Thanks for all the replies!! It definitely renews my confidence and tells me I didn't do anything wrong. Claire, I'm going to check the Proof feature on my oven... I Have a Proof button but didn't know what it was for! (I COULDA read the instructions but who wants to do THAT?) LOL, I will read them now. Jessy, great loaf! I have yet to attempt a six braid but I will soon! I'll be happy if it turns out looking half as good as yours! MacThayer, yes! Smooth and elastic. That's what it was. So I got it right - wheeeeee!!!!! Here's my recipe for challah. This was from the person I took a 3 hour morning class from. She handed us a recipe with a lot of detailed instructions then said, oh but I don't actually follow the recipe word for word, I do it THIS way. I wrote down the notes of how she does it, then did it that way and it came out great. Vanilla Challah 8 cups bread flour (may need to up to a cup more) 2 packages rapid-rise yeast 2 ½ cups warm water ½ tsp baking powder 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract 1 Tbsp salt 4 large eggs ¾ cup oil ¾ cup sugar or vanilla sugar mixed sugar (or vanilla sugar) and cinnamon for rolling Mix yeast, warm water and sugar. Put into mixer. Add oil. Add 3 eggs, vanilla. Add flour/baking powder a little at a time. Let the mixer knead it. Shape into a ball and cover. Let it rise 20 minutes. Knead 5 minutes. Cover again and let rise 30 minutes. Knead briefly. Use a knife to separate into two even pieces. Separate each piece into three pieces which you roll into long "ropes". Roll each rope in the cinnamon/sugar mixture for thorough coating. Braid the ropes (each three ropes braids into one loaf). Put on pan on parchment paper and cover. Rise for one hour or till itÂs puffed up to double in size. Brush top thoroughly (get in all the "nooks & crannies") with the 4th egg. Sprinkle with sugar or cinnamon sugar. Bake at 325 35 minutes (if you make two loaves) or about an hour if you use the whole dough to make one loaf.

Petra, this recipe for hard rolls/ brat buns has been in my To Try file for about a year but I've not yet made it because I hadn't been able to find malt extract. Found it last week & just waiting for a break in the weather for grilling some brats. Maybe what you're looking for?? Semmel Rolls In Sheboygan, if you talk brats, you'll also be talking about the Semmel; a substantial, chewy roll with a delicately crispy crust. The Semmel is a close cousin to the Kaiser, but with a distinctive cleavage across the top. The baked Semmel is large -- about 4 inches in diameter and rises to about 2 inches in height. To make the single brat bun, shape the rolls like a hot dog bun before final rising and baking. The genuine Sheboygan Semmel is baked in a brick oven. In your home oven, your results may vary. A baking stone helps. 4 1/2 cups bread flour (approximate) 1 package dry yeast 1 Tablespoon sugar 1 teaspoon salt 1 1/2 cups hot water (120-130 degrees) 1 teaspoon malt extract 1 egg 1 egg white 1 Tablespoon shortening Rye flour for dusting Measure 3 1/2 cups of flour into a mixing or mixer bowl and add the yeast, sugar, and salt. Stir to blend well. Pour in the warm water and malt extract. Mix for 1 minute with a wooden spoon or mixer flat beater until a smooth but heavy batter forms. Add the egg, egg white, and shortening. Beat together until the mixture is smooth. If with the electric mixer, remove the flat beater and continue with a dough hook. Add flour -- 1/4 cup at a time -- until the dough is a solid but soft mass that can be lifted from the bowl, or left under the dough hook. Knead the dough with a strong push-turn-fold motion for 10 minutes, adding liberal sprinkles of flour if the dough is wet. If in the mixer, the dough will clean the sides of the bowl and form a ball around the dough hook. If, however, it continues to cling to the sides, add sprinkles of flour. Place the dough in a greased bowl, cover tightly with plastic wrap, and set aside to double in bulk, about 1 hour. Uncover the bowl and punch down the dough with your fingers. Cover the bowl again and allow the dough to double in volume again, about 45 minutes. Place the dough on a floured work surface, roll it into a 12-inch long cylinder. With a sharp knife cut 12 pieces from the length (at every inch on the ruler). Shape the pieces under a cupped palm into smooth rounds. Cover and allow to relax for 5 minutes. Flatten each roll with your hand to about 1/2 inch thick. Dust lightly with rye flour. With a length of wooden dowel, a round wooden spoon handle, or a pencil, press a deep vertical indentation into the top of each roll. Press firmly and deeply, almost to the bottom (omit this procedure if shaping rolls into single-brat buns). As each roll is shaped, place it face down on a greased baking sheet. Cover the rolls with a length of wax or parchment paper, and leave them at room temperature to rise -- slightly less than double in size, about 40 minutes. In the meantime, prepare the oven by placing a pan under the middle shelf. Twenty minutes before the bake period preheat the oven to 450 degrees, quite hot. Five minutes before the rolls are to go into the oven, pour 1 cup of hot water in the pan to form steam and provide a moist environment for the rolls. Be certain hot water is in the pan. Uncover the rolls, carefully turn them right side up, brush them with water or spray lightly with an atomizer of water. Place the pan on the middle shelf of the hot oven. Three minutes later lightly spray the interior of the oven -- not directly on the rolls. Midway through the bake period turn the sheet around so that the rolls are exposed equally to temperature variations in the oven. They are done when crispy brown all over, in about 25 minutes. Remove the rolls from the oven. If, after the rolls have cooled, they are not as crisp and crusty as you like, put them back into a hot oven for 10 minutes.

Here you go, Robin: Gellchom's Favorite Challah - a very rich and sweet type Adapted from The World of Jewish Cooking, by Gil Marks Makes 1 very large, 2 large (what I usually make), or 3 medium loaves 2 pkg. active dry yeast "or 1 1-oz. cake fresh yeast> 2 c. warm water (105-110 for dry yeast, 80-85° for fresh), divided ¾ c honey 4 large eggs ½ c vegetable oil 1 T regular salt or 5 t kosher salt about 8 cups unbleached all-purpose flour (may need more) 1 egg beaten with 1 T water (I usually forget the water!) sesame or poppy seeds (we like sesame) Dissolve the yeast in ½ c. of the water in mixer bowl. Add 1 teaspoon of the honey and let stand until foamy, 5-10 min. Add the remaining water, the remaining honey, eggs, oil, salt, and 3 cups of the flour. Using dough hook at speed 2, stir in the remaining flour, ½ cup at a time, until it holds together. Then let the machine knead it at speed 2 for 10 minutes until smooth and elastic. Place in a well-greased bowl (the dough is very sticky), turning to coat, cover loosely with greased plastic wrap. Let it rise at room temperature (I sometimes use a slightly warm oven) until double in bulk, around 90 minutes, or in the refrigerator overnight. Punch down the dough and let it rest 10 minutes. Shape into braids (see below), crowns, or whatever shape you want. Have plenty of flour handy; the dough is very sticky and gooey. It sometimes helps to sprinkle a little flour on top as you go. (At this point, after shaping, you can freeze the loaves. When ready to use, thaw 6 hours covered on a baking sheet to let it rise.) Place the shaped loaves on a greased baking sheet with a little corn meal sprinkled on it, or in a greased loaf pan. Cover and let rise at room temperature or in warm oven until double in bulk, around 45 minutes, or in refrigerator for up to 2 days. Put rack in center of oven and heat to 350°. Brush challah with egg wash (donÂt drip on the baking sheet, or youÂll have a real mess) and sprinkle with seeds, if desired. If you dip your finger in the egg and make slight indentations, the seeds stick better. Bake until golden brown and hollow-sounding when tapped; about 35 minutes for medium challahs or large ones with just slightly underbaked centers (as we like them), about 45 minutes for large ones. Transfer to a wire rack to cool. NOTE: Sometimes, the dough doesn't look like it is rising much, but when I bake it, it rose more in the oven. It always seems to come out fine, even though it sometimes behaves different before baking. If you find the dough too hard to work with, or you don't want it quite as sweet and rich as we like it, use 3 eggs and 1/2 c honey, and don't underbake. To braid: separate dough into 3 or 4 strands. Pinch together one end and tuck under. With 3 strands (which is what I do), braid like hair, loosely, then pinch together ends and tuck under. 4 strands looks really pretty, but it is hard to describe without a drawing! Basically, bring outside strands in and cross inward over 2 at a time. I'm sure you'll figure it out. Jewishrecipes.org has instructions. Finally, for it to be "official" challah, after kneading but before shaping, you need to take a pinch of the dough the size of an olive and burn it. But I usually forget. Shabbat shalom!

Hey there to you too Chase, and what a nice Christmas suprise to run into you here :) Thank you all so very much for your advice. I have never worked beside someone who baked bread from hand so I never know exactly how to knead and what the bread should look or feel like, which is why I did love my bread machine for when I wanted to make homemade bread - it tended to turn out pretty well out of the bread machine before baking. I'm sure I will love my kitchen Aid for bread too, when I get the hang of it, as much as I love it for everything else. I'm not much of a kitchen gadget person but I do love my Kitchen Aid machine. I have carefully read all the advice - I wouldnt' be surprised to find that I might overknead the bread with the dough hook and I also didn't proof the yeast, because the dough always doubled I figured it was ok? Will carefully follow all the advice - some of it I have never heard of before - when I do a trial run on the honey buttermilk dinner rolls today. Thank you so VERY much for all the advice! A merry Christmas to you all :)