Sweet Crumb Challah

Yield: 6 large or 8 medium challahs

Ingredients

• 4 packets (or 3 tbsp) rapid rise yeast
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 4 cups lukewarm water, divided
• 1 1/2 cups honey
• 2 tbsp salt
• 1 1/4 c + 2 tbsp canola oil
• 1 egg
• 5 lbs. high gluten or bread flour, sifted
• 1 egg + 1 egg yolk, beaten, for eggwash

Sweet Crumb Topping

• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/3-1/2 cup canola oil
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• Pinch of sea salt

1. Add the yeast, sugar and 1 cup lukewarm water to a bowl and rest for a few minutes until the yeast starts to bloom. Add the honey, salt, 1 1/4 c oil and egg and mix to incorporate. Stir in 3 cups of lukewarm water.
2. Add half of the flour and mix with a spoon until creamy. Add almost all of the rest of the flour (leaving over 1/2 cup or so) and knead with your hands until your dough is smooth and elastic, adding more flour as needed, until the dough is no longer sticky.
3. Mix all of the ingredients of the Sweet Crumb topping with a spoon until crumbly.
4. When you are done kneading, grease the dough with remaining oil and cover it with a towel. Put it in a warm place (I like to put my oven on 200 degrees and put it on top of the oven). Leave the dough to rise for 1 1/2-2 hours. Pound it down, and braid. When you are done shaping the loaves, leave them to rise for 30 minutes. Brush with egg and sweet crumb topping. Bake at 350 until golden brown, about 35 minutes. (check the bottoms of the challahs, they should be browned and hollow when you tap on them).

Notes

• The yeast come in envelopes of 3, use 1 3-pack plus a fourth packet from another 3-pack.
• To halve the recipe, simply divide all the ingredients in half besides the egg and use 1 full egg in the recipe.
• If you have allergies, I have prepared this recipe without any eggs, and it works great!
• Can be made savory without the sweet crumb topping (try substituting with Everything But the Bagel).

Source: Busy in Brooklyn

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