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HOLLA it's Challah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So, I have never made this fantastic bread before and I am such a fan of the "no knead bread" recipes, that when I found this one, I had to try it. Ethan was supposed to attend a party at a friends house and this is where this Challah was supposed to go, but of course the child who never gets sick is under the weather so I am now stuck with this huge Challah loaf while on a low carb diet. Lovely!
This beauty will be great for the rest of the men in my family though, it will be enjoyed sliced and toasted then spread with butter, jam, nutella etc, the rest will be sliced and used for the best french toast, because it is a fact that only THE best French toast is made with Challah. I added some cinnamon sugar to the top of this with slivered almonds, to be a little fancy shmancy but you don't have to.
Hello you Beautiful Braided Beefcake!!

1 3/4 cups lukewarm water
1 1/2 tbl instant yeast
1 1/2 tbl kosher salt (1 1/2 tsp table salt)
4 lg eggs, slightly beaten
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
7 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

In a large bowl, mix together the eggs, water, honey, melted butter, yeast and salt. Stir well with a wooden spoon. Add in the flour. STIR, BABY STIR!!! Stir until you don’t see any more dry bits of flour. Cover (not airtight) and stick it in the refrigerator overnight, or up to 4 days. The longer you let it fart around in the refrigerator (literally!), the better tasting the dough will be.

The first thing you need to do is take that master dough out of the refrigerator, grab a grapefruit sized chunk of dough. Return the rest of it to the refrigerator to use another time. Generously flour your hands and the dough.

Use palm of your hands and roll the dough into a thick, even log. Cut the dough into 3 equal pieces with knife or dough scraper. (It’s easier to cut even pieces when the dough is not round). Roll each piece with your hands to stretch into a long 1 1/2″ thick rope. Try not to just stretch it out by pulling, the dough will break. Easiest way is to place dough on counter and roll back and forth with palms of hands, starting in the middle and hands move out which stretching the dough a bit. Don’t worry about getting it to look pretty, just try to get each piece even sized.
Now, Let’s braid! Start in the middle and braid. Pinch ends, tuck under. Now braid the other side, pinch and tuck. Start braid from the middle (instead of top) so that it tapers evenly at both ends.

Cover with towel and let rest for 1-1/2 hours. 20 minutes prior to baking, preheat your oven to 350F.

When dough is ready, brush top with egg wash and if you would like sprinkle with slivered almonds and cinnamon sugar. Bake for 25 minutes.

Enjoy!!



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