Protein filled filling bread–that impresses, too!

I absolutely LOVE making and eating challah bread! The thin cust is slightly crunchy with a wonderfully dense yet easy to eat crumb. Most of the liquid in the bread comes from eggs, making the bread itself filled with protein and very filling. And what a stunner! A six part braid is glazed with egg and sprinkled with seeds for added texture, look, and crunch. The bread comes out nicely golden, so I like using black sesame seeds and poppy seeds on top for contrast.

Ingredients 

4 tbsp instant yeast

1 C / 125 g all purpose flour

1/2 C / 125 ml warm water

6 large eggs

1/2 C / 125 ml vegetable oil

1/2 C / 125 ml honey

3 tsp salt

6 1/2 C / 825 g all purpose flour

1 egg for brushing

Method

Stir together yeast, 1 C / 125 g flour, and water to make a sponge. Cover and let rest 20 minutes. Add eggs, oil, honey, and salt and mix. Add 6 1/2 C / 825 g flour and knead until smooth. Cover and let rise until double–about 2 hours.

Divide the dough into 12 pieces (about 150 g each if using kitchen scales). Leave six of them covered and roll the other six into long snakes of equal length. Place the snakes next to one another to begin braiding. The easiest is to tightly squeeze the ends on one end of the bread together and tuck underneath before braiding. When a little more comfortable with the process, leave them “live” and braid both ends of the loaf from the middle.

1: move the second from the right to the far left.

2: move the far right to the middle.

3: move the second from the left to the far right.

4: move the far left to the middle.

Repeat these four steps until the end:

    

Tuck the last pieces under:

  Cover and let rise 1 hour. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F / 165 degrees C and place the oven rack in the lower 1/3 of the oven.

Brush with egg, sprinkle with desired seeds. Using a skewer, poke deep holes in the bread to prevent air pockets, then bake 20 mins, rotate, and bake 15 additional minutes.

Enjoy!