Nadav's Delicious Challah

Mirj's Note:

My friend Debbie Yakobian's son Nadav is in the Israeli army. He brought home this recipe and Debbie has started making it every Friday for the Sabbath. My family and I have been fans of this challah and today I finally got the recipe. My challahs are cooling now but we just couldn't resist and had a taste -- delicious! In spite of the fact that there are no eggs in the dough itself, the challahs are very rich tasting. Just think of what they can do for your French toast or bread pudding!

• Total Time: 2 hrs 20 mins
• Prep Time: 1 hrs 50 mins
• Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 32

Yield: 2.0 large c ...

• 1 kg flour
• 2 tablespoons dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 6 tablespoons sugar
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 450 ml warm water
• egg, to finish
• sesame seed, to finish

Directions:

1. Place all the ingredients (except for the egg and the sesame seeds) in a bowl and knead until a good smooth dough has been achieved.
2. You can either do this by hand or in a counter-top mixer with a dough hook.
3. Place the dough in a bowl and let rise for one hour.
4. During this one hour, punch down and knead the dough every 15 minutes.
5. Divide the dough into the amount of loaves you want, then divide each piece into 3 and start braiding.
6. Place the braids on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper.
7. Brush with egg and sprinkle with sesame seeds.
8. Let rise for another 1/2 an hour.
9. In the meantime, preheat the oven to 150 degrees C (300 degrees F).
10. Bake the braids for 1/2 an hours.
11. The dough is almost idiot-proof.
12. It comes out smooth and gorgeous and the challahs are amazing.
13. Very addictive.

Reviews

[LNor]

I plan to make this week. Went to several conversion sites to get info and found 1 kg = approx. 8 cups of flour, 450 ml = approx 15 oz. of water

[jc760]

can someone please help me with conversions? I need to know how many cups of flour will be equal to 1 kg. thanks!

[Food Snob in Israel]

Okay, I haven't tasted this yet, but it seemed too simple to work. I had to knead it a bunch to get it smooth and it didn't rise much, but it TOTALLY puffed up when it cooked and now they look SOOOO beautiful... I'll write after shabbat after we've tasted them! I wish I had made more so I could taste them now! Update: Okay, these were BEAUTIFUL inside and out but the state was just so so for me. Nothing out of this world. Just your run of the mill bread with no frills. Again, texture was AMAZING and it was rich (lots of flour to other ingredients) and AMAZINGLY easy to make. I MIGHT try to play with this...do a bit more in the way of sugar or just half whole wheat or oat flour or something...dunno. I'm still looking for a challah with this texture but with sweetness...