Braided Challah Bread

I've never baked bread before, except for "quick breads" like pumpkin bread or banana bread. In other words, I've never baked anything with yeast. I'd heard that there's a huge learning curve for novice bread bakers, so I was feeling a little intimidated when I decided to bake my first loaf. I was inspired by the fact that Whole Foods increased the price of their challah bread (which I love) from $3.50 to $4.70 for a loaf. Um, no. During this time of rising food prices, I have to draw the line somewhere!

I encountered my first stumbling block early, when I realized Martha's recipe calls for fresh yeast. There was a picture of it in her book, and it looked kind of like a block of cheese (soft, smooth texture). My husband has baked bread before, so I asked him where I could find fresh yeast. His answer: "no where around here." Lovely. I'm not ready to order ingredients from mail-order catalogs, so I decided to substitute "active dry yeast," which we had in the house. I found some conversions on-line, and I crossed my fingers that it would work.

My first bread-baking project ended up being a two-day process. I started making the dough one evening after I came home from work, not realizing that I'd have to stay up until 2 am if I wanted to see it through to the end. I had to let the dough rise (for 2 hours), then punch it down and let it rise again (for at least 90 minutes). Then I had to braid it and let it rise a THIRD time before baking. The Husband suggested that I could leave the dough in the fridge overnight, and it would rise more slowly. I was nervous that this wouldn't work correctly, but I was too tired to stay up all night, so I decided to try it.

The next day, I braided the dough, let it rise again, and finally baked it. I was VERY impressed with the final result, especially considering the modifications I made. The bread looked perfect. The texture was a little denser than what I'm used to, but the flavor was spot-on. I think the difference in texture may be due to the way I let the dough rise, so I want to try making it again. But all in all, I was extremely pleased with the result.

I should have taken some pictures of what the dough looked like before it baked, but I wasn't thinking. I'm definitely going to make this recipe again, so I'll try to take photos next time.

A slice of challah with some blackberry jam makes a perfect breakfast!

The closest recipe I could find on Martha's web site was for this pumpkin challah bread. It's not traditional, but it sounds great for fall.