I learned how to make challah at last night’s @shabbosproject #challahbake in Brooklyn. Turns out it’s ridiculously easy to make. The braiding part is confusing though, so I’m not even going to try to explain. YouTube.
This recipe will make a lot of challah (3 or more challahs, depending on how large you want them to be), but you can always freeze the dough if you don’t want to bake immediately. I learned last night that one can only say the blessing over the challah dough if it uses 5 lbs of flour.
Ingredients:
- 4 cups warm water
- 1.5 cups sugar
- 3 x .25oz packets dry yeast
- 2 tbsp salt
- 2 eggs + 1 egg yolk, beaten
- 1 cup vegetable oil
- 5 lbs all purpose flour
- Poppy or sesame seeds
Recipe:
- Combine water, sugar, and yeast in large bowl. Let sit for 2 minutes.
- Add salt, eggs, oil, and flour.
- Knead for 5 minutes until dough comes together in a ball and is not sticky.
- Cover dough with a towel and let rise for 1 hour.
- Braid challah and let rise for 1 more hour.
- Brush top of dough with egg wash (1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water) and sprinkle poppy or sesame seeds over top.
- Bake at 350 degrees F until golden brown (about 1 hr)