There is something magical about Friday afternoons. The street’s commotion is slowly fading away, and is replaced with tender and soft clouds of calmness, that descend all over town. Cooking aromas rise from the neighbours, letting our senses imagine what great meals are being cooked for the Friday night family dinner. All this atmosphere excites me a great deal, and that’s one of the reasons Friday afternoons are my preferred baking time.

The shaped challah, before rising

And after rising… chubby and cute

In my early years I’ve never been very much of a family person, and most of the time I used to look for outdoor activities. And then there was this moment when I started enjoying and appreciating that nice family time at dinners, and now I’m a big fan. Those holiday times, when folks at work are constantly complaining about that family overdose - these times are heavenly for me!

I’ve made this challah for the first time a couple of years ago, when we were about to go and dine with Avi’s family. Everyone, including me, loved it so much that there hasn’t been a dinner I haven’t brought it to ever since. And though I found many tempting challah recipes along the way, I wasn’t able to bring myself to try them, knowing that I’ve already got the winner in my hands.

Some notes and tips about the challah:

* You can use this dough also for making sweet rolls, which you can shape as you please - as regular round rolls, or in an 8 shape, a knot shape or simply braided, as the big challah shown here in the pics.

* Extra crunchiness - Avi prefers his challah with raisins. But this bread will also welcome dried cranberries, or walnuts or even chocolate chips. Add them to the dough after it has finished the first rising process, and you’ve taken all the air out of it.

* The recipe indicates to brush the bread with beaten egg before inserting it into the oven. This gives it a great intense color and contributes to a crunchier crust. But there are times when I prefer it less golden and less crunchy - and then I simply brush it with water, instead of the egg.

* Yeast - I know quite a lot of people that have yeastofobia. This may have been a reasonable fear 10 years ago, when the yeast weren’t of the quality they make them nowadays, and you had to jumpstart them using some sugar and water. Today there’s no need for that, and also no need for your fear. As long as you use the yeast before their “use by” date, and follow the recipe (that will usually tell you to add the yeast to the dough ingredients apart from the oil and salt, which could kill them), there’s really nothing to be afraid of.

* Yeast 2 - Most of the time I’m using active dry yeast, simply because they last longer. If I’m using just a part of a yeast package, I seal it as much as I can, and refrigerate it. That’s how I found it best to keep them.

* Converting fresh yeast to active dry yeast - you should use a third of the quantity of fresh yeast specified in the recipe when you want to use dry yeast instead.  If you want to convert the other way around - multiply the dry yeast quantity specified in the recipe by 2.5-3 in order to use fresh yeast.

Sweet Challah / Carine Goren
Makes 2 challah breads

Ingredients:
1 kg all-purpose flour
50 gr fresh yeast (or 17 gr active dry ones)
3/4 cup sugar (or 1/2 a cup if you prefer it less sweet)
2 eggs
1 3/4 - 2 cups lukewarm water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 Tbsp salt

1 egg, beaten, for brushing before baking (optional, see tips)
sesame

Directions:
1. Place the flour in a bowl and mix the yeast into it.
2. Add in the rest of the ingredients and knead at medium speed for about 10-12 minutes, until the dough is shiny, and sticks a bit to the bottom of the bowl, but isn’t sticky all in all.
3. Grease the surface of the dough with a little oil, cover the bowl with plastic wrap and let rise until the dough doubles its volume.
4. Divide the dough into 2 even parts. Divide each part into 3 even parts, and roll each one of the into a stripe, and braid the 3 stripes of each challah together. If you want to do a more elaborate braid, made out of 5 stripes instead of 3, divide each one of the 2 dough parts into 5 even stripes. Then give numbers to the stripes from 1 to 5, pinch all the 5 stripes together on one of the ends, then put no. 1 over no. 3, then enumerate the stripes again in the new order and put (the new) no. 2 over no. 3. Enumerate the stripes again and put no.5 over no. 2, enumerate again and repeat the whole process (1 over 3 and so forth).
5. Place the shaped breads on a pan lined with parchment paper, and let rise until it doubles its volume.
6. Brush the breads with the beaten egg or with water (see tips), scatter sesame all over them, and bake in an oven preheated to 350F (180C) for about 35 minutes, or until golden (on all sides, bottom as well). Another good indication for knowing that the bread we’ve baked is ready, is to knock on its bottom, if the sound it makes is hollow, you can take it out of the oven.
7. Cool and serve.

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