About the Recipe
Have you ever smelled Challah baking in the oven while you finish the last few chores of Preparation Day? We usually smell it every week - and this is what we smell! This is our go-to Challah recipe. It is easy to make and delicious to eat. It isn't often that we have any leftovers by the end of Shabbat! My favourite part is that it is honey sweetened, which means some of us more health-focused people can have it. Enjoy it!
Ingredients
1 1/2 Tablespoons dry, activated yeast
1 Tablespoon plus 1/2 cup honey
2 cups warm water
1/2 cup oil (olive oil works fine)
4 eggs
1 Tablespoon salt
8-8 1/2 cups flour (sifted works best, but any will do)
Sesame or poppy seeds (optional)
Preparation
Step 1
In a large bowl, whisk the yeast and 1 tbsp. honey with the 2 cups of warm water. Let the yeast dissolve, it should take about 5-10 minutes. You'll it's dissolved when the mixture bubbles or foams up. If it hasn't dissolved in 10 minutes, just let it sit longer until it does. Sometimes another 10 minutes might be required.
Step 2
Once the yeast has dissolved, whisk in the oil, eggs, salt and remaining honey. Gradually add flour. I find that using a sourdough or bread spoon works well to get it nice and mixed. When the dough holds together, it is ready for kneading.
Step 3
Start kneading the dough. You can either knead it on a floured benchtop or just inside the bowl. Slowly add flour as you need to help it not be too sticky. Keep kneading and adding flour until the dough is nice and smooth. Knead the dough for about 8-10 minutes.
Step 4
Place the dough into the bowl and cover with teatowels or something similar. Let the dough rise in a nice, warm place for about an hour, until it has almost doubled in size. You can let it rise in a warm room, or alternatively place it in a warm oven set on Keep Warm or Defrost, or you can place it on a hot water bottle, just make sure it doesn't fall off!
Step 5
Punch down the dough again and let rise for another half an hour (if you don't want to, don't worry - just leave it to rise for another 30 minutes!). Divide the dough into six portions to make two loaves. Braid and place on a prepared baking sheet. Cover again and let rise in a warm place for 45 minutes to 1 hour until double in size.
Step 6
Preheat oven to 180 degrees Celcius. Glaze the loaves with milk or egg and sprinkle on the sesame or poppy seeds, if using. You can also glaze the bread when it is halfway through baking, if you're worried that they might fall flat.
Step 7
Bake the loaves for 25-35 minutes. Keep a close eye on them so that they don't burn! You'll know the loaves are ready when you tap them and they sound hollow.
Let the loaves cool on a cooling rack, cover and place on your Shabbat table, and enjoy!
(You can also halve the recipe if you want, it works great!)