Baby's Haus Challah

I think part of the genesis for Baby's Haus the blog was that I was too lazy to actually put together some kind of crafty, handmade cookbook for people with a lot of our favorite Baby's Haus recipes. I will add some of the obvious recipes here so that we'll all have access to them in case anyone is dying to make Jack Mahoney Cake or vegetarian chili and can't reach me. I may even post the recipe for Vegan Mac. Other people should join in...especially you Katie, my one and only true Alpha Chef.

Baby's Haus Challah (Makes 3 loaves so you have an extra to share with the nice neighbors the day after a dance party)

Ingredients:

7 cups flour (4 cups unbleached + 3 cups wheat is a good combo)
1 T salt
1/2 cup sugar or honey
2 pkg yeast
1/2 oil
4 eggs
2 cups raisins
water

1. stir yeast into 1/3 cup warm water, let sit several minutes
2. in a large bowl mix oil, sugar, and salt
3. add 1 cup boiling water and stirr until dissolved
4. add 1/2 cup cold water (mixture in bowl should be roughly yeast mixture temp).
5. add yeast to large bowl.
6. add eggs to large bowl reserving 1 Tbsp for later
7. add raisins
8. add flour one cup at a time mixing after each cup
9. knead for 5 minutes adding more flour if needed.
10. cover bowl with towel and put in warm place (eg oven heated to 100 or so and turned off) until dough doubles (1 hour).
11. knead 1-2 minutes
12. divide dough in thirds
13. divide each ball in thirds again and roll into long strips to braid.
14. braid loaves and place on oiled cookie sheet.
15. put sheet in warm place for about 45 minutes to rise again
16. preheat oven to 350
17. brush tops of loaves with reserved egg (add a little bit of water to egg if needed)
18. bake for about 30 minutes until the tops are golden brown.
19. cool (best to remove from pan) and enjoy your delicious challah



To be honest, this recipe is compiled from a couple of online sources and the Los Bagels cookbook, but tested to perfection by me