Challah

(3 strand & 4 strand)

So Saturday I really wanted to make something, and I decided it would be bread. Asked Scott what sort of bread he'd like and he said "Challah"; all because he found this:

Best Turkey Sandwich Ever

So I set out to find a recipe which I'll share later. Once I had, discovered we didnt have enough honey, I needed "bread flour" (which is quite the opposite of all the gluten free flours i bought last week) and most importantly, my yeast packets expired 2 years ago. So he offered to go buy them for me (and even changed the oil in my car while he was out, such a nice husband) He was going to buy a loaf while he was out, but the baker at the grocery store he chose had no idea what he was talking about or that a word could be spelled in any way like this one is.

So yesterday I did the baking bit. Most recipes I found called for honey instead of sugar, but then this recipe seemed the "easiest" to give it a try. There were a few that were really complicated and I'm sure delicious but we pretty much used the one linked up.
Only differences - sub honey for sugar (1 to 1). 6 c of flour was perfect. egg yolk went into batter, egg white was mixed with tsp honey for a wash before baking. I wasn't completely clear on the instructions as to how much it makes, but it turned out 2 loaves.

I also realized I had no idea how to shape my bread (thinking I remembered it was braided, so I had to learn how that is done).

I found these videos from Expert Village on You Tube
3 Stranded
4 Stranded
6 stranded

I chose a 3 strand & a 4 strand for my two loaves (though this morning I found another video that looks fun - a 1 strand braid.

So, after all that. The recipe says 375. My oven seems to think that is entirely too hot... so 10 minutes in, after a bit of burning started, we dropped it to 350 and cooked a total of 40 minutes.

Hooray for my very first, slightly dark but totally delicious Challah loaves.