https://www.cutoutandkeep.net/projects/mardi-gras-challah • Posted by MagicalGirlMaya
I made this delicious bread as part of our Mardi Gras celebration and it was a beautiful and delicious hit! It does take a bit of patience, but it's a good sturdy dough and you spend most of the time ignoring the bread and allowing it to rise. Dying the dough was easily the hardest part, and without that this would have been almost ridiculously simple.
I made this delicious bread as part of our Mardi Gras celebration and it was a beautiful and delicious hit! It does take a bit of patience, but it's a good sturdy dough and you spend most of the time ignoring the bread and allowing it to rise. Dying the dough was easily the hardest part, and without that this would have been almost ridiculously simple.
The ingredients.
Melt the butter and milk over medium heat while you’ve got the yeast rising in the warm water with a pinch of sugar.
Once it’s melted add the sugar, salt and honey to the butter/milk mixture. Let it cool to about 100 degrees then you can add the yeast mixture into it along with the eggs.
Move the mixture into the bowl of a heavy duty mixer and add 5 cups of bread flour and mix on medium speed for 10 minutes, occasionally adding more flour until the dough begins to pull away from the sides and the dough becomes smooth and elastic.
Cover it with a tea towel and let it proof for about an hour in a warm place, then punch it down and allow it to proof again for about 45 minutes.
Then cut the dough in half. This recipe makes 2 loaves.
Cover the half you’re not using to avoid it drying out, then cut the half you are using into three equal parts.
Roll each of the pieces out.
You’re looking for each piece to be about 16 inches.
Align the pieces and braid one half of the loaf.
Then turn it around and braid the other half.
This is what it should look like when it’s done.
I highly recommend using a scale to ensure that all your pieces are roughly the same size.
This whole next part is totally optional. I used the dyes to dye the bread the colors of Mardi Gras. You really have to eyeball all of this to get the right about of dye.
This is easily the part that takes the most time/work. You REALLY have to knead the dye into the dough to get it all the way through. Also, the purple looks kind of grey until you bake it.
Me and the boyfriend actually started out by braiding both ends of the bread at the same time.
Then he gave up and I went a braided his side of the loaf as well.
Then cover them with cling film and let them rise in their new form for a third time. While they’re rising pre-heat your oven to 375 F.
Traditionally challah is made with a glaze, but I couldn’t decide on a recipe for the glaze that I liked, so I just covered them in butter and put them in the oven to cook for 35-40 minutes.
And this is what the finished product looks like!