RECIPE: CHALLAH

Challah

(Jewish Egg Bread recipe from Nancy Sleeth: author of Almost Amish)

3/4 C warm milk

2 Tbsp butter

3 eggs

1 tsp salt

4 C white flour

1/2 C oat bran

2 Tbsp sugar

2 tsp fast-rising dry yeast

1. Mix all ingredients together & knead. Cover and allow to rise in a warm place until doubled. Once doubled, punch down & knead again. Divide into halves.

2. Divide each half into 3 equal pieces. Roll each piece into a long rope - making the ropes about the same length and thickness. Coat 2 baking sheets with parchment paper. Braid 3 ropes together on each baking sheet. Moisten fingers and seal ends together where 3 ropes join.

3. Allow to rise in a warm place, uncovered, until doubled. Bake at 350F for 12-15 minutes or until the top is golden and the bread sounds hollow when tapped. Do not overcook. If desired, lightly rub top of warm loaves with butter.

This recipe worked out really well for me and was really simple to make. I thought the braids would be really challenging, but it wasn't too bad! My first loaf was kind of fat, so I just rolled out the next 3 braids really thin to get a thinner loaf. This is such a pretty loaf, and makes a good impression! 

Also, I think I took the "do not overcook" too seriously, and although they were by no means undercooked, they didn't turn out quite as golden as the pictures I googled after the fact. But they still tasted really really good - especially when right out of the oven.

You can pull the bread apart piece by piece (kind of braid by braid) to eat, or slice the loaf on an angle. Nancy says this bread makes excellent French Toast on the second day, so we're going to have to try that soon! 

Enjoy!

PS - I was talking with my Jewish landlady and told her I was making "Chhhaalla" (like with what you would think a "ch" sound would make, as well as some very Canadian "a" accents).. and she was like... "uhh... khallah" (you know... with the kind of gollum throat thingy, and more of a "au" sound like in cauliflower). It was embarrassing.