Best.Challah.Ever

This is it. This is the best. I was never routinely successful with challah before this recipe... and now I am / we are. I say we are, because this is a team effort. I make and knead the dough on Thursday night, and my associate Ben shapes, proofs, and bakes it just before Shabbat. It's the workingman's or workingwoman's challah: since it rises over night, it just needs 15 minutes of your time on Thursday and another 45 minutes or so on Friday. It's tender, elastic, full-flavored (thanks to the long rise!!), and chewy without being gummy. It's perfect.

This recipe makes two large loaves. If you have people over, I guarantee both loaves will be gone by the end of dinner.

Best.Challah.Ever

7 cups all-purpose flour (I've successfully done about 5.5 cups white and 1.5 cups whole wheat, when I ran out of white).
2 rounded tsp active dry yeast (about one packet).
2 eggs, beaten (plus one more for glaze, the following day)
scant 1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup sugar
2 cups warm water

On Thursday night (ideally around 10 pm but it's flexible):

Combine the yeast and warm water; stir until dissolved. Once it is well-dissolved, add it to the sugar, salt, and 3.5 cups of flour in a large bowl. Mix well. I use a wooden spoon, but you could probably use a dough hook in a mixer too. Add the beaten eggs and oil; mix thoroughly. Slowly start mixing in the rest of the flour in 1/2 to 1 cup increments, mixing each in before you add the next. Whether you need to add all of the flour (or need to add a little more) will depend on the weather -- you're looking for a workable but somewhat sticky dough. You can always add more flour bit by bit as you're kneading -- if you add too much, the challah will be dry and stiff.

As soon as the dough is workable (won't stick more than a little bit to your hands), turn it onto a floured surface (I use a large cutting board) and knead vigorously about 10 minutes, until it passes the windowpane test. Add more flour as necessary to keep the dough manageable, but as little as possible. Once the dough is ready, clean out your bowl, oil it lightly, and put the dough ball back into it, turning once so that the dough is oiled on all sides. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (or a garbage bag if like me you don't have plastic wrap) and stick in the fridge.

Friday morning:
Punch down the dough with about three good punches. Re-cover with plastic wrap.

Friday evening:
At least an hour before you want to eat the challah, remove the dough from the fridge. Grease two medium cookie sheets. Divide the dough in two. Divide each half into four pieces. Roll out three of the pieces into snakes about one foot long or as long as you want your challah to be. Braid them, pinching the ends so they stick together. Divide the remaining fourth piece into three pieces; braid them, and set that braid on top of the larger braid. Place this challah on the cookie sheet, and repeat with the other half of the dough; place on the other cookie sheet. Let rise about 30 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 375 degrees.

After 30 minutes, brush the dough thoroughly with beaten egg. (Sprinkle with sesame seeds or poppy seeds if these challot aren't intended for Ben.) Bake the challot for about 20 minutes, rotating them halfway if you've put them on two different levels of your oven. Turn off the oven and let the challot sit for another 5-10 minutes -- check on them to see how brown they are. Do not overcook!

That's it! Best.Challah.Ever.