tops all together. Then take the rope farthest to the right and go over the rope next to it, under the following and over the last one on the left. Repeat that. Over, under, over. Until you run out of rope. Tuck the ends underneath the bread.

Let it rest on a cookie sheet for about 15 mins. And now, whisk together an egg and a tbsp of water together. With a brush, "paint" the dough with the egg wash.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees and once ready, it's finally time to bake! I have a convection oven, so I know that it will bake quickly. If you don't have a convection oven, you may want to put your cookie sheet on top of another cookie sheet to keep the bottom of the dough safe from burning.

 And it's now 10 pm. I'm hanging in there, but dying for this bread to be ready. I bake it for about 18 mins (on convection bake) and at this point the house smells so amazing, I could eat the bread raw...but I won't. I tent the bread with foil so it wouldn't get too browned on the top. I bake it for another 20 mins and drum roll please.....

And yeah...it was as good as I dreamed it would be. Mazel.