When I was a young kid we had 3 types of bread. On weekdays we had white bread and black bread, on shabbat we had challah. Nutritionally, the difference between white bread and black was minimal, the black bread got its name because it was darker than the white bread and was a little bit healthier. It wasn’t whole wheat, back then people didn’t even speak in these terms and there was no real awareness of different types of wheat. So the choice of bread was by the taste. On weekdays, I liked white bread, but the one I loved the most was shabbat’s challah. There were three types of challah, the regular one shaped like a rectangular box, the round one, and the best of all the braided challah. Usually it was the regular challah on our Friday dinner table, but on holidays my parents bought the braided one. After blessing, my father would rip pieces of the challah into the salt and pass it on to us. Since then, the sweetness of the challah combined with salt has always been associated for me with holidays.
Ingredients
3 ½ cups flour
1 TBS dry yeast
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
¼ cup oil
200 ml water
1 tsp salt
Place flour, yeast and sugar in mixer bowl with a kneading hook and stir. Add remaining ingredients and knead for 10 minutes on medium speed. Place the dough in an oiled bowl, cover with plastic wrap and let rise for 2 hours, until dough is doubled.
Heat oven to 350 f (180 c). Punch down kneaded dough and divide into 3 equal parts. Roll each part into long snakes about 1.5 inch in diameter. Pinch the ends of the three snakes firmly together and braid from middle. Cover the challah with a damp towel and let rise for 1 hour.
Brush with beaten egg, sprinkle sesame seeds and bake for 30 minutes, until brown.
Baking tip: place an oven proof bowl with water in the bottom of the oven, the water vapor will prevent the challah from drying.
