Zorba's Famous Challah recipe

This recipe is designed for those folks who make bread. Rather than go through the regular bread recipes, let me refer you to the Joy of Cooking or some other good cookbook for a basic recipe. You will need a 30 quart stock pot for this recipe (which you can purchase for about $50. Buy an inexpensive one – you don’t need a fancy one. By the way, they last forever (I’ve had mine for 40 years!).

I shall now give the recipe for my Famous Challah Bread which uses about 12 to 15 lbs. of flour. This is unbelievable when company comes and it's freshly baking in the oven. 

If you have a food processor it makes the recipe incredibly easy. You can do everything I mention without the food processor simply by mixing and kneading.

Make the Basic liquid ingredients:

Heat 6 cups water to 104-106 degrees on an instant read thermomenter.  Add 6 packages or 6 heaping Tbl.  of fast rising yeast – add 5 Tbl. sugar and let foam up. That will take about 10 to 15 minutes.  It’s critical to wait until the yeast activates.  Then add:

5 Tb. Sugar

5 Tb. Salt

1.5 Cups Canola Oil

8 Jumbo or 10 Large Eggs.

Then whisk this while mixture.

 Put about 4 cups flour in Cuisnart.

Add  about 3 cups liquid mixture.

Process X 1-2 minutes until smooth – and add to 30 Qt. Stock Pot.

Add 4 more cups flour process until kind of dry.

Remove and knead with and start to knead. As more flour as needed until it is dryish but now too dry. And springy. If you’ve never kneaded bread ask someone who has (like your grandmother, great grandmother or baker friend.

Now take some canola oil and rub it over the top of your loaf. Cover with a clean cloth.

Warm an oven for 5 minutes.  Turn off the oven and put the pot in the oven for about 2 hours until the bread has risen near or above the top of the pot.  If it hasn’t risen a lot, take it out, warm the oven X 5 minutes, and put it back in. The yeast needs to do some extra work.

Punch the bread down, put it back into the warm oven and let it rise for another 45 minutes.

Now, on a floured surface take the bread out, knead it, roll it into 3 tubes and bread it.

Take an egg in a cup, add a little water, mix it around, then brush it over the top of the braded bread and cover with poppy seeds. Wait 30 minutes.

While you’re doing this warm the oven to 500 degrees.

Keep the oven that hot for 15 to 20 minutes. When the bread appears to have a brown crust put it down to 350 degrees and bake for an additional hour. 

Remove from oven, turn out on a rack and cover with a towel. Do not cover with plastic for 4 hours or the bread will develop an off taste.