This delicious homemade challah bread is the highlight of our traditional weekly Friday night meal. We started this tradition nearly eight years ago and it is always a time of relaxation, celebration and gratitude. In this fast paced, hectic life, we have found it life giving to set aside one night a week for family to come together and just enjoy each other’s company around good food.
Beauty in the Symbols of Challah Bread
This bread is a Hebrew sweet bread that is often eaten on the Sabbath. The two loaves that were to be placed on the sabbath table are said to represent the double portion of God’s provision of manna for the day of rest. And the twisted braids are said to represent family unity, love, peace, truth and justice. Isn’t that a beautiful thing to think about? Whilst we do not observe a super strict sabbath day of rest as a family, we do try to set aside one day out of the seven (most weeks) to rest and recuperate from a hard weeks work.
Everybody in our family loves challah bread… it is soft, sweet and fluffy – what’s not to love? It is such a perfect accompaniment to any meal. The dough is fairly straight forward and easy to make. Just combine ingredients and mix well. The platting or braiding takes a little practice but before long you will be creating artful loaves to take centre stage on your table spread.
Challah Ingredients:
6 cups bakers flour
1 1⁄2 tablespoons active dry yeast 1 tablespoon honey
2 cups warm water
1⁄2 cup avocado oil
1 tablespoon salt
2 eggs
1 egg whisked for egg wash
2 tablespoons sesame seeds (optional)
Preheat oven to 400 degrees fahrenheit.
Method:
In a small glass bowl combine warm water, yeast and honey. Stir and allow a couple of minutes for yeast to activate. Meanwhile in a large mixing bowl, add flour, olive oil, salt and eggs. Once the yeast mixture has begun to activate (you will see yeast bubbles and movement in the water), add this to the large mixing bowl. Stir to combine and continue mixing until all ingredients are fully incorporated. Use a wooden spoon or mix with your hands to fully mix in. It should form a sticky dough. Cover with a tea towel and leave in a warm place to rise for 1 hour.
Pour a little olive oil on clean counter top or chopping board and coat flat of hands with olive oil to prevent sticking. Tip dough onto olive oil. Divide into two equal portions either with sharp knife or dough cutter. Place one half aside. Divide second portion into three equal parts. Plait to form a braid. Pinch under at the end to form a loaf shape. Repeat for second loaf. Whisk 1 egg in a cup. Use a pastry brush to brush top of loaf with egg wash. Sprinkle with sesame seeds. Repeat for second loaf. Place loaves on parchment paper on a cooking stone in hot oven. Cook for 25 minutes.
Remove from oven and place on cooling rack for 20 minutes to cool. Serve as-is or by tearing a piece off and serving with lashings of butter.
Check out this article on making Simple sourdough bread
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