Can’t say I’ve knowingly baked a Jewish bread until this one. Also can’t say I’ve baked a bread that tasted better! Our lil monsters flipped over it. I guess it’s a good thing I decided to bake two loaves the first time. It was a very simple bread to make that looks far more difficult than it was to bake.
Ingredients:
- 1tbsp yeast
- 1 cup warm water
- 3 tbsp sugar
- 1 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup canola oil
- 3 cups all purpose flour plus 1/4 cup
- 1 egg for basting (can substitute olive oil for vegan)
- Sesame seeds
Preparation:
- In a gallon ziplock bag, add the yeast, water, sugar, salt, oil, and 3 cups of flour.
- Give the bag a little shake. Don’t work too hard. Remember it’s a lazy Challah!
- Place the bag in a bow of warm water for 30 minutes.
- Remove from bowl. Shake, release air from the bag. And place on the table or coutnertop for 1 hour. Flip the bag every 20 minutes throughout this hour. The dough should be very wet. It will start to bubble and self knead.
- After the 1 hour, add 1/4 cup flour and give the bag another shake. This makes the dough not stick to the bag.
- Leave the bag for 1 hour and 30 minutes to rise. It should still be a wet dough. If it’s not rising, flip it over and knock it down. If the dough is wet, the recipe will turn out amazing.
- Preheat the oven to 300° (I set it for 275° on our oven that likes to burn things otherwise
- On a well floured surface, separate the dough into three sections and stretch them out to braid.
- Baste with egg (or optional olive oil) and sprinkle with sesame seeds. Leave to rise for 15 minutes before it goes in the oven.
- Bake on a nonstick tray for 40 minutes or until golden brown on top.
Side notes:
- It’s a very easy bread to bake, however it’s a little process. So I’ll likely make two loaves each time and freeze one.
- It’s a bit of a heavy bread, but I can’t stress how much our children loved it!
- When braiding the bread sort of fold the ends under.
- Each bag yields 1 loaf of bread
- I baked it for 40 minutes at 275°
