I had a friend who used his bread maker to mix and knead and rise the challah, then he took it out and braided it and baked it on a pan in the regular oven. I guess that's pretty much what I do, too, although I used a stand mixer (I don't have a bread machine).

It looks great! Definitely the texture of challah.

You can just let the machine knead it, as Annie and others do, and take it out and braid and bake it.

Wanna share the recipe? :-)

• Prep30 m
• Cook25 m
• Ready In55 m

Recipe By:MARYLYN PISSERI

"Absolutely delicious. I have a two pound bread machine and use it to make the Challah dough. It freezes well."

Ingredients

• 1 cup warm water
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/2 teaspoons salt

• 2 eggs, room temperature
• 4 cups bread flour
• 2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1 egg, beaten
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. Place warm water, sugar,
   honey, vegetable oil, salt, 2 eggs, flour and yeast in the pan of the
   bread machine in the order recommended by the manufacturer. Select Dough
   cycle; press Start.
2. After the machine is done,
   take the dough out, and place it on a very lightly floured board, punch
   the dough down, and let rest for 5 minutes.
3. Divide the dough in half.
   Then divide into 3 equal pieces, roll into ropes about 12 to 14 inches,
   and braid into a loaf. Do the same with the remaining other half.
   Gently put the loaves on a greased cookie sheet, mist with water, cover
   loosely with plastic wrap, and let rise for 1 to 1 1/2 hours in a warm,
   draft free place, until double in size.
4. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). In a small bowl, beat together 1 egg and 1 tablespoon water.
5. Brush risen loaves with egg
   mixture. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 to 25 minutes. If it
   begins to brown too soon, cover with foil.

I was going to just let the bread machine do the whole job, but the bread got too big and it hit the little window at the top of the lid. So I took the whole thing out and put it in the oven at 350 degrees for last 30 minutes of baking time. So I got as far as step 2.

I love challah, no matter its shape. Yours looks pretty good to me. I'm going to copy your recipe and give it a try soon. I have one I've used in the past, but it makes a small loaf. Looks like yours makes two normal loaves, but I think one gigantic loaf would be just fine by me.

I make a similar recipe, but I use half whole wheat flour, no sugar (1-1/2 Tbsp honey), and I used 2 tsp salt and only 1/4 cup oil. Otherwise, mine is the same, although I do remove the yolk from the third egg and add it to the bread and only use the egg white plus water for the wash. I make it mainly for French Toast.

There are a lot of Youtube videos to help you with braiding, in case you need help. This one is my favorite:

I make two totally different challah. One is a delicious gluten free with a rich egg batter, not a dough, that is put in a special silicone mold that looks like it has been braided when unmolded and finished in the oven to brown upside down. The other is a braided challah (I love the braiding of it) from Julia Child's book "Baking with Julia" that is wheat based, heavenly and eggy. I even use the 6 piece braid with a double recipe just for my own enjoyment (Play-doh revisited with elegance.)

I made up my own seed sprinkle that IMO makes each challah even more wonderful. It is a mix of poppy seed, hulled pumpkin seed, sesame seeds (light and dark), sunflower seed, fennel seed, flax seeds (light and dark), and surprisingly good - caraway seed, plus kosher salt, over a light egg wash. I've also used this mix on plain old French bread with a slathering of butter when it comes out of the oven then back in for a couple minutes to toast.

I've tried making challah in all of my 6 bread machines and they never quite make it right - something about the crust that isn't browned or that it has overcooked the eggs to the taste of omelettes instead of fluffy scrambled. But, they all taste magnificent as French Toast.

Nancy

I love challah and don't care if it's braided or not. Which bread maker recipe can I use to make a loaf without it rising too much? Tks for any help.