Famous Challah

This has become the challah recipe that I will pass down to my children. Seriously the best challah I have ever had. I add 1 cup of sugar instead of half a cup - personal preference, I like a sweeter bread. Also, this last time I made it with the oven set to convection, reduced the temp to 350 and baked it for 15 minutes then let it sit in the oven while it was off for another 10. PERFECT.

Challah was one of the first things I made that got me into baking. I have been using the same recipe for 3 years now and I thought it was great. I was wrong. This is better than any I have every tried. I used to buy it from a Russian bakery because they had the best. This beats them hands down. I did skip the traditional glaze and subbed it with melted butter as well as used ¾ cup sugar instead of the full cup or half cup options. Sweet, but not too sweet. Also made rolls and a standard loaf instead of the braided loaf. I made the rolls to use for BBQ. It is by far the perfect addition to a shredded BBQ sandwich. I plan to use the regular loaf in the morning for French toast. Thanx Tante B. I plan to share recipe with my family and friends.

***Updated review******
Not sure why I only gave this 4 stars before. I must have hit my head or been stunned by how good this challah is. Today I made rolls. I portioned the dough into 2oz balls and coated some with sesame seeds and some with chopped onion. The rest I left plain with just the eggwash glaze. The recipe yeilds about 30 rolls. Also, I tried using my bread machine today. My machine only runs for 1:30 on the dough cycle. I let it run the first cycle as is, then I pulled the mixing blade out of the pan and set the dough back in for another 1:30 cycle. Easy as can be. Just follow your machines instructions for putting in the ingredients. Just have to say it again. Thanks for posting this awesome recipe. this has changed the way I make bread.

Since I know my Kitchen-Aid has trouble with recipes calling for much over 5 cups of flour, I halved this. I added a pinch of saffron to the water with the yeast, and I used a whole egg (even though it's half a recipe). I used the Kitchen-Aid to do all the kneading, and added about 3/4 c dark raisins for the last few minutes of kneading. Since it's still the High Holidays, I cut the dough in two, rolled each piece out to about 24" and coiled them up to form two beautiful spiral loaves. I thought it was just sweet enough with the raisins, so I'm glad I didn't add any extra sugar. Beautiful recipe!

Turned out beautifully! I made one large loaf. There was no need to keep punching it down.

This is great! I followed the recipe very closely, except for the forming. As this was a county fair entry for me this year, and the fair requires all breads be baked in a standard loaf pan, I folded the ends under to get a loaf pan sized dough after braiding. Let it rise as per instructions and baked. And I now have another blue ribbon from the fair for this great bread.