Challah-ween!

 

Happy Challah-ween!! Its taken a while but the wannabe J.A.P. Ostin has finally learned how to make challah, and even Nessy was a fan of the chocolatey creation. I have also gained some practice at becoming a challah baking housewife and I hope that these skill will one day help me find myself a nice Jewish boy who will want to wife me up! But for now the 3 of us will just enjoy the single life.

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
Nutella
Heath
Chocolate Chips
White Chocolate Chunks
Pink 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.

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 30 minutes rising take the dough out and see if you want to add any more dye. Add in the dye by dropping dye on the dough and kneading it until it is a uniform color.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air. Roll out the strands and spread a layer of Nutella and Peanut butter and place some chocolate chips, Heath, and white chocolate chips on top. Pinch each strand closed.

We made a challies or single knot challahs.

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.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg and 1/2 tbsp water).

Bake for about 25 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. 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.