The Challah Sisters: Nutella White Chocolate Sunburst Challah

Ladies and gentlemen after long anticipating the time has finally come for the eater to become the baker!! Now that my sister has started her internship and working over 40 hours a week (in addition to her 2 hour daily commute) the challah baking has become my job. I would be lying if I said I wasn't nervous! Lindsey is a natural born challah baker, and I wasn't quite sure I could wear the apron as well as she does. Oh and if your wondering if I was able to pull it off the answer is YES! (Lindsey who is my biggest fan and critic enjoyed every bit of it) :D

Since we made the challah on June 21 (aka the summer solstice) I decided to try to make it have a summer solstice theme. Unsure of what I wanted to do I turned to my good and trusty friend GOOGLE!! I came across a picture of bread baked in the shape of a sunburst and immediately knew that that is what I wanted to make. It was a very simple and fun design that can easily be made by even an amateur challah baker!

Recipe: (makes 2 loaves)
3/4 cup water
1 packet of active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar
1/4 cup oil
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste
3-4 cups flour1 tsp salt
Nutella
White Chocolate Chunks
Yellow and Red food coloring

Mix water, yeast, honey and sugar in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in the oven at 120 degrees and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs and oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed.

Since I was going to color the dough later I gradually added some die to the eggs and oil mixture (about 10 drops of the yellow) so that it would already have a yellow tint before it rises.

Add 2 cups of flour, followed by the salt, and then the rest of the flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands.

Knead the ingredients and form into a ball. Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about an hour and a half, or until the dough has doubled in size.

After it had spent about an hour and 15 minutes rising I took the dough and separated it into 3 sections and placed them into 3 separate slightly oiled bowls covered in plastic wrap.

I placed 2 of the bowls in a warm placed while I added in the food dye till the color was just right (add the dye to the dough and knead it so that it is a uniform color)

Once one is colored place it back into a warm place and color the next one

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air. Roll out the strands and spread a layer of Nutella on each strand and then place white chocolate chunks on top of the Nutella. Pinch each strand closed.

We made a Sunburst Challah, but you can do any shape.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet and allow challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.