The second Christmas challah was for a Christmas party at Sara's (Jeffrey's girlfriend) parent's house in NY. Among the guest list was Sara and her parents, Jeffrey, my mom, Jenn, Bailey, a family friend of Sara's parents, and me, so basically it was a bunch of Jews and one non Jewish person celebrating Christmas. But like I said before, I love parties, well as long as their is plenty of food and alcohol, and believe me we had plenty of both! After a very filling meal, an amazing cheese cake, and some great conversation, we were off to bed because the next day we had to drive back to MA in a 5 person vehicle with 5 passengers and a pup in the trunk. Bailey was not so happy about that one :(
Sara and Jeffrey had a driver on the way back to NY from MA. So high maintenance! |
Recipe: (makes 2 loaves)
3/4 cup water
1 packet of active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.5 tbsp honey
1 tbsp sugar
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste
1/4 cup oil
3-4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
Holiday chocolate chips
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.
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 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.
Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air. There are 2 different ways that we made this challah. The first time we had the chips just inside the challah which kept the challah white on the outside. If you do it this way, roll out the strands and put chips in the center of each strand then pinch close. The second time we put chips in the dough, which made the outside of the challah red and white. For this version, divide up the dough and add chips to each portion, then roll out each strand and braid.
If you are making a wreath challah bake for about 18 minutes at 350 or
until internal temperature is around 170. Check out our Braids and Shapes page for information on cooking times for other shapes. If the top of the challah is
getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while
the inside continues to cook.
Oh so festive!
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