Braided Egg Bread (Non-Kosher Challah)

This is the bread recipe that made me fall in love with bread-making when I was 10. Ironically, I was a fearless child baker, but now yeast dough seems incredibly intimidating. Well, this is about as easy a yeast dough as one can make, with the bonus of being very beautiful. The thing to remember with bread is that while the idea of taking 3 or 5 hours to make something sounds like a huge hassle, in reality, you knead out all your stress for ten minutes, then you wait an hour, etc. etc. etc. This is not to say that bread can't break your heart. Anything can break your heart. I think my biggest food meltdown ever was making Michel Richard's Once a Year Mashed Potatoes. Mashed potatoes. The point is that bread is not any more likely to break your heart than the braise you mess up at the last minute when reducing the liquid, and may in fact be easier.

As with most of my prepubescent baking recipes, this is from the Better Homes and Garden cookbook, which comes in binder format. Each edition seems to vary up the recipe for their basic challah or at least the breast cancer edition does, but this recipe is the real childhood deal. I recommend if you have extra to use it in French toast, because nothing really beats fresh challah in French toast. Or you could just eat it with Nutella on top. I am not going to say I have never done this.

Egg Bread (non-Kosher Challah)

4 3/4 to 5 1/4	cups all-purpose flour
1	package active dry yeast
1 1/3	cups milk
3	tablespoons sugar
3	tablespoons butter
1/2	teaspoon salt
2	eggs

1. In a large mixing bowl stir together 2 cups of the flour and the yeast; set aside. 
2. In a medium saucepan heat and stir water, sugar, margarine, and salt just until warm (120 to 130 degrees) and margarine almost melts. Use a thermometer on this, as yeast is a fickle thing. 
3. Add water mixture to dry mixture along with the eggs. 
4. Beat with an electric mixer on low to medium speed for 30 seconds, scraping the sides of the bowl constantly. Beat on high speed for 3 minutes. This can test the limits of your mixer pretty quickly. If it's threatening to clog up your mixer and is stiff and difficult to move, switch to a spoon or even your hands. Bread is not a clean endeavor. Get your hands dirty. Using a wooden spoon, stir in as much of the remaining flour as you can.
5. Now for the fun part! Turn dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Knead in enough of the remaining flour to make a moderately stiff dough that is smooth and elastic (6 to 8 minutes total). Shape the dough into a ball. Place in a lightly greased bowl (use the wrapper from a stick of butter), turning once to grease surface of the dough. Cover with a dish towel and let rise in a warm place until double in size (about 1 hour).Warm place does not mean in an oven, but is a pretty freaking vague term. I've always just put it next to the oven on the counter or in a sunny room (but not in direct sunlight).
6. Punch dough down; divide in thirds. Cover; let rest 10 minutes. 
7. Roll each third into an 18-inch rope. Place each rope on a large baking sheet 1 inch apart and braid. Cover; let rise 30 minutes or until nearly double. You can either brush the braid with an egg yolk to brown the tops or wait until the end and brush a couple times with melted butter. I've had trouble with egg yolks burning the tops of the bread, so I stick with butter, but really, I feel this is my own insecurity. An egg wash is an egg wash, and can create a delightful crust if done correctly.
8. Bake in a 375 degree F oven for 25 to 30 minutes or until bread sounds hollow when you tap the top (if necessary to prevent overbrowning, cover loosely with foil the last 10 minutes of baking, hint, hint, egg wash folk). The inner parts of the braid may still look underdone. Cool on wire rack. Makes 1 braid (32 servings).

Cooking Time; 2 1/2 hours (prep 30 minutes, bake 30 minutes, rise 1 1/2 hours)