Challah

This recipe is an old NYTimes recipe that harkens back to the old fashion challah. Old fashion? It’s a straight forward, traditional bread recipe that doesn’t require any fancy equipment, ingredients or prior bread baking experience. It’s just a good recipe.

What you’ll need:
Pastry cutter
Sheet pan(s)
Lots of counter space
A pastry brush

Ingredients

9 plus cups of sifted all-purpose flour
2 packages of dry active instant yeast about 1/4 ounce
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
1 tablespoon of salt – kosher
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
4 large eggs at room temperature
3/4 cup of corn oil or clarified butter plus more to grease the sheet pan
3/4 cup plus 1/8 teaspoon of sugar
1 tablespoon of sesame or poppy seeds

Sift six cups of flour into a large bowl. In a small bowl, dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water. Note: the water should be warm to the touch. The yeast will bubble and foam (aka bloom) in about five to eight minutes. If the yeast isn’t doing anything then the water may be too hot so start again. You can’t save the yeast once it is wet. Make a well in the flour and pour the yeast into it. Try and make the well pretty deep as you want the yeast to stay in the middle of the well. Using a fork, stir around the well incorporating about a quarter cup of flour – try not to mix in too much flour, just enough that the yeast is covered. Set the bowl in a warm place covered with a towel and let it proof for forty-five to fifty minutes. I turn the light on in my oven and proof the dough in there – its a reliable warm place with the light on!

After fifty minutes, take the dough out and sprinkle with baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add the oil or butter, three eggs, vanilla, and the sugar. Add the warm water and then using a fork, begin mixing. Once the dough becomes stringy, retire the fork and go in with your hands. Add two cups of flour and turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it for ten minutes.

It will slowly come together – keep extra flour nearby and keep on adding until the dough is no longer sticky and coming together into a smooth ball. Cover the ball of dough with a towel and leave it to proof on the counter, not in the bowl, for twenty minutes. After this resting time, flour your surface again and knead the dough for another five minutes adding flour as you need to keep the dough from sticking. Add flour to the bowl and set the dough into it, and make sure the ball is covered in flour. Cover the bowl and let it proof again in a warm place for another thirty minutes.

Now comes the fun part. Turn the dough out and knead briefly. I made two loaves out of the dough, but you can keep it as one loaf. The finished product will fill your sheet pan but it doesn’t affect the taste or texture. Shape it into a fat log, tucking the seam into itself. Using a sharp knife or pastry cutter, cut 1/8 of dough and roll the piece into a ball. Now do the same thing with the rest of the dough until you have seven nearly even sized balls. Using your hands, roll each ball into a twelve to fifteen-inch rope (like in elementary school when you made that sad little bowl for your mom!).

As in the video below, align the ropes vertically and side by side and join them together at the top and pinch down to seal them. Now, braid the dough one piece from the left, one from the right over the middle piece until you are down to the bottom. You can pull and stretch the dough as you go. Gather the ropes at the bottom and pinch them together as you did at the top.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Oil or butter the sheet pan(s) and carefully place the dough which now you can call a loaf (or loaves) on to the sheet pan(s) and cover the loaf with a towel and let it proof for another forty-five minutes.

Beat the remaining egg and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar. Brush the loaf with the egg wash and then sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds. Bake until its golden brown and puffed up – for approximately an hour.

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Challah

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This recipe is an old NYTimes recipe that harkens back to the old fashion challah. Old fashion? It's a straight forward, traditional bread recipe that doesn't require any fancy equipment, ingredients or prior bread baking experience. It's just a good recipe. What you'll need: Pastry cutter Sheet pans lots of counter space A pastry brush

Ingredients

• 9 plus cups of sifted all-purpose flour
• 2 packages of dry active instant yeast about 1/4 ounce
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon of salt
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
• 4 large eggs at room temperature
• 3/4 cup of corn oil or clarified butter plus more to grease the sheet pan
• 3/4 cup plus 1/8 teaspoon of sugar
• 1 tablespoon of sesame or poppy seeds

Instructions

1

Sift six cups of flour into a large bowl. In a small bowl, dissolve and bloom the yeast in lukewarm water. Note: the water should be warm to the touch. The yeast will bubble and foam (aka bloom) in about five to eight minutes. If the yeast isn't doing anything then the water may be too hot so start again. You can't save the yeast once it is wet. Make a well in the flour and pour the yeast into it. Try and make the well pretty deep as you want the yeast to stay in the middle in the well. Using a fork, stir around the well incorporating about a quarter of flour - try not to mix in too much flour, just enough that the yeast is covered. Set the bowl in a warm place covered with a towel and let it proof for forty-five to fifty minutes. I turn the light on in my oven and proof the dough in there - its a reliable warm place with the light on!

2

After fifty minutes, take the dough out and sprinkle with baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Add the oil or butter, three eggs, vanilla, and the sugar. Add the warm water and then using a fork, begin mixing. Once the dough becomes stringy, retire the fork and go in with your hands. Add two cups of flour and turn it out onto a floured surface and knead it for ten minutes.

3

It will slowly come together - keep extra flour nearby and keep on adding until the dough is no longer sticky and coming together into a smooth ball. Cover the ball of dough with a towel and leave it to proof on the counter, not in the bowl, for twenty minutes. After this resting time, flour your surface again and knead the dough for another five minutes adding flour as you need to keep the dough from sticking. Add flour to the bowl and set the dough into it, and make sure the ball is covered in flour. Cover the bowl and let it proof again in a warm place for another thirty minutes.

4

Now comes the fun part. Turn the dough out and knead briefly. I made two loaves out of the dough, but you can keep it as one loaf. The finished product will fill your sheet pan but it doesn't affect the taste or texture. Shape it into a fat log, tucking the seam into itself and put it on the seam. Using a sharp knife or pastry cutter, cut 1/8 of dough and roll the piece into a ball. Now do the same thing with the rest of the dough until you have seven balls. Using your hands, roll each ball into a twelve to fifteen-inch rope (like in elementary school when you made that sad little bowl for your mom!).

5

Align the ropes vertically and side by side and join them together at the top and pinch down to seal them. Now, braid the dough one piece from the left, one from the right over the middle piece until you are down to the bottom. You can pull and stretch the dough as you go. Gather the ropes at the bottom and pinch them together as you did at the top.

6

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Oil or butter the sheet pan(s) and carefully place the dough which now you can call a loaf (or loaves) on to the sheet pan(s) and cover the loaf with a towel and let it proof for another forty-five minutes.

7

Beat the remaining egg and 1/8 teaspoon of sugar. Brush the loaf with the egg wash and then sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds. Bake until its golden brown and puffed up - for approximately an hour.

Notes

This bread freezes wonderfully! Cool it, wrap it tightly in plastic wrap and pop it into the freezer!