Challah (Braided Jewish Egg Bread)

Challah is a traditional Jewish egg bread. It’s soft and fluffy, a little sweet, and delicious plain, for sandwiches, and especially for French toast.
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http://www.ellensbreadmachinerecipes....
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Challah Recipe by Ellen (some amounts have been changed since I made the video, as I perfect the recipe.)
Make in two pound capacity bread machine
190g water (or chicken drippings )
2 eggs, beaten
54g grapeseed oil (or chicken fat)
540g King Arthur bread flour (may need more flour-check your dough)
40g honey
24g sugar
6g salt
7g SAF INSTANT yeast (gold bag for sweeter breads)
Regular instant yeast is ok too.

***I added 26g of cocoa powder to get the brown dough for the crown.

After 5 minutes of kneading, check your dough. You may need to add some flour or water.

DO NOT BAKE IN BREAD MACHINE! THIS RECIPE RISES TOO HIGH!

For challah, take dough out, divide into the number of desired strands and Braid. Let rise in slightly warmed oven for 45 minutes, then egg wash and bake. (Turn oven on to lowest setting for minute. ONE MINUTE ONLY! ) Turn oven off. Put dough in the slightly warmed oven for 40 minutes.
Take out, preheat oven to 350.
Egg wash and add toppings of choice.
Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes. Cover with foil loosely if top is getting too brown. Use an instant read thermometer to check internal temp. It should reach 190-200 degrees.

Bake in two 2-pound loaf pans or braid, rise, and bake on cookie sheet with parchment, or in a 10” oval challah pan

How to use dough cycle and finish bread in oven by Ellen Hoffman

I have made hundreds of loaves of bread and dozens of batches of dinner rolls, cinnamon rolls, chocolate rolls, braided challah, etc. I follow this same routine every time with success. I hope this helps those of you ready to take the next step in bread baking.

1. Read your manual to find out how to set for dough cycle.
2. Put ingredients in and set for dough. (My Zojirushi Virtuoso Plus takes about 90 minutes at this point.)
3. The dough cycle takes it through rest, mix, knead, first rise, punch down, and a second rise . Mine punches it down a little at the end.
4. When the dough cycle is complete, remove dough and unplug machine. Put dough on a floured surface. (Sometimes I use oil instead. I do this with rye bread always.)
5. Shape dough for loaf pan or rolls.
6. Spray loaf pan with nonstick spray or prepare cookie sheet with parchment if making rolls.
7. If making a loaf of bread, shape dough to fit loaf pan, and pop it in.
8. If making rolls, form rolls as you wish. You can use muffin pans for rolls as an option.
9. Leaving dough on counter, set your oven to 170 (or lowest temperature your oven can be set to) for ONLY ONE MINUTE and turn it off. DO Not let it reach the 170 or lowest temp. We are just providing a slightly warmed oven. This is crucial! Set a timer so you don’t forget. More than a minute is too long.
10. Put dough in the slightly warmed oven. (I never cover it when I do this because there’s no draft in the oven.)
11. Set timer for 45 minutes.
12. Relax!
13. When timer goes off, remove dough from oven.
14. Preheat oven to 350. I bake EVERYTHING at 350 except rye bread that bakes at 375.
15. Prepare egg wash (optional) while oven is preheating: One egg beaten plus a splash of water. I don’t measure the water. It’s somewhere between a teaspoon and a tablespoon and it’s not crucial! If you want to add seeds or other topping, get that out.
16. Brush top of loaf or rolls with egg wash using a pastry brush. Sprinkle seeds or whatever or leave plain.
17. If you don’t use egg wash, your bread will have a more matte or floury crust. Egg wash gives it a pretty color and a bit of sheen.
18. Put loaf or rolls on middle rack in oven. Most loaves bake at approximately 25-30 minutes. Set timer for 20 minutes and check color. I use a bamboo skewer to check inside doneness. Recently I bought an instant read thermometer and make sure the reading is between 180 and 200 degrees Fahrenheit.
19. Rolls will take less time. Set timer for 10 minutes and keep checking.
20. When bread is done, turn bread out of loaf pan onto a cooling rack immediately. If you made rolls, transfer to cooling rack.
21. Cool your bread 2-3 hours before slicing. Whatever you don’t eat the same day should go into the freezer in a freezer quality plastic bag. I freeze as soon as it’s cooled and sliced, usually within 4-5 hours of baking. Just take out a slice when you need it and toast!
22. Bread and rolls freeze really well! If you’re planning for guests or a holiday, you can do gorgeous rolls for dinner or cinnamon rolls for breakfast!