Ever since I could remember, my mother made 5 pounds of challah every Friday and before every holiday. She still makes 5 pounds or more every single Friday. It’s been my favorite type of bread my entire life. All of my siblings and I grew up helping her make challah. It’s a tradition. Challah is a braided Jewish bread eaten by Jews for years. 

I finally had some extra time, so I got to making challah. I haven’t made it in years. Last time I tried to make it whole wheat, and it turned out rock hard. This time it turned out much much better. 

I always use my mother’s recipe. You can always make half the recipe if 5 pounds is too much. Or you can make the full 5 pounds and freeze the rest if you can’t possibly eat that much challah like me. Challah can be eaten with absolutely everything. My family and I ate it with dips, chicken, meat, soup, cheese, and tons of other stuff growing up.

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons dry yeast
• 1 tablespoon & 1 cup sugar
• 5 cups very warm water
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup of oil
• 1 tablespoon salt
• 15 cups of flour
• A little bit of oil
• Sesame seeds or poppy seeds for topping

Method

• Mix 3 tablespoons dry yeast, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 cup very warm water together. 
• Let it sit and bubble for 10 minutes.
• Add 1 cup sugar, 3 eggs, 1 cup of oil, 1 tablespoon salt, and mix everything together. 
• Add 15 cups of flour and 3 or 4 cups of very warm water slowly together. 
• Mix, and knead until smooth.

• Cover the dough in a thin layer of oil and then cover the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Put the bowl with the dough in a warm place.
• Let it rise for 2 hours.
• Punch it down and knead it a bit.

• Let it rise again for 2 hours. It should rise to double the original dough size.

• Once the dough has risen 2 times, preheat the oven to 350F (177C)
• Shape the dough into braids.
• Crack an egg open and mix it unit the yolk and white are blended together.
• Glaze the braided challah bread with egg.
• Sprinkle sesame seeds or poppy seeds on top of the challahs. 

• Bake in the oven for 45 minutes.

Eat the challah while it’s hot, it’ll taste best, but it tastes really good at room temperature as well. Challah freezes very well if you can’t finish all of it. Store it away in the freezer in a plastic bag until you want some more.

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