Breadsmith's Challah

This week's Challah recipe is the final basic challah recipe in the Blessing of Bread section for Ashkenazic breads. This is the author's version of Breadsmith's Challah, Breadsmith being a kosher artisan style bakery in Chicago that I am not familiar with. The dough requires a long and rigorous mixing that can be only handled by machine, something I don't usually do. But I gracefully accepted deference to my revered KitchenAid and got over it. I made one batch of dough as, once again, we were very few people. Out of sheer laziness, I added the two full eggs (if you're able to see the recipe, you'll know what I mean) and I think that's the reason I had to add more flour to compensate for the extra liquid. However, I had to add alot, not a ton, maybe a quarter cup, more flour. All in all, the dough came together, and my mixer never even danced off the counter. Woohoo! The color turned out very nicely as did the crumb. This challah is so ethereally soft and it had good flavor. The vanilla extract lends a barely there flavor. Texture wise, this challah is a winner. Another good experience. All in all, I must say, that my favorite challah so far has been Doris Koplen's Sweet Challah. Check out that post. Until then, my search for the perfect challah continues. Any recipes or thoughts are totally welcome.



Here is the oil and flour mixed together to allow smoother incorporation of the oil.


The dry goods,
and the water, vanilla and eggs.
After all that had been mixed, I added the oil slurry,
and combined well. After ten minutes of vigorous mixing, the dough was ready to rise.
See? Ready to rise.
Ready to be shaped!
Here are the breads shaped. I divided the dough into six balls. For each bread, I rolled out two pieces and twisted them. Then, I coiled them to make rounds.
Proofed and ready to bake.

Here they are, ready to be devoured!