Best Challah Ever

Fall busy season is officially over this year, which means I finally have some time to dedicate to baking again. We decided to have some people over last night for dinner and to watch the ASU game so I thought I would make another attempt to find a good challah recipe. After I found this recipe I don't think I will ever need to search for another challah recipe again, it is so delicious and perfect!

Ingredients

2 cups water

1/4 cup white sugar

3 (.25 ounce) packages active dry yeast

1/2 cup margarine

1/4 cup brown sugar

7 cups bread flour

1 tablespoon salt

4 eggs

1 egg, beaten

1 tablespoon (or so) of sesame seeds (optional)

In a large bowl, mix the yeast with 100 degree water and the water sugar and allow it to sit for about 5 minutes or until it has become very foamy. In case you're not sure how warm the water should be, it should be very warm but not so warm that you would burn yourself if you stuck your finger in for 5 or more seconds.

Next, mix in the brown sugar, eggs and margarine. Once well mixed, add in the flour and salt. I added the flour one to two cups at a time, stirring in between each additional cup

Once the dough has pulled together, turn it out onto a lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8 minutes or so. The dough is very sticky and it's okay to add some flour but you do not want to add too much. You may end up needed to scrape some dough off the surface you're using to knead.

Lightly oil a large bowl, place the dough in the bowl and turn to coat with oil. I used the same bowl I had used to mix the ingredients and coated the bowl with oil, put the dough in, took the dough out and coated the bowl with oil again and flipping the dough to its other side so both sides end up coated in oil. Cover with a dmp cloth and let rise in a warm place until it has doubled in size, about an hour.

Deflate the dough and turn it out onto a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into six or eight equal pieces, depending on if you want a three strand or four strand braid. I did a four strand braid this time around, but I think both are beautiful.

Form each piece into long ropes.

Begin to braid. If you want to do a four strand braid but are not sure how, I highly recommend watching this youtube video. Once you watch it all you need to remember is "4 over 2, 1 over 3, and 2 over 3."

Place the loaves on two cookie sheets (either greased or tin foiled), cover the loaves with a damp cloth and let rise until double in volume. About 40 minutes or so.

I learned after the first loaf to very lightly flour the top of the challah before putting the damp cloth over it because the cloth ended up sticking to the dough, which made the challah a little bit less presentable. I was able to salvage the second loaf and it looked a lot better (see challah on the right below). 

Preheat the over to 350 degrees. Brush the risen loaves with the beaten egg and sprinkle sesame seeds on top.

Bake in the preheated oven for about a half hour, until loaf sounds hollow when tapped or bread is browned and feels hard to the touch.

Note: this is great with olive dip (recipe to follow) and also makes amazing second day french toast! 

Enjoy!