Challah Back Y’all!

OK, so I have been waiting 8 months to say that and tonight felt appropriate. We have decided that we need to get better at doing Shabbat as a family, and what better way to observe than to bake your own Challah. I have tried a million times and ended up with doughy, burnt, tasteless loaves of bread. I finally Googled “No fail easy challah” and this is what I came up with. I cut the recipe in half since I didn’t want 4 loaves of bread especially if they ended up cummy (no pun intended). These look promising, and smell delicious.

So Shabbat Shalom Y’all (ok, I’ll stop…)

Challah
Makes 2 Challahs, 8 slices per loaf, or 4 mini Challahs, 4 large slices per loaf.
PointsPlus Value per slice: 4
170 calories per slice, 3 grams of fat

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups warm water
2 1/2 tsp yeast
1/4 cup honey
2 Tbsp vegetable oil
2  eggs
1 1/2 tsp table salt
4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

Directions
-In a small bowl, mix yeast and warm water (not hot) and let stand for 5 minutes.
-In a large bowl, beat together honey, oil, 1 egg and salt. Slowly add yeast mixture to the honey mixture.
-Add the 4 cups of flour, one cup at a time, beating after each addition, graduating to kneading with hands as dough thickens. Use the remaining ½ cup of flour for kneading the dough. Knead until smooth and elastic and no longer sticky.
-Spray a large mixing bowl with PAM. Place dough in bowl and cover with a clean kitchen towel. Let rise for 1 1/2 hours or until dough has doubled in bulk.
-Punch down the risen dough and turn out onto floured board.
-Divide in half and knead each half for five minutes or so, adding flour as needed to keep from getting sticky.
-Divide each half into thirds and roll into long snake about 1 1/2 inches in diameter.
-Pinch the ends of the three snakes together firmly and braid from middle.
-Grease two baking trays and place finished braids on each.
-Cover with towel and let rise about one hour.
-Preheat oven to 375 degrees
-Beat the remaining egg and brush a generous amount over each braid.
-Bake for about 25 minutes. Bread should have a nice hollow sound when thumped on the bottom.
-Cool on a rack for at least one hour before slicing.

Healthy meals to nourish your mind.