Challah

This recipe makes two loaves of traditional challah bread. Shabbat shalom! שבת שלום!

Unbalanced

% Daily Values based on a 2,000 calorie diet

Step 1

Stir together the ingredients for the starter.

Step 2

Cover with a clean kitchen towel and let rest for 15 minutes. If it rises a little and gets bubbly, great! You can move on. If it looks the same as before, your yeast might be dead. If that's the problem, go buy some fresh yeast and start over.

Step 3

Add the first three ingredients for the dough into the bowl with the starter. Mix until combined.

Step 4

Add the last two ingredients.

Step 5

Stir this together with a spatula until it looks like the ingredients are combined (you shouldn't be able to see the flour).

Step 6

Empty the contents of the bowl onto your counter or a clean pastry mat. Knead the dough with your hands. At this point, the dough should be elastics and kind of tacky, but not too sticky. It should be able to form into a ball.

Step 7

Place the dough ball into a lightly-oiled bowl. Cover it with plastic wrap.

Step 8

Let it rise for two hours. You can do this on the counter at room temperature, but you can also put it in a proofing drawer or in the oven on a proofing function. If those aren't options for you but you still refuse to leave it on the counter, you can boil a small pot of water and leave it on the bottom rack of your oven. Then, place the bowl of dough on the rack above it. Close the oven door but don't turn it on. Leave it there for the two hours. This creates a warm, moist environment in which the dough can rise.

Step 9

After the two hours, knead the dough once again, then split it in half. (Each half will become one loaf.) Take one half, cut it into as many even pieces as you want strands, and braid it. Then, repeat with the second half.

Step 10

Transfer the loaves of bread to your trays (which you should line with parchment paper). Put each challah one one tray, so you should be using two. That way, they don't morph into one giant challah when they rise. Let them rest for 25 minutes. (See Step 8 for instructions on proofing methods.)

Step 11

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

Step 12

Beat the eggs together for the egg wash. I like to use a fork to do so. Brush that over the loaves once they've risen. If you run out of egg wash, make some more. It's not rocket science.

Step 13

Put the two trays into the oven. Bake for 13 minutes.

Step 14

Switch the trays from top to bottom and turn them around. Then, bake them for 13 more minutes (for a total of 26). This will help them bake more evenly. You want them to be golden-brown, so depending on your oven, you may need to bake them for a little longer.

Step 15

Once they're done baking, let them cool a little bit before tearing into them. (I believe that challah should always be torn rather than sliced. Nobody can change my mind. It just tastes... ✨better✨ that way.