Challah Peter Reinhart

Category: Yeast bread

Ingredients
Warm water (about 35 C)	310 BC
Saf instant yeast	1.5 tsp.
Egg yolks	100 g. (4-5 pcs.)
Olive oil	43 g
Sugar	51 g
Vanillin	optional
Unbleached bread flour	580 BC
Salt	1.5 tsp.
To lubricate challah	1 egg or 2 squirrels + 2 tbsp. l. water
Poppy seeds, sesame seeds, or a mixture of these for sprinkling on top	2 tbsp. l.

Cooking method

Dough preparation in a food processor:
mix the yolks, butter, sugar, salt, vanillin (add as desired), pour in water, beat slightly.
Then add flour mixed with dry yeast and mix on low speed for about 2 minutes. Rest for 5 minutes.
Change to a hook and knead at medium speed for about 4 minutes. Knead it with your hands on a floured work surface.
Dough preparation in a bread maker:
add the ingredients in the order provided for in the instructions for the bread maker, turn on the Dough program and only knead it, you do not need to let the dough fit.
Round off the prepared dough and put in a greased container, cover with foil and put in the refrigerator overnight (the dough can be stored in the refrigerator and used within 4 days).
In the refrigerator, the dough should double.
On baking day:
Remove the dough 2 hours before baking. Transfer to a floured surface and divide into the required number of pieces of the same weight for braiding (I divided by 6 and prepared 2 challahs, each of 3 braids).
Slap each piece with your hand, then roll into a cigar or torpedo. Do the same with each piece, then go back to the first and roll it out to a length of 25-35 cm. All blanks must be the same length.
Weave the challah in any convenient way, put it on a prepared baking sheet.
Make an egg mixture, apply to the surface of the challah. Let stand at room temperature for about 1 hour. Then grease the surface again and sprinkle with seeds. Allow to come up to a 1.5-fold increase.
15 minutes before baking, preheat the oven to 180 C. Bake 35-50 minutes until tender.

Note

This dough can be used to make not only challah, but also buns, sweet cinnamon rolls, rolls, "grandmas", cheese rolls, etc.
Variations:
- whole eggs can be used instead of yolks in the dough. In this case, you should reduce the water at the rate of 2 tbsp. l. for 1 egg. But I would recommend at least for the first time to bake on yolks alone - the baked goods are simply the most tender! and keeps fresh for a very long time. The yolks give the crumb a beautiful color, and the fat and lecithin from them soften the bread.
- you can increase the amount of sugar to taste, in case you want to get a sweet bun.

Challah turns out to be delicious, tender, but simply delicious, as, indeed, all the pastries according to the recipes of Maestro Peter Reinhart.
Recipe from the book "Artisan Breads Every Day". Translated and counted proportionally to a smaller amount, he has a recipe for 964 flour.