Challah (Egg Bread)

This recipe is from one of my mum's best friends, Anne. Growing up my family LOVED her bread and couldn't understand why her kids didn't love it as much as we did. As I've always been slightly intimidated at the thought of making homemade bread until recently I'd never tried making it myself until last week. I actually made it twice in a 24 hour period as the first time I made it the dough was way too sticky so I had to add a lot more flour, then the second time I added less water so I wouldn't have to add any extra flour. I couldn't really taste a difference, but Chris said he liked the first batch better as it tasted less "yeast-y" so that's the recipe I'm sticking with. I've also added a couple things (gluten and lecithin to the original recipe because I've been using them in the breads I've been making lately and I really like the end result).

I hope you enjoy it as much as I do...because this is seriously the yummiest bread ever! It's delicious to eat by itself (or with butter and strawberry freezer jam). I've also used it to make grilled cheese sandwiches and chicken panini sandwiches and think it'd be great to use for french toast as well.

Challah (Egg Bread)

8 - 9 cups flour (note: this is an estimate, exact amount of flour will vary. For more info and other basic bread making tips see here.)
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp salt
1 tbsp yeast (I use SAF Instant Yeast)
1 tbsp vital wheat gluten (optional - will effect amount of flour used. See here.)
5 heaping tbsp lecithin granules (optional)
2 1/4 cups hot water
3 eggs
1/4 cup oil

Mix 5 cups of flour with the rest of the dry ingredients in a large bowl or Kitchen Aid bowl. In a separate small bowl mix together the eggs and oil. Add the hot water to the large bowl and put the KitchenAid on the stir setting, then add the eggs / oil. Turn the setting up to level 2 and continue to mix adding additional flour as necessary to get the right consistency. The dough will become smooth and elastic and pull away from the sides of the bowl. I let it knead in the bowl for a few minutes and then knead it by hand and form into a ball. (You can also knead the dough by hand, for approximately 10 mins instead of using a KitchenAid).

Lightly grease or spray PAM in the bowl and place dough back in the bowl with the seams down. Cover with saran wrap and a tea towel/dish towel and let rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, approximately 40 mins - 1 hour. (I always turn my oven on to 200 or 225 degrees and once it warms up I turn it off and then place the dough in the warm oven to let it rise. Depending on the temperature in your house you can of course just let it rise on the counter).

Once the dough has doubled in size, punch it down and divide the dough in half. Divide each half into three equal pieces and roll each piece into a long rope (I do this by putting both my hands on the middle of the piece of dough and then rolling my hands out to lengthen the dough into a rope). (Note: While working with one half, put the other half back in the bowl and cover it again so it doesn't dry out.) Place the three pieces of dough side by side and pinch the ends together and tuck the seam under. Then braid the dough (as you would braid your hair) and again pinch the ends together and tuck the end under. Place the braided loaf on stoneware or cookie sheet (if it's not no-stick be sure to spray the cookie sheet with PAM first) and brush the top with a beaten egg using a pastry brush (you can also sprinkle the top with sesame or poppy seeds after the egg wash).

Let the dough rise again until it doubles in size. Again, I cover it in saran wrap (that I've sprayed with PAM) and then a tea towel. Bake at 350 degrees F for 35 minutes.

*Note this will make two very large loaves, like a large French loaf, (see picture above). You can also cut each of the three strands in half making two smaller/shorter loaves out of each half, yielding a total of 4 loaves instead of 2. These shorter loaves will then fit in a regular loaf pan. Bake the smaller loaves for 30 minutes.

*Note this bread freezes very nicely. Either freeze an entire loaf by placing in a freezer proof ziploc, or cut some of the loaf and place the slices in a freezer proof bag.

Enjoy!