So I had originally intended to save this recipe for some sort of holiday or celebration period, but one popped up right in front of my eyes: my bestest friend's birthday! I had originally intended to force Lora to learn how to make some sort of simple bread just to share the joy I get when I make something as exciting as bread. Looking through the book, Lora decided on challah just because the name excited her so much. So, off we went to pick up some yeast and bread flour!
Challah is a traditionally Jewish bread, most notable for its use of a large number of eggs. Since we made it in celebration of Lora's birthday, we ended up making the double-braided celebration-style loaf. This style was created to remember the manna that fell from Heaven while the Israelites travelled through the desert. Since the manna did not fall from the sky on holidays or the sabbath, a double batch would fall the day before. Astounding!
The recipe itself is very simple. Flour, sugar, salt, yeast, vegetable oil and eggs, a combination of whole eggs and additional yolks. Mix it all up and knead!
The dough mixed up very easily and wasn't too tough to knead. We were intending to force Rio to do all the hard work, but she walked away the moment she got done with the light mixing. It figures!
At this point, we let it rise, degassed it (Lora's favorite step), let it rise again and braided it. This step was a crowd pleaser.
At this point, we used the remaining eggs whites to make an egg wash to paint on the loaf for its final proofing. Rio was extremely proud of her miniscule whisk.
After its proofing, we painted it one last time and put it in the oven. At this point, we turned the remaining egg whites into meringue for the strawberries we were eating.
There were a few problems with the baking process. First, the oven was about half the size of my oven at home, which I neglected to recognize at the time. With a loaf of this size, the top of the mini-braid was incredibly close to the broiler. After the first twenty minutes of baking, the top was already very well done. Since the remainder of the bread was still somewhat doughy, I had to drop the rack to the bottom of the oven. Since I didn't have any parchment paper, this ended up somewhat scorching the bottom of the loaf. Oops!
Nobody really seemed to care, though! Within a very short time, the loaf was torn apart and devoured by the various residents of the house. Unfortunately, we didn't have any poppy seeds or sesame seeds for the top of the loaf. Also, Reinhart mentions that we could have doubled the amount of sugar to create a sweeter bread. I quite enjoyed it as it was, though. It had a great, rich flavor, but was still something I could enjoy as an everyday sandwich bread, if it had been made as a regular loaf. If only the bottom hadn't turned into a slate of coal.
Challah? Check.
Next week? Ciabatta, potentially with mushrooms or onions and herbs.
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