by Cherise James

Created on: January 20, 2009   Last Updated: August 29, 2009

Challah is a Jewish bread traditionally served for Sabbath and holiday meals. It is usually braided, anything from a simple three strand braid to beautiful and complex braids of four or more strands. For the fall holy days, particularly Rosh Hashanah, the loaves are often simple spirals, and usually include raisins or other sweet additions.

This recipe is not traditional, but is rather the result of my tinkering over time to create a whole-grain recipe that would work well and be delicious. A friend of mine said it tasted like his grandmother's challah, which I took as a high compliment. This recipe yields three loaves, though I often make one loaf worth into cinnamon rolls instead. Leftover bread freezes very well, or makes outstanding french toast and bread pudding.

Challah

3/4 cup warm water

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

3 teaspoons sugar

1 cup rolled oats, ground

5 cups whole wheat flour, fresh ground

1/2 cup sugar, more to taste

1/4 cup Goatein or sweet dairy whey or tofu milk powder

1 cup coconut oil, melted and cooled to lukewarm

6 eggs, room temperature

2 1/2 teaspoons salt

1 cup warm water

3 cups all-purpose, unbleached flour

1 egg, beaten

1 pinch salt

Poppy seeds or sesame seeds (optional)

Pour water into a large bowl and sprinkle the yeast over it. Sprinkle the sugar over the yeast, then cover and wait for the yeast to proof. When the yeast is foamy, add the next 8 ingredients, and stir until you have a smooth batter. Cover and allow a sponge to form, should take about 20 minutes.

When the sponge has foamed up, add 2 3/4 cups of the all-purpose flour and stir until fully incorporated. Pinch dough with a quick, light pinch, it should be soft and elastic, and not stick to your fingers. If it does stick, add more flour by tablespoons, thoroughly stir to incorporate after each addition. When the dough is not sticking to your fingers, take it out of the bowl and lightly knead it for a short time. Challah dough should not be overworked! Put dough in a very large, lightly oiled bowl, turn to coat with the oil, cover and allow to rise until doubled, 1 to 1 1/2 hours (challah needs a warm, moist environment to rise in, inside the oven with some hot water in a pan under it usually works well). Dump dough, punch down and briefly knead again. Return to the bowl, allow to rise until doubled again.

Dump out and gently form dough into a ball. Cut into three equal pieces, cover two of them. Take the other piece, cut it into three equal pieces, roll them into ropes

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