I was wandering around on the website that I got the crown of roses challah from  and found this Turban Challah.

It looked like an interesting braiding challenge, so I thought I would try it. And, the recipe included a recipe for a honey challah that I figured I would try.  I didn’t have any great expectations, but figured I would try it.

Well, the dough was very easy to work with, it was like playing with a very good play dough.

The turban came out pretty cool.  I am not going to go into all the braiding details, if you want those check out the Turban Challah.

Even better than how easy it was to work with was how great the texture of the finighed challah was and how good it tasted.

This was a huge challah and I wanted to eat it all in one sitting! It got the seal of approval from my 7 year old – who definitely has his likes and dislikes in his challah.  He is a traditionalist, he wants a simple dough, no additives (not even chocolate chips), and he wants a rich texture. This delivered exactly that. Perfect.

Out of this World Honey Challah

from Turban Challah from metukimsheli.com

7 cups  all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon salt

1/4 cup sugar

2 tablespoons active dry yeast

2 eggs

1/3 cup canola oil

1/4 cup honey

1.5  cups of lukewarm water

Glaze :

4 tablespoons honey diluted with 2 tablespoons boiling water

Some sugar crystals

Directions

In the bowl of a standing mixer, sift the flour, add the salt and mix well. Add the yeast, sugar, eggs, oil and honey.

Mix with the kneading hook. Gradually add the water until the dough is soft. If necessary, add more warm water, one tablespoon at a time until the dough is very soft. Knead it in the mixer for about 10 minutes.

Grease a bowl in a little oil, form the dough into a ball and roll it in a bowl to their application well. Cover and let rise until doubled the volume, about an hour – an hour and a half. Braid the dough as you desire and, place on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Let rise about – 30-40 minutes. Meanwhile, preheat the oven to 350F.

Bake for 25-30 (mine took around 40 minutes) minutes until golden.

While the challah is baking, prepare the glaze : Combine the honey and boiling water.

Place the cooked bread on a wire rack.  While it is still hot, brush it with honey glaze. Immediately sprinkle the sugar crystal. allow to cool. Enjoy!

Makes 1 large challah or 2 small ones.

Can be prepared in advance, then wrap in plastic wrap and freeze up to one month.