Challah Bread

4 /12 cups flour
1 1/4 cup warm water (110 degrees)
1 tbsp dry yeast
4 tbsp sugar
2 eggs
1/4 cup oil (I prefer canola or light olive oil)
1 1/2 tsp salt

Toss 3 cups of the flour into a electric mixer. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour the water. Sprinkle the yeast and 1 tbsp sugar over the water. Gentle stir the water and yeast. Let that sit until foamy. Next add 3 tbsp sugar, eggs, oil and sat on top of the yeast mixture. Mix together until a for about 2 minutes. Beat in the remaining flour 1/2 cup at a time. The dough will become stiff, sticky and pull away from the sides. This is were I switch to a dough hook. I continue to knead for about 5 minutes and add 1 tbsp of flour only if dough sticks. The dough should be smooth and elastic. Grease a deep bowl and put dough in once and flip to coast, Cover with plastic wrap and let rise until doubled.

Gently punch down the dough and turn it over, recover and let rise again until double. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Divide the dough into 3 portions and roll into ropes placing on baking sheet. You might need to flour the surface your rolling on. Next pinch the ends into a point and tuck them under, braid the dough and pinch and tuck the end again.

1 egg
1 tsp water

Beat together and lightly brush the top with half the egg mixture. Cover loosely with a the plastic wrap light oil it. and let rise until doubled. Brush the dough with the remaining egg mixture and bake at 350 for about 30-45 minutes or until it is golden brown. Makes 1 loaf

A new braid we tried with the challah dough for Easter of 2012.  It turned out beautiful and the bread was nice and moist.