Braided Round Challah
Servings: 1 loaf
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Ingredients
- 2¼ tsp active dry yeast
- 1 cup warm water (115-120° F)
- 4 cups bread flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp salt
- golden raisins (optional)
- 2 whole eggs at room temperature
- 1 egg white at room temperature
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
Instructions
- Proof the yeast in the warm water for 15 minutes.
- Combine the bread flour, sugar, salt and (optional) golden raisins in a large mixing bowl.
- Add in the yeast mixture, 2 whole eggs and the vegetable oil.
- Knead the ingredients by hand in a bowl until the dough becomes smooth and elastic, about 10 minutes. A dough/bowl scraper helps in the process.
- Place the dough in a well-oiled bowl. Cover the dough with a clean cloth and allow it to rise in a warm place for 2 hours or until it's doubled in size.
- Punch down the dough and divide it into 4 equal parts. Using a kitchen scale ensures the parts are of equal size.
- Roll each piece into a thin strand about 26-28 inches. All 4 pieces should be the same length.
- To braid the challah, place 2 of the strands next to each vertically on a board. Weave the remaining two strands horizontally over and under the vertical strands midway lengthwise. The result should look like a plus sign with no spaces between the strands. There should be two strands pointing in each direction. (See Recipe Notes)
- For each group of 2 strands (top, bottom, left, right), take the strand on the left and cross it over the strand on the right leaving no space between the strands.
- Next, do the same action only take the strand on the right and cross it over the strand on the left, again leaving no space between the strands.
- Repeat crossing the strands over each other, alternating directions until you run out of dough. Take the ends and pinch them closed and tuck the under the loaf.
- Carefully transfer the braided loaf to a pizza peel lined with parchment paper. Alternatively, you can transfer the loaf to a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.
- Cover the bread and allow to rise an additional hour.
- If you have the dough on a parchment-lined pizza peel and you have a pizza stone, put the pizza stone in the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Otherwise, just preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Brush the top and crevices of the bread with the beaten egg white.
- If using a pizza peel and stone, carefully slide the parchment paper and bread onto the pizza stone. Otherwise, put the loaf that is on the baking sheet in the oven.
- Bake for about 26 minutes, or until the internal temperature of the bread is 190°F.
- Cool on a wire rack.
Notes
There are numerous images and videos online that show the braiding process.