Cooking while Moving

Q: You know when blogs are really useful?
A: When all your cookbooks are packed in boxes.

Q:You know when you feel really stupid?
A: When you're up to the elbows in Challah dough and you realize that your blog post a) has a typo when referring to the quantity of liquid required, and b) didn't bother to mention the oven temperature.

Oops.

My little brother was really cute and asked me to make Challah. Apparently, during his finals last week, some girl in his dorm made Challah as a way to de-stress and shared it all around ... and it wasn't as good as my Challah. (Yes, I now am fluffing my shiksa feathers like a peacock). Well, with a compliment like that, how could I not oblige?

Despite the typos on the blog, the Challah turned out excellent. It did require a panicked tearing open of already-packed boxes to find the original recipe, but hey. Good thing it was only Day 1 of packing, so everyone was very forgiving.

The correct version of the recipe is typed out below (for my and your future reference), and I'm going to correct the other posts that mention it (here and here).


For 1 challah:

1 package dry yeast
warm water
1/4 c vegetable oil
3 1/4 c all purpose flour
1 egg, beaten
1/8 c sugar (on the plus side)
1 tsp salt (on the plus side)

Set the oven to 325 degrees
Proof yeast in a small bowl by mixing yeast, 1/4 c warm water.
In a large bowl, mix flour, eggs, sugar, salt, oil and 2/3 c warm water. Add dissolved yeast mixture, mix together and knead well, folding the dough over itself so as to capture air pockets. (Depending on how dry your dough is, you may need to add a Tablespoon of warm water). Cover and let rise anywhere from 1.5 hours to 4.5 hours.
Divide into three strands, and braid. Let rise another hour. Bake for 25 min.