---
title: "Challah"
date: 2023-06-25
hideDate: true
draft: false
---

[Original Recipe](https://cooking.nytimes.com/recipes/7199-my-favorite-challah)

Total Time: 1 hour

# Ingredients

- 1.75 teaspoons active dry yeast
- fourth cup + half tablespoon sugar (or honey)
- fourth cup vegetable oil
- 3 large eggs
- half tablespoon salt
- 4 cups all-purpose flour (could also do half bread)
- Poppy or sesame seeds for sprinkling



# Recipe

1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1¾ cups lukewarm water.
2. Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. (You  can also use a mixer with a dough hook for both mixing and kneading.)
3. Turn dough onto a floured  surface and knead until smooth. Clean out bowl and grease it, then  return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap, and let rise in a warm  place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. Dough may also rise in  an oven that has been warmed to 150 degrees then turned off. Punch down  dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another half-hour.
4. To make a 6-braid challah, either straight or circular, take half the dough and form it into 6  balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches  long and 1½ inches wide. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another.  Pinch the tops of the strands together. Move the outside right strand  over 2 strands. Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right. Take the outside left strand and move it over 2. Move  second strand from the right over to the far left. Start over with the  outside right strand. Continue this until all strands are braided. For a straight loaf, tuck ends underneath. For a circular loaf, twist into a  circle, pinching ends together. Make a second loaf the same way. Place  braided loaves on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2 inches in  between.
5. Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaves. Either freeze breads or let rise another hour.
6. If baking immediately,  preheat oven to 375 degrees and brush loaves again. If freezing, remove  from freezer 5 hours before baking. Then dip your index finger in the  egg wash, then into poppy or sesame seeds and then onto a mound of  bread. Continue until bread is decorated with seeds.
7. Bake in middle of oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden. Cool loaves on a rack.