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I’ve made Challah these past two Fridays, and will be making some again tomorrow. The first time I followed the recipe for Ultimate Challah, that Mrs. Anna T posted on her blog, Domestic Felicity. It turned out well, despite the fact that I only skimmed the instructions, which meant that I missed one of the rising times.

Last week, I used the same recipe, but I tweaked it a bit since I used half the amount on yeast (2 tablespoons seemed a bit much). I actually did the correct rising times and it turned out well. I didn’t get any pictures of what I made last week, but it turned out better than the one I made two weeks ago which I do have a picture of.

Ingredients

• 1 tbsp active dry yeast (not instant)
• 1 tsp sugar
• 1/2 cup warm water
• 6 cups flour
• 3 tbsp + 1 tsp sugar
• 1 tbsp salt
• 2 eggs (beaten)
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1 cup warm water (approximately)
• 1 egg (beaten, to make bread shiny)

Instructions

1. Proof yeast by combining it with 1/2 cup water and 1 tsp sugar in a small bowl and letting it sit until it dissolves and frothy.
2. Meanwhile, combine the rest of the dry ingredients (flour, sugar and salt) in a large bowl.
3. Form a hole in the middle of the dry ingredients by  pushing them up against the walls of the bowl.
4. Combine the two beaten eggs, olive oil and water in this hole.
5. When the yeast is frothy add it to the wet ingredients and combine with dry ingredients to form a kneadable dough. (You may need to add more flour or water.)
6. Knead the dough until it forms a smooth, elastic ball. I like to knead it in the bowl, at least to start because it makes one less thing to clean.
7. Oil all sides of the ball, place it in a large bowl, cover and let rise until doubled (about 1.5-2 hours). You don’t actually have to place it in a bowl, but that’s what I do.
8. Punch down the dough and knead until the air comes out, cover and let rise until doubled again (about 1-1.5 hours)
9. Punch down the dough again and divide into two parts.
10. Braid each part as desired (so you get two loaves).
11. Place each loaf on a cookie sheet, cover and let rise for another 30 minutes.
12. Preheat the oven to 350F.
13. Beat the third egg and brush over loaves. You can also add sesame seeds, but I don’t like then so I don’t.
14. Place loaves in the oven and bake for 30 minutes.
15. Take out and enjoy.

Note: I find that I have leftover egg after I spread it on the challah (there just isn’t enough places to put it), so you might consider making scrambled eggs or something to use it up (if you’re like me and you don’t like throwing food away).

I made this bread for the local fair at the beginning of October and have made it several times since because our family enjoys it. It’s nice because it tastes like “normal” bread but it’s really quick to make since there’s no rising time. Between when you start and when it’s finished cooking is only about an hour. Unfortunately I don’t have a picture of it, but I thought I’d share the recipe anyway.

Ingredients

• 2 cups all purpose flour
• 3 tbsp butter
• 2 tbsp sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup buttermilk (or substitute, see below)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 375F.
2. Combine butter, flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt until the mixture resembles fine crumbs. (I usually melt the butter then add the other ingredients.)
3. Stir in the buttermilk to make a soft dough.
4. Knead 8-10 times. (I just flour my hands and do this in the bowl, but you could dump it on a floured surface if you want.)
5. Form into a round loaf and cut an X about 1/4 inch deep on the top with a floured bread knife.
6. Bake on a cookie sheet for 35 to 45 minutes, until golden brown.
7. Tastes good warm or cooled. We just take chunks off the loaf rather than slicing it.

Buttermilk Substitute

Add one tbsp of lemon juice or vinegar to a liquid measuring container (more than 1 cup). Add milk so that the total volume of lemon juice and milk is one cup. Swirl around to mix together and let sit for about 5 minutes.

I’ve been baking a lot the past couple days for the local fair, and Miss Rachel asked if I could share the recipes, so I thought, why not. The first one I’d like to share with you is “heirloom cookies”. I wasn’t really sure how these were going to taste, but they’re actually really good. (Sorry the picture’s not really good, there was no camera so I took it with my webcam…)

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, melted (recipe says softened, I recommend melted)
• 1 cup icing sugar
• 1 tbsp vanilla
• 1 to 1 1/4 cup finely ground almonds (I only used 1 cup and they turned out fine)
• 2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt

• 1/2 cup icing sugar (for coating)
• 2 tsp cinnamon

Instructions

1. Pre-heat oven to 325F.
2. Cream butter and icing sugar in a medium bowl.
3. Blend in vanilla and almonds.
4. Combine flour and salt. (I do this on top of the wet mixture – less dishes, but you can also do this in a separate bowl.)
5. Stir the wet and dry mixtures together until smooth.
6. Shape dough into balls the size of a teaspoon or a tablespoon and place on an ungreased cookie sheet (or cover your cookie sheet in parchment paper, then it’s easier to clean). I used a small cookie scoop to size them then formed them into balls.
7. Put cookies in oven and bake for 15-18 minutes. Meanwhile, combine the icing sugar and cinnamon for the coating in a small bowl (I just used a cereal bowl.).
8. Take the cookies out of the oven and roll in the cinnamon mixture. Place on a cooling rack to cool. (Try not to move the cookies after you put them on the cooling rack.) You can sprinkle any excess cinnamon mixture on top of the cookies.

Yields about 2-3 dozen cookies. Cookies have a similar texture to a shortbread or sugar cookie.