Bubbe’s Challah Bread

The other night, I was reading “This is the Challah” book to the girls and Amelia started talking about how she used to get challah bread from school every Friday (she was referring back to when we lived in NJ). In the back of the book, there was a recipe for challah and while we’ve made yummy challah before, this recipe was slightly different. So, we decided to try making it.

I’m so glad we did because the house just smells of fresh bread for days when you make it fresh. And, if you can believe it, it tastes even better than it smells! This bread has that yummy egg crust on the outside but is pillowy soft on the inside. It smells sweet and tastes so so fresh.

Some people save their challah to make Challah French Toast. Others make Challah Bread Pudding with it. While I love baking other things with my Challah, my favorite way to eat it is straight from the oven.

How do you like eating your challah? Let me know in the comments below!

Bubbe's Challah Bread

Servings: 2 challahs
Time: 4 hours
Difficulty: medium
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Ingredients

1 tablespoon + 1/2 cup sugar, divided
1/2 cup warm water
2 packets active dry yeast
4 eggs + 1 egg yolk, divided
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup oil
5 cups flour

Directions

Dissolve 1 tablespoon of sugar in 1/2 cup warm water in a large bowl. Sprinkle yeast on top, and stir to dissolve. Let it stand for 10 minutes until frothy.
In a separate small bowl, beat eggs. Add 1/2 cup sugar, salt and oil. Add the egg mixture to the yeast mixture and stir well.
Gradually mix in 2 cups of the flour. Keep adding additional flour until all 5 cups are mixed in and the dough forms a ball. Cover the dough and let is rest for 10 minutes.
Turn the dough onto a well-floured board and knead for 10 minutes, adding flour if it’s too sticky. Roll the dough into a ball and place in a greased bowl. Cover the bowl with a cloth and let the dough rise in a warm place until doubled in size, about 1 – 1 1/2 hours. Punch down the dough and knead it again for 10 minutes. Cover, and let rise for 1 more hour until doubled in size again.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Divide the dough in half, then divide each half into three equal parts. Roll them into strips and braid three of the strips together fastening the ends securely. Repeat for the other three strips.
Place on a lightly greased baking sheet. Brush with egg yolk and bake for 25-30 minutes, or until golden brown. Enjoy!