Egg Bread/Challah
This is traditionally braided into a table bread for the Jewish holidays, but I make it into sandwich loaves because it is just yummy.
-½ cup warm water (slightly warmer than lukewarm)
-2 pkg’s of yeast
-½ cups of warm milk (same as the water, if the milk is cold it will retard the growth of the yeast) OR a can of evaporated milk
-½ sugar
-3 eggs
-¼ cup soft butter
-¼ tsp salt (just a bit, you get most of your salt in the butter)
-7 to 7 ½ cups white flour
Mix yeast into warm water at bottom of big mixing bowl. Add the rest of the ingredients (including butter) except flour and mix with electric beaters. Slowly add flour and mix with spoon ...and then your hands until it gets lumpy/spongy. Your hands will get messy, deal with it. :)
Turn out onto floured surface and knead until when you pull a pinch of it slightly and let go, it springs back (not completely back, but just back). It should be slightly elastic, but not firm.
Rinse out mixing bowl and coat with (more) butter. Turn dough into mixing bowl and then flip so it is coated with butter, cover with damp cloth, and leave in warm place until it rises to double its size.
Punch down (that’s the fun part.) Turn out onto floured surface and knead a bit more, until it is elastic again. With knife divide into three equal portions and place them in 9” buttered bread loaf pans (or two portions in two sandwhich loaf pans). Flip so that dough is coated with butter. Cover with damp cloth and let rise until double (or triple).
Transfer to oven and bake at 425 degrees for 25 to 30 minutes.
Remove from oven, let cool in pans for 15 minutes, and then turn out onto rack.
Beat family and friends off with a stick lest your bread loaves transmogrify into buttery bread knives in an hour.
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Kip's Cookery
Non-FictionWhile you all are waiting (patiently) for more John & Jenny's adventures in India, I thought I would share another of my creative sides.
