{Day 5} Challah

Golden Crisp Beauty! Goes well with my Fall decor too! :)

So perfect for a Sunday evening, today I chose to make Challah! There are many recipes for this out on the internet and in books. Some are made traditionally by hand, others in the bread machine (at least the dough is done in the machine). :) Being a busier day (why is it that Sundays are always busier?), I chose to make my dough in the bread machine ... it also allowed me to take a nap while the machine did all the work. :)

This is the recipe I followed:

Bread Machine Challah

Ingredients:

Water                                                       2/3 cup

Large egg                                                1

Cooking oil                                             2 tbsp

Bread flour                                              2 cups

Granulated sugar                                    1 tbsp

Breach machine (instant) yeast              1 ½ tsp

Salt                                                         1 tsp

Large egg, fork-beaten                           1

Water                                                      1 tbsp

Directions:

Place first 7 ingredients in bread machine in order given. Run through the dough cycle. Divide into 3 parts. Roll each part into 16” long ropes. Place on greased baking sheet. Pinch ends together. Braid the strips. Pinch ends together and tuck under the loaf. Cover with a tea towel. Let stand for 45 minutes until doubled in size. Preheat the oven while you’re doing this (and if your house is on the chilly side, put your baking sheet with the rising loaf on top of the stove to get some extra heat to help it rise).

Mix the beaten egg with the water. Brush over top of braid. Bake in 375 F oven for about 25 minutes. Remove to rack to cool. Makes 1 loaf.

As you can see by the above picture, I had some extra dough (because I didn't cut into equal thirds so one long rope was longer than the others) so I used the rest of the rope to make a little knot for the girls to eat. They thought it was great! :)

Oh. My. Goodness. This was delicious! There is not much left over! :) The crust was so beautifully crisp and the inside so soft and moist! Such a perfect loaf! :)

Apparently, you can also add honey to the recipe (same amount as the sugar) so I think I will try that next time ... and some vanilla too!

DH decided he needed to put me in the photo. :) This is the bread after it had risen and just before I put the egg wash on it.

Close-up of the bread pre-egg wash. :) Isn't it beautiful?! 

I'd also like to send you over to this link to read about Challah: http://www.aish.com/sh/t/rai/48970616.html ... it makes it so much more fitting for this to be a holy day bread (whether Saturday for Jews or Sunday for Christians). I especially like these words from the author: "Literally, challah is a mitzvah in the Torah (Numbers 15:17-21), which enjoins us to set aside one piece of dough from each batch we make, as it says: '…It shall be that when you eat the bread of the land, you shall set aside a portion [of dough] for God.' "

Blessings to you and yours this Lord's Day!