Braided Round Challah

Name: Braided Round Challah
Yield: Makes 1 Loaf
Ingredients: 1/2 cup, water; 3 tablespoons, bread flour; 1 , large egg plus 2 large yolks; 1/4 cup, water; 2 tablespoons, vegetable oil; 2 3/4 cups (15⅛ ounces), bread flour; 1 1/4 teaspoons, instant or rapid-rise yeast; 1/4 cup (1¾ ounces), sugar; 1 teaspoon, table salt; , Vegetable oil spray; 1 , large egg; Pinch, table salt; 1 tablespoon, sesame seeds or poppy seeds (optional)

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Appears in Cook's Illustrated May/June 2019

Desserts or Baked Goods

Breads

Ritual and muscle memory have carried this soft, rich Jewish loaf through generations. A change in technique made the dough perfect for novice bread bakers.

SERVESMakes 1 Loaf

TIME1¾ hours, plus 7 hours resting and cooling

WHY THIS RECIPE WORKS

To make challah dough that was moist but malleable, we combined a short rest during kneading with a long fermentation; this built a sturdy but stretchy gluten network that made the dough easy to handle. We also employed a dough-mixing techn...

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