Our bread maker is an old Toastmaster that we have had a long time, and it has been through A LOT. It’s a little bit beat up with a lid that doesn’t fit on quite right, from when it fell off the kitchen counter a few times. Fortunately, it still works… mostly. We are kind of in the market for a new bread maker, but in the meantime, I use our old faithful Toastmaster. I might be a little bit sad when it has to go.
Bread makers don’t seem to like me very much, so I don’t use them very often. The bread I make in them always falls! So lately, I’ve been using our bread maker just to start doughs for me. It’s been great for starting cinnamon roll dough and challah bread dough!
Challah Bread
Ingredients
Ingredients:
- 2 eggs, room temperature plus enough water at 80 degrees F/27 degrees C to equal 1½ cups
- 1/4 cup vegetable or canola oil
- 2 tbsp sugar
- 2 tsp salt
- 4 ½ cup bread flour
- 2 tsp active dry yeast
Glaze:
- 2 egg yolks, beaten
- 1 tbsp water
Topping:
- 1 ½ tbsp poppy seeds, optional
Instructions
Directions:
- Place eggs, water, vegetable oil, sugar, and salt in the bread pan. Then, place bread flour into the bread pan and spread it out to the edges of the pan. Make a little well in the middle of the flour and pour the yeast into it.
- Use the dough cycle on your bread maker.
- When dough cycle is finished, place the bread dough on a lightly floured surface. Divide the dough into thirds, making three 13-inch-long ropes with tapered edges. Pinch ropes together at one end and braid together. Pinch together at the other end and secure braid.
- Transfer braided dough to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper; cover and let rise in a warm place for 1 hour or until doubled in size.
- Combine glaze ingredients and brush onto braid. Sprinkle with poppy seeds and bake at 350 degrees F/177 degrees C for 25 minutes, or until done.
I don’t think the recipe I use is really authentic. I made challah rolls for Easter lunch and that dough had honey in it. (By the way, those rolls were amazing. I was practically dropping a few on the floor by accident, just so I could eat them.) This one does not. The recipe is just from the manual that came with our Toastmaster. Somehow, that manual has survived up until now, though its cover is falling off and it’s getting a little tattered on the edges.
I can’t describe how much I love this bread… This recipe makes a HUGE loaf. It’s enough to feed my family and then some. After making the bread topped with poppy seeds once, I usually leave them off now. I make sure to do the egg glaze though. It just gives the bread a really beautiful color.
Sometimes I succeed at making a pretty braid for my challah bread, and sometimes I don’t. I’ve also overproofed the dough. It doesn’t seem to matter though. My family eats this bread up no matter what it looks like.
My kids will request challah bread. If we have it around, they ask for me to use it for grilled cheese.
So if you have a large family who loves homemade bread, this is a really simple one to do! This challah bread looks pretty and it tastes great and leftovers will get eaten up as soon as possible!
-Lynn