Bread of the Week: Challah

I love making knotted and braided breads. This is the second time I made challah, first time post, from The Bread Baker's Apprentice. It's the bomb.

My sister was visiting last weekend. While she caught up on sleep, I prepared the dough for rising. Whisk eggs, oil, and water together.

 Add it to flour, sugar, salt, and yeast mixture. Mix with a paddle attachment until it combines then knead with the dough hook.

Once the dough has risen a couple times, combined time two and a half hours, we rolled them into three boules. Let them rest for ten minutes.

Then rolled them out. I missed the book's tip to leave the ends skinnier than the middle to make the most visually appealing challah, so we actually braided it twice.

My sister and I each braided one side.

Brush with egg whites and let it rise on parchment paper for 45 minutes to an hour (our apartment tends to be cool). Bill, my sister, and I took that time to go to the hot yoga studio. Family yoga time.

Usually this recipe book lists a range of time it takes to bake the bread depending on your kitchen. Our oven seems to be leaning towards the hot side, so I would set the timer for the minimum amount of time needed. This time, however, the challah took much much less time than the recipe suggested. Only 25 minutes. I left it in the oven for three more minutes after it was golden brown to make sure the insides are baked through.

Not only is it good to snack on it plain, have it with butter accompanied by eggs and bacon, it's the best BEST bread for french toast.

So much for bread of the week. We have only two slices left after the weekend!