Kevin的小廚房

Step1

Place Yeast, tsp Sugar and 2 cups Warm Water (warm from the tap) in small mug or cup. Mix with a fork and let sit while you prepare the wet mixture. In about five minutes, it will foam up. This is done to make sure the yeast is good, will become active and make the bread rise.

Step2

Place Salt, Sugar, Oil and Eggs in bowl. Add saffron water or food dye. I use twelve drops of yellow food dye.

Step3

Add foamy Yeast mixture.

Step4

Add a cup of Flour at a time until dough can be turned out of bowl onto kneading surface.

Step5

Sprinkle flour on kneading surface and place dough onto it. Begin kneading. The dough will feel very sticky. Knead flour into dough until dough can be handled without sticking to your hands and is smooth and elastic to the touch.

Step6

Place kneaded dough in a bowl, cover with a dishtowel and put in a warm, draft free area (I place my bowl into the microwave and close the door. Just don’t turn it on! )

Step7

Let dough rise for two hours.

Step8

Preheat oven to 180℃.

Step9

Punch down risen dough. Take your fist and punch it down the middle of the dough while it is still in the bowl. The yeast, if it has worked, has caused a lot of gas to build up in the bread and it should have doubled in size.

Step10

Knead the dough once more for a few minutes. This recipe makes two large loaves. For three strand Challah, cut the dough into two halves first, then cut each half into 3 equal lumps. Roll each lump into a foot long “rope”. Braid like you would hair. For a six-strand Challah, (pictured above) cut the dough into two halves first, then cut each half into six equal lumps. Click here to see how to braid the dough with six strands.

Step11

Put braided loaves on oiled baking stone or in loaf pans. I prefer the stone so that the bread keeps its original long, oval shape.

Step12

Cover and let braided loaves rise for one hour.

Step13

Beat one egg. Brush both loaves with egg (egg yolk: water=1:3). Moisten finger with egg wash, dip it in Sesame Seeds and then press sesame seeds onto each section of the Challah. The egg wash makes for a beautiful golden Challah and the sesame seeds make it very pretty. Some choose to use poppy seeds instead.

Step14

Place in 180℃ oven and bake for 35~45 minutes until loaves are golden brown. Check it before removing from the oven. Some days it takes a little longer to bake through.