Ingredients

*Brand recommendations on some that Tiffany loves if you can find them - though any brand works. :)​​

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• 1 cup hot water (95–105 degrees) 

• 1 packet (or 2 1/4 tsp) fast-acting yeast 

• 3½ cups of flour (plus a little more to sprinkle on counter for kneading) 

• 2 eggs (1 for bread, 1 for topping)

• ⅓ cup sugar 

• ¼ cup canola oil (plus 2 to 3 tablespoons for greasing the bowl) 

• ½ tbsp salt 

• oil spray (for pan)
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• Everything-bagel-seed topping (otherwise known as “Tornado Dust.” You can order it from the Great Barrington Bagel Company, or buy the Trader Joe’s version. You can also make it yourself from poppy seeds, sesame seeds, toasted garlic, and kosher salt.)

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Directions

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Note: The dough will need about 5 hours to rise. 

 

1. Combine 1 cup hot water (not so hot as to burn the yeast) with one package of fast-rising yeast.

 

2. Add ⅓ cup sugar to the bowl and mix together.

 

3. Let the yeast mixture sit for at least 30 minutes until it gets activated. It will look foamy and “bloom.”

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4. Add 2 cups flour. This is a great time to taste the dough (before the raw egg is added).

 

5. In a separate bowl, beat together one egg and ¼ cup canola oil. Then stir this into the flour mixture. Slowly add the remaining 1½ cups of flour and ½ tablespoon salt.

 

6. Sprinkle some flour on the counter and then dump the dough onto it. Flour your hands so the dough won’t stick to them, and knead away. Push, pull, knead, fold the dough on itself, and repeat. The feeling of dough between your fingers and flour being mixed together on Friday mornings is truly one of life’s great pleasures. We sometimes sing the following song as we knead the challah: “Challah, challah, challah, watch it rise! Push your love into it, way up high!” (Once Odessa and Blooma were fighting when we were kneading the challah, and some anger was pushed into that challah, too, and it turned out to be our fluffiest one ever. Lots of hot air is apparently also good to make it rise.)

 

7. Grease bowl with 2–3 tablespoons of canola oil. Put dough back in, and cover tightly with plastic wrap, then place a damp towel on top. Allow to sit and rise for approximately five hours.

 

8. Then, divide the fluffy risen dough into three separate balls. With your hands, roll out each of the three separate balls into a medium-length ropelike strand. Braid the strands together, then place on a baking sheet coated with cooking spray. 

 

9. In a separate bowl, beat one egg. Brush the top of the challah with the egg for a lovely glaze effect. Then add the “everything” on top. Give the challah a second rise for extra fluffiness, letting it rise for another hour or two.

 

10. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and slide that loaf of love in the oven. Bake for about 25 or 30 minutes. To test for doneness, gently poke the challah. It should give a bit but shouldn’t be too doughy.

 

11. Remove from the oven and let cool a bit. We like to serve it by tearing off a piece and sharing it to the person next to you.

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