KAF'S Whole Wheat Challah

I spent Shabbat in Tel Aviv with one of my closest friends S, who just up and moved there. Besides for the fact that it was SWELTERING over there and I didnt cool off until well after I returned to Jerusalem, I really enjoyed spending it with her and seeing the city and meeting some of her friends. Obviously, I was going to use the opportunity to bake challot and this week's recipe comes from KAF's Whole Grain Baking book, which I realllly like, if you didnt know that already. The original recipe calls for whole wheat pastry flour, but as I have no idea what that is in Israel, I went ahead and used regular whole wheat. The dough needed more flour than the recipe stated and instead of using white flour I used whole wheat which accounted for the resulting density in the loaves. Thankfully, the loaves, while on the denser side, were not at all dry. The braiding held beautifully and the flavor was nice and hearty a bit nutty with a lovely sweetness from the honey. I kept going for more, although between you and me, when it comes to bread, that's not too difficult. When I get around to it, I'd like to try this again with more white flour in the recipe and see how it turns out. Until then, these challot are off to Yeastspotting once again!

Whole Wheat Challah

adapted from Whole Grain Baking

1/2 cup water

6 tbsp oil

1/4 cup honey

2 eggs

2 cups whole wheat flour

2 cups all purpose or bread flour

1 1/2 tsp salt

2 1/2 tsp yeast

 Place all of the ingredients into a mixing bowl.

 Mix with your hands until a shaggy dough is formed.

 Turn the dough out onto a silicone mat or a clean work surface,

 and knead until a smooth but firm dough is formed.

Place in a greased bowl to rise. Allow to rise until it is doubled in bulk, about 1-2 hours.

Shape the loaves as desired. Even though the holiday season is over, I decided to make rounds. Allow the breads to proof for about an hour. Towards the end of proofing, preheat your oven to 375.

Glaze the breads with a simple egg wash.

Bake the breads for about twenty minutes or until a thermometer registers 190. They should be a deep and lovely brown. Remove to a rack to cool.