Sourdough challah

24 Servings

Ingredients

Quantity Ingredient
1 cup Sourdough starter (it should be parev if you are serving challah with meat)
1 cup Very warm water
1 tablespoon Yeast or
1 pack Yeast
1 tablespoon Honey
7 cups Bread flour; or more (High gluten with a bit of barley flour-I buy it in bulk at the local whole foods store. If you don't have that use unbleached all purpose flour.)
2 teaspoons Salt
3 Eggs
¼ cup Vegetable oil (approx)
1 Egg yolk mixed with:
3 drops Water ; more or less
Poppy seeds

Directions

From: dkuttner@... (Donna Holberg Kuttner) Date: Thu, 18 Jul 1996 23:21:34 -0700 1. Mix starter, water, yeast, and honey and let it bubble up while you do next step.

2. In a large bowl mix 4 cups of the flour and salt.

3. Make a well in the center of the flour/salt mixture and add eggs and oil.

4. Add the frothy yeast mixture and stir with a thick-handled wooden spoon or paddle if you have one.

5. Add flour until the mixture pulls away from the bowl. It need not be smooth.

6. Sprinkle flour on a counter or kneading board and put the dough in the middle. Scrape as much as you can from the mixing bowl and then wash the bowl for use in a later step.

7. Knead the bread adding flour until it is smooth and elastic. It should feel like a baby's bare bottom when you pat it.

8. Place the dough in the mixing bowl which you have oiled. Cover with waxed paper and a tea towl and set it in a warm place to rise. It is ready when you can see your finger marks in the dough after you poke it.

9. Turn it out on the board/counter and mash it down to remove large air bubbles. Braid into two or four loaves and place on oiled cookie sheets.

Let rise for another half hour. 10. Set oven to 350F. Glaze leaves with egg yolk mixture and sprinkle liberally with poppy seeds. Bake for about a half hour rotating the trays in the oven. Loaves should sound hollow when thumped. Let cool.

I usually make into 4 small loaves and freeze the ones I don't use. When I am needing them I wrap frozen loaves in foil and bake at 350F for about 15 minutes.

JEWISH-FOOD digest 268

From the Jewish Food recipe list. Downloaded from Glen's MM Recipe Archive, .

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