yum...challa

Actually "ghhghhghAHla", as my sweet Jewish pastor's wife pointed out. Yummmy bread, which uses an egg dough that tastes best when left to ferment a bit in the fridge for a few days. The dough recipe originally called for 1/2 cup of melted butter, which I accidentally left out, but would again, because who needs all that butter?? Instead, I brushed butter on the fresh, hot bread, and that moistened it up just enough!





so, here ya have it:





1 3/4 cups lukewarm water


1 1/2 tbl instant yeast


1 1/2 tsp table salt


4 lg eggs, slightly beaten


1/2 cup honey


7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour



In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, water, honey, yeast and salt. Stir well. Add in the flour. STIR, BABY STIR!!! Stir until you don't see any more dry bits of flour. Spray with cooking oil, cover with plastic wrap and stick it in the refrigerator overnight, or up to 4 days. The longer you let it stay in the refrigerator, the better tasting the dough will be.



pssst....if you want, you can let it rise for 2 hours on the counter, pinch off the dough that you need to make your Challah. However, I've found that with only a 2-hour rise, the bread isn't very flavorful. Still good, but definitely not as good as if you had let it sit 1-4 days in the refrigerator.





1 lb of Master Challah Dough (above) about a grapefruit sized chunk of dough


4 1/2 tbl Nutella

small egg + 1 tbl water, whisked to make egg wash



The first thing you need to do is take that master dough out of the refrigerator, grab a grapefruit sized chunk of dough. Return the rest of it to the refrigerator to use another time. Generously flour your hands and the dough. Shape the dough into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough and tucking it to the bottom all around, rotating the ball a quarter-turn as you go. This creates a taut, smooth surface. Let the dough hang out on counter a bit, to take the chill off.





Braid Dough: Now, back to the dough. Use palm of your hands and roll the dough into a thick, even log. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces with knife or dough scraper. (It's easier to cut even pieces when the dough is not round). Roll each piece with your hands to stretch into a long 1 1/2" thick rope. Try not to just stretch it out by pulling, the dough will break. Easiest way is to place dough on counter and roll back and forth with palms of hands, starting in the middle and hands move out which stretching the dough a bit. Don't worry about getting it to look pretty, just try to get each piece even sized.
Time to add the Nutella. Take one piece of dough. Use your thumb or the side of your hand to press and create an indent in the middle of the strand. Spread about 1 1/2 tbl of Nutella in this indent.





Bring up the sides of the dough, encasing the Nutella and pinch dough closed. Repeat with other strands. Don't have to be perfect. It's messy, I know, but it's NUTELLA and worth every finger lickin' mess.
Pinch it up! I found that it worked best to lightly press a butter knife along the center, and use my left hand to pinch it up by grabbing the very edges.





Let's braid! Start in the middle and braid. Pinch ends, tuck under. Now braid the other side, pinch and tuck. Start braid from the middle (instead of top) so that it tapers evenly at both ends. I tried to keep the seam side UP, so that the filling did not melt out as it baked. There will be places where it splits open, but that is okay.





Again, spray and cover with saran wrap, then a soft towle, and let rest for 1-1/2 hours. 20 minutes prior to baking, preheat your oven to 350F.
When dough is ready to be baked, brush top with egg wash. OPTIONAL: sprinkle with chopped hazelnuts. Bake for 25 minutes. While still warm, brush with 1/3 cup melted butter, generously coating the entire surface of the braid.

Emme helped me, so along with her own mini-braid, she made an "E", and "L", and a "V" to give to her brother and sister. This recipe made about 3 large braids. Enjoy!