HAPPY EASTER!

It seemed a bit appropriate considering the time of year for my debut to be something warm, festive and, of course, yummy! I bring to you "CHALLAH, the disclaimer."

Challah starts off like any other bread, egg, in some variation, milk, maybe, salt, sugar, flour, yeast (DUH!) and flour, in some variation. Anyone can do a lot with these basic ingredients and manipulate their product to whatever they desire. I learned a lot making Naan, a traditional Middle Eastern bread, and this baked good went just as well!

Ingredients & Directions, courtesy of ALLRECIPES.COM

http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Decadent-Challah-Bread/Detail.aspx?event8=1&prop24=SR_Thumb&e11=challa%20bread&e8=Quick%20Search&event10=1&e7=Home%20Page&soid=sr_results_p1i3

2 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons honey

1/2 cup and 2 tablespoons warm water

1 teaspoon active dry yeast

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup olive oil

1 eggs

2-1/2 cups unbleached flour, plus more if needed

2 tablespoons milk

1 tablespoon olive oil

1/2 egg white

1-1/2 teaspoons white sugar

DISCLAIMER: The original recipe is twice this amounts and makes 2 loaves, but ain’t nobody got time for that! Anywhoo, it was a pain to mix solo by hand, but I got it done. Like most bread-making-escapades, I get nervous in the mixing part about having the perfect dry ingredient:wet ingredient ratio. In keeping with the -business name- vibe, I purposefully made sure not to have exact measurements or be too knit-picky. We want to provide you with an environment where you would feel comfortable replicating these recipes in your own kitchen without feeling like you have to shop in “those aisles” for “really expensive herbs or something.”

For starters, I used Fleischmann’s RapidRise Yeast, which comes in individual ¼ oz packets. The recipe calls for 1 teaspoon. I had some serious doubts, times of achievement and then frustration when trying to convert ounces into teaspoons  -_-  It was overall upsetting. So I  settled on using 1 packet and moving onward! If you don’t know, and I hope you would, yeast is probably THE MOST important ingredient in bread as it makes and gives the product rise, depth and volume. According to breadworld.com, “Yeast is a single-celled microorganism that is classified in the kingdom Fungi. These microorganisms exist all around us – in soil, on plants and even in the air. The main purpose of yeast is to serve as a catalyst in the process of fermentation, which is essential in the making of bread. While there are many types - or strains - of yeast, at Fleischmann’s, our sole focus is on Saccharomyces cerevisiae. This is the yeast that is most commonly used in making bread.”  So I figured if the bread didn’t rise as much or too less, doubtful, I’ll know!

Again, as I made Naan I wrote the same information down and now seeing how important they are ... Measuring Cups and Spoon … a bread bakers’ Swiss Army Knife lol But seriously, when measuring oil in a tablespoon or ⅓ cup out of a bigger sized cup, you begin to question other significant life decisions.

While kneading the dough, I put my oven on warm, about 100*. My house is fairly cold and it is important Challah lays in a warm area to allow for a good rise. With my oven heated and bread ready for the oven, I greased a glass bowl and packed 2 dish towels on top.

Once finished rising, the challah was ready to be punched, cut and prepped for the oven. Total rise time was 60 minutes, give or take, in the heated oven. It came out a really nice sticky dough from the greased up bowl with a semi-hardened top. (**Definitely suggest using a damp towel with a dry towel on top. Halfway through go in and manipulate the dough a little bit and air out any excess liquid.) The post-rise kneading was nothing to intense as the dough needed to stay flexible in order to be rolled in to long pieces of dough to be braided. I also noticed that the longer the dough lied around it would become a bit damper. I made sure my hands were lightly floured when braiding.

Once the dough was cut in to 4 pieces, I worked each one to form long braided pieces. I had never realized the many ways Challah can be braided nor made. As stated before, the longer the dough sat, the damper it became so I scrambled towards my laptop and youtube’d 4 strand Challah bread and VOILA! Next Goal: 6 Strand

Other changes:

**2 egg whites were used instead of 1 egg. The whites also help the dough in creating an airy-ness

**I did not have a brush to put the wash on correctly so I used a combination of spooning on the mix and dabbing with a paper towel.