SC - Cooking of meat-longish

[draiocht@earthlink.net]

I know that Bogdan has a challah recipe.  And I have one, but it is not
specifically for Rosh Hashona.

Challah

1 teaspoon (pkg) dry active yeast
5 cups all purpose flour
1 tsp. salt
1/3 cup sugar
1 1/4 cups very warm water (125 degrees F)
1/3 cup soft butter or salad oil
2 eggs
pinch of saffron
1 egg yolk blended with 1 Tbsp milk
1 Tbsp sesame seeds

Combine yeast, 1 1/2 cups flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.  Stir.
Pour in water, beat until smooth.
Add butter,  eggs, and saffron and mix.
Gradually stir in enough of the remaining flour to make a soft dough.
Turn out on a floured surface, knead until smooth and elastic.
Place in a greased bowl.  Butter top of dough lightly.  Cover and let rise
until doubled (about 1 1/2 hours).
Punch down, turn out on a floured surface and knead lightly.
Divide the dough into four equal pieces.  Roll each piece into a strand
about 20 inches long.
Lay out the strands parallel on a greased baking sheet.  Crimp one set of
ends together.
Take the right hand strand. Place it over the strand beside it.  Place under
the next strand. then over the last strand.  Repeat the process, alternating
over and under until the loaf is braided.  Cut off enough dough to make 3/4
cup. Crimp the ends together.
Take the reserved dough and make a small three strand braid to lay on top of
the large braid.
Cover and let rise until doubled.
Blend egg yolk and milk.  Brush evenly over the loaf and sprinkle with
sesame seeds.
Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F.  Bake for 35 minutes or until the loaf
sounds hollow when thumped.

While I haven't made Challah, I have done some other festive egg breads.
You could replace the sugar with honey and you could add two to four more
eggs.  Both of these increase the liquid content of the dough, so you will
need additional flour.  With the honey the dough will be a little softer
than without and will probably be less elastic.  Doughs like this I work
until the surface is smooth and it doesn't stick to the work surface.  If it
sticks, sprinkle on more flour and keep kneading. 

Were I making this, I would probably proof the yeast in a 1/4 cup of the
water at about 100 degrees F, then stir it into the dry ingredients before
adding the rest of the water.  I would use butter in preference to oil.  And
I would consider the saffron optional.

Hope that helps. 

Bear


> Does anyone (Bear, maybe?) know how to modify an ordinary egg-bread recipe
> into the special Rosh Hashona challah?
> 
> I know that extra eggs and sweeting (most likely honey) are added, but I
> don't
> know how much extra.
> 
> Renata (who welcomes the cooler weather -- it only got up to 88 degrees
> yesterday! Hmmm, maybe it's time to wake up Herman again?)
> 
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