I ain't no Challah-back girl

You're here for the Challah recipe. Welcome. It's ok, I'm here to write it for you and I won't make you scroll all the way to the bottom to get it. LOL. Lets do this:

You're going to need:

Tools

a large chunk of your day (3 rises)

clean countertops

cocktail

mixer with dough hook

bowl for mixer

clean hands (no rona here!)

bench scraper

measuring cups/spoons

whisk

Ingredients

3/4 tbsp Yeast* 

7oz water, warm to the touch

1 1/2 tsp & 1/4 cup sugar, divided. (more on this later)

1/4 cup olive oil
3 eggs (mix up 2, save 1 for later)

1 1/2 tsp kosher salt

3 to 3 1/2 cups AP Flour

some sort of pan spray (I use crisco)

First things first. Pour a cocktail but don't get too sloshed. Keep in mind that if you're making this early enough you can eat it the same day. Or you can refrigerate your 2nd rise and bake it off the next day. 

I'm not super good at describing how to braid but this is a 6 strand loaf recipe. Don't let it intimidate you. You are smarter than the dough! You CAN do this! I follow this demonstration < right click on that and open a new window. Once you've watched that video. Then you can start. Go ahead, I've got a cocktail. I will wait for you. Don't skip that step. You'll want to get an understanding before you dive in. 

-- You ready?

Promise?

Cool! Let's go!

You'll need to bloom your yeast. So add your water and sprinkle the yeast and 1 1/2tsp of sugar into the bowl of your mixer that you've fitted with your dough hook. Allow it to get foamy (about 5 min) and then with a hand whisk mix in your olive oil & 2 eggs. 

Add your flour (reserve maybe 1/4 cup or less), sugar, and salt and let the dough hook do its thing for a few min til it starts to pull away from the sides of the bowl. If its still sticking, add a little more flour. If your dough is still sticking to the bowl, add in the reserved flour. If you need a little more go ahead and add it in tiny amounts til its no longer sticking to the sides but is still very soft. 

If your mixer is being overworked, just take it out and finish the kneading by hand. 

Spray your bowl and put the dough back in. You want this to rise for about an hour. I covered my bowl with a clean dish towel and my mixer is located above my dishwasher. I was running a load and it gets warm in that corner of my kitchen so I left my bowl there. But move this to an area that gets a little warm. You want that nice rise.

After an hour, punch it down and form your ball again. I re-sprayed the bowl, put the dough back in, and moved it to the fridge so that I could run to Trader Joes for some groceries. Your 2nd rise is about 30 min on the counter. You could do this for an overnight rise as well. IF you're going to do this for an overnight rise, decrease your yeast by a 1/2 a tsp and make sure that you bring this dough to room temperature before shaping. 

Now you're ready to braid. Please refer back to the video. Cut the dough into 6 sections, keeping it as even as possible. I roll them into little balls and then into long snakes about 14'' long. 

Complete your braid. If it makes it easier, braid on your sheet pan. I lined mine with a silpat and its double panned to reduce too much browning on the bottom side (aka burning). 

Cover with a dish towel and allow to rise for another hour. 

If you're like me, take the last 10 min of your rise to remove any stored pans from the oven and turn it up to 350F.

Now that remaining egg you'll need to whisk up and brush all over. This is what creates the golden finish. 

Bake for 30-40 min. Depending on your oven. I only needed 33 minutes. 

This challah is one of my personal favorite recipes. I'd love to try to use the everything bagel seasoning on top of my next batch. I got it at Trader Joe's. But this weekend we wanted french toast. So thats what we did. I hope you enjoy!

*YEAST: If you're still here reading along, I want to fill you in on the type of yeast that I use. I have a, probably, irrational anger at fleischmann yeast, or packet dry yeast. I think they're crap. This my personal opinion. I HIGHLY suggest using Saf-Instant yeast. It has NEVER failed me. Plus its inexpensive and I keep mine in a sealed container in my freezer.