In the bowl of your stand mixer, add water, bread flour and yeast and whisk together. The poolish will be very wet and sticky. Cover and allow to sit for 1 hour on the counter.
120 g Bread flour | 120 g Warm water | 7 g Instant yeast
When your poolish is ready, it will be very bubbly on the surface. Add the rest of your ingredients to the poolish and mix with dough hook attached until the dough is smooth and tacky. (10-20 minutes)
450 g AP flour | 1 tbsp Sea salt | 80 g Warm Water | 2 large Eggs | 50 g Vegetable or Canola oil | 25 g Granulated sugar | 42 g Honey
Flour your hands, remove the dough from the bowl and shape into a ball.
Lightly grease your mixing bowl and return the dough to the bowl. Cover and let rise in a warm spot for 1-2 hours or until dough has doubled in size.
Punch down the dough and divide it into two pieces. Weighing your dough can help you get two equal pieces but it's perfectly fine to eyeball it. Cover the piece of dough you aren't working with first.
Divide the dough. How you divide the dough will depend on how you intend to braid the dough. I have notes, photos, video and links to additional videos on different ways to braid the challah, but in this recipe card I will be describing a 4 strand braid. Divide your dough into 4 equal portions. Flatten each piece of dough and fold over on the long side until you have a tube of dough. Using your palms, roll the dough against the work space with your hands moving outwards to create a ropelike strand with tapered ends. Each strand should be at least 12 inches and about ¾ inch wide. Set to the side.
Repeat this process with each portion of dough, creating 4 strands.
Place all four strands in front of you vertically about an inch apart from each other. Join the four strands together at the top by pinching the dough pieces together.
The strands should now sort of look like a fork. From left to right the strands are 1-2-3-4. Take strand 1 and cross it over strand 2, under strand 3, and over strand 4, laying it down to the right of strand 4. Strand 1 is now strand 4.
Continue repeating this same exact pattern until the braid is no longer long enough to braid but still has 2 inches or so free at the bottom.
Pinch all the ends together at the bottom just like you did to begin the braid at the top.
Tuck both of the pinched ends underneath the braid, and place your challah on a parchment sheet.
Repeat the process with the second portion of dough.
Cover the baking sheet with a tea towel or greased sheet of plastic wrap and allow to proof in a warm area. Challah will often benefit from a much longer second proof than many breads. Make sure the bread has considerably puffed up in size, even if it takes more than an hour.
While your bread proofs, preheat your oven to 350°F.
When the challah is ready for the oven, brush it with the beaten egg, then place it in the oven on your middle rack.
1 large Egg
Bake for 30 minutes or until the crust is a deep, rich brown. Remove from the oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool. Wait until the bread has cooled completely before cutting into it. Store in an airtight container for up to 3-5 days. Enjoy!
