First time making Challah Bread and it was a hit! Though not the traditional Challah bread I chose this recipe as when seen it right away though Delicious French Toast for Boxing Day Morning. This is a really rich bread and with the filling even more so but its the holidays…enjoy it! Great with a light lunch or as in my case adds a little variety to the menu. I made a triple batch and worked great, the mixer can handle twice that so don’t hesitate.
- Equipment: Ankarsrum Stainless bowl with Roller/scraper combo
Also the plastic bowl to make topping and fresh butter
Quantity: 3 Full Size loaves
Preheat Oven to 350 degreesIngredients: - 3/4 cup whole milk
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1 1/2 cups butter (please do not use margarine)
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 2 tsp fast rising yeast
- 2 eggs
Filling:
- 1/2 cup butter (skimp)
- 3/4 cup brown sugar
- 1 cups walnuts chopped
- 1 tsp cinnamon
Heat the milk, honey and butter till butter is melted. Allow to cool a bit so h not to hot for yeast. Pour mixture into stainless bowl and add half of the flour, salt and cinnamon. Blend well and add the yeast. Then 1 at a time add the eggs beating after each. Add the remaining flour except for the last cup..only add as much of this as needed to have a soft dough. Continue to knead for another 5 or so minutes till nice and smooth and a bit of shine. Set in warm spot and allow to raise till double. While this is raising mix together the ingredients for the filling in the small plastic bowl.
You will see here I have also made butter..why, I realized after starting I didn’t have enough for the filling so instead of running to a neighbor or worse using margarine I made some out of whipping cream I had in the fridge. 3 cups cream resulted in about 2 cups of butter and 1 cup of butter milk (save for great pancakes) In case you try butter please notice I put a shower cap over the bowl this worked great to prevent the liquid from splashing out once the cream separated into butter. Takes about 5 minutes on high to turn it into butter , once done gently squeeze out excess liquid through a cheese cloth.
Back to the CHallah, once dough has doubled dive into thirds and roll out into a 12 x 6 rectangle and spread 1/3 of the topping on each. Roll up like jelly roll from the long side. Place each roll beside each other squeezing the end together and tucking under. Braid over each other a few times and tuck the end under. Gently lift into a well greased pan and squeeze down just a bit to keep it tight. Cover and allow to raise again till double again. Bake in preheated oven for about 35 minutes. Allow to cool and enjoy….was great about 10 minutes out of the oven..yumm. A few of the little ones were enjoyed by friends and I froze some as well for the holidays.
With that wishing everyone a Wonderful Christmas , our Blog was busy for the last few weeks so will take a break in January and see you again in February when all the baking I thought I would need over the holidays finally runs out. Happy New Year!!!
Find original recipe at www.completelydelicious.com