Sunday 5 October 2014

{Day 5} Challah

Golden Crisp Beauty! Goes well with my Fall decor too! :)


So perfect for a Sunday evening, today I chose to make Challah! There are many recipes for this out on the internet and in books. Some are made traditionally by hand, others in the bread machine (at least the dough is done in the machine). :) Being a busier day (why is it that Sundays are always busier?), I chose to make my dough in the bread machine ... it also allowed me to take a nap while the machine did all the work. :)

This is the recipe I followed:

Bread Machine Challah

Ingredients:
Water                                                       2/3 cup
Large egg                                                1
Cooking oil                                             2 tbsp
Bread flour                                              2 cups
Granulated sugar                                    1 tbsp
Breach machine (instant) yeast              1 ½ tsp
Salt                                                         1 tsp

Large egg, fork-beaten                           1
Water                                                      1 tbsp

Directions:
Place first 7 ingredients in bread machine in order given. Run through the dough cycle. Divide into 3 parts. Roll each part into 16” long ropes. Place on greased baking sheet. Pinch ends together. Braid the strips. Pinch ends together and tuck under the loaf. Cover with a tea towel. Let stand for 45 minutes until doubled in size. Preheat the oven while you’re doing this (and if your house is on the chilly side, put your baking sheet with the rising loaf on top of the stove to get some extra heat to help it rise).

Mix the beaten egg with the water. Brush over top of braid. Bake in 375 F oven for about 25 minutes. Remove to rack to cool. Makes 1 loaf.

As you can see by the above picture, I had some extra dough (because I didn't cut into equal thirds so one long rope was longer than the others) so I used the rest of the rope to make a little knot for the girls to eat. They thought it was great! :)

Oh. My. Goodness. This was delicious! There is not much left over! :) The crust was so beautifully crisp and the inside so soft and moist! Such a perfect loaf! :)

Apparently, you can also add honey to the recipe (same amount as the sugar) so I think I will try that next time ... and some vanilla too!

DH decided he needed to put me in the photo. :) This is the bread after it had risen and just before I put the egg wash on it.

Close-up of the bread pre-egg wash. :) Isn't it beautiful?! 


I'd also like to send you over to this link to read about Challah: http://www.aish.com/sh/t/rai/48970616.html ... it makes it so much more fitting for this to be a holy day bread (whether Saturday for Jews or Sunday for Christians). I especially like these words from the author: "Literally, challah is a mitzvah in the Torah (Numbers 15:17-21), which enjoins us to set aside one piece of dough from each batch we make, as it says: '…It shall be that when you eat the bread of the land, you shall set aside a portion [of dough] for God.' "

Blessings to you and yours this Lord's Day!

10 comments:

  1. I just read about challah in Rachel Held Evans' The Year of Biblical Womanhood and now I really want to try this! Unfortunately, no bread machine, and while I have been baking, I don't have quite as much time as I'd like. Your loaf looks absolutely beautiful though.

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    1. Thanks! I imagine this wouldn't be too hard to do without a machine. If I hadn't been so tired, I'd have probably done it by hand. I find, with other breads I do by hand. The initial stage of mixing and kneading takes a bit of time but then you have lots of time in between for getting other things done while the dough rises. :) I enjoy the ability to multi-task at those times. :) I've always wanted to try Challah and it seemed fitting to do it today. Then, when I read the article that I linked above, I was more convinced this is a great day for it - we can very much adapt some of that author's ideas to a Christian life as well! :)

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  2. Oh my! This looks delish! I'm going to try it definitely.
    I'm actually doing the 31 days in the House and Home category. I'm not getting comments but I'm enjoying visiting other people's blogs and the different categories as well. I find this all so fascinating with my first time joining in.

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    1. Thanks! It is very delicious! :) I'll have to check out your blog! This is my first year doing this too! :)

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  3. Looks delicious! Thanks for sharing the recipe, I'm looking forward to trying it!

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  4. Challah and a nap ... sound perfect.

    Fondly,
    Glenda

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  5. Thanks for sharing the recipe! I've stopped by to visit from the 31 days FB group.

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    1. Thanks for stopping by to visit! :) I hope you enjoy this recipe (and many more to come)! :)

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