We wish you all a very sweet, healthy, and happy new year!
To help ensure that, we wanted to share this incredible recipe from Smitten Kitchen for Apple and Honey Challah. Enjoy!
Ingredients:
1 packet active dry yeast
1/3 cup plus 1 teaspoon honey
1/3 cup neutral oil
2 large eggs plus 1 large yolk
1 1/2 teaspoons salt
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
2 medium apples, peeled, cored and cut into small chunks
Squeeze of lemon juice, to keep apples from browning
Directions:
1. Whisk yeast and 1 teaspoon honey into 2/3 cup warm water and let stand until foamy, a few minutes.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together yeast mixture, oil, remaining honey (1/3 cup), eggs and yolk. Add flour all at once and stir with a wooden spoon until you get a craggy mass of uneven dough. Turn dough out onto a floured counter and knead it into a smooth, elastic dough, about 5 to 8 minutes.
3. Transfer dough to large oil-coated bowl, cover with plastic wrap and set aside for 1 hour.
4. Turn dough out onto a floured counter and gently press it down into a flat, oblong shape. Spread 2/3 of apple chunks over 1/2 of the flattened dough. Fold the other half over the apple chunks and press the dough down around them, flattening the now lumpy dough. Spread the remaining 1/3 apple chunks over half the folded dough. Fold the other half over the apples, pressing the dough down again. Fold the corners under with the sides of your hands and form the dough into a round.
5. Upend your empty bowl over and set it aside for another 30 minutes.
6. Divide dough into 4 pieces. Roll and stretch each one as carefully as you can into a rope. If any apple chunks fall out as you form the ropes or at any other time in the forming of the loaf or risings, just poke them back in with your finger.
7. Arrange two strands in each direction, perpendicular to each other, like a plus sign. Weave them so that one side is over, and the other is under, where they meet. Take the four legs that come from underneath the center and move them over the leg to their right. Take those legs that were on the right and again, jump each over the leg before, this time to the left. If you had extra length to your ropes, you can repeat these left-right jumps until you run out of rope. Tuck the corners/odd bumps under the dough with the sides of your hands to form a round.
8. Transfer the dough to a parchment-covered heavy baking sheet. Beat egg until smooth and brush over challah. Let challah rise for another hour.
9. Preheat your oven to 375 degrees.
10. Before baking, brush loaf one more time with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse sugar (optional). Bake in the middle of the oven for 40 to 45 minutes.
11. Remove and cool on a rack.
