by: Miss Weiss (Special Ed Aide)
The Jewish holiday Shabbat begins at sundown on Friday and ends at sundown on Saturday. For this holiday, there is a special bread we eat called Challah. Every week I use this recipe to make Challah (often with my Mom!) for my family to enjoy at Shabbat dinner.
Source: My family’s take on a Jewish tradition
Ingredients
Bread
2 ¼ teaspoons (1 standard ¼ – ounce packet) active dry yeast
⅓ cup + 1 tsp honey
⅓ cup canola oil, plus more for the bowl
2 large eggs + 1 large yolk
1 ½ tsp table salt
4 ¼ cups all-purpose or bread flour, plus more for your work surface
Egg Wash
1 large egg
Recipe Steps
- Make your dough: Whisk yeast and 1 tsp honey into ⅔ cup warm water and let stand until foamy, a few minutes
- With a stand mixer: In the bowl of a stand mixture, whisk together yeast mixture, oil, remaining honey (⅓ cup), eggs and yolk. Switch to dough hook and add flour and salt. Use dough hook on moderate speed until it pulls all of the flour and wet ingredients together into a craggy mass. Lower the speed and let the dough hook knead the dough for 5 minutes, until smooth, elastic and a little sticky.
- By hand: In a large bowl, whisk together yeast mixture, oil, remaining honey (⅓ cup), eggs and yolk. Add flour and salt all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until you get a craggy mass of uneven dough. Turn dough out onto a floured counter and knead it into a smooth elastic dough, about 5 to 8 minutes. Try to use as little flour as necessary when kneading the dough; you don’t want to toughen up the bread.
- Both Methods: Transfer dough to large oil-coated bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour, or until almost doubled in size.
- First Rise: Turn dough out onto a floured counter and gently press it down into a flat, oblong, shape. Fold the other half and press the dough down, flattening the dough. Fold the other half, pressing the dough down again. Your dough packet will likely be square-ish. Fold the corners under with the sides of your hands and form the dough into a round. Turn your empty bowl over on top of the dough and set it aside for another 30 mins.
- Weave your bread: See graphic for instructions!
- Transfer the woven dough to a parchment-covered baking sheet. Beat egg until smooth and brush over challah. Let challah rise for another hour. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees!
- Bake your loaf: Before baking, brush loaf one more time with egg wash. Bake in middle of oven for 40-45 minutes.