Rosh Hashanah - Round Challah bread

Last year was my first time celebrating the High Holidays of the Jewish faith and I decided that I would bring a homemade Challah bread with me to Yom Kippur dinner. It was one of my first times meeting my boyfriends parents so I wanted to make sure everything was perfect so I went to my trusted CSA friend who alwas is making something delicious for some help. She was kind enought to post her favorite recipe on her blog (which is by way of the Silver Palate cook book) and this year my loaf came out perfect!


I ended up diving the dough 2/3 into the above picture 6 strand braid circle (which is traditional for the Jewish New Year celebration) and the other 1/3 into a smaller loaf also with the 6 strand braid. I used a youtube video from Maya to get the braid perfect and this year was a lot better! I just had to keep repeating 2nd strand over and other side in the middle till I was finished.

taken from: http://www.izzyeats.com/2008/09/rosh-hashanah-is-almost-here-time-to.html

INGREDIENTS:
2 cups milk
8 tablespoons (1 stick) sweet butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 packages active dry yeast
4 eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon cold water
poppy seeds

1.)Bring milk, 6 tablespoons of butter, and the sugar to a boil together in a medium-size saucepan. Remove from heat, pour into a large mixing bowl, and let cool to lukewarm (105° to 115° F).
2) Stir yeast into the milk mixture and let stand for 10 minutes.
3) Beat 3 of the eggs well in a small bowl, and stir them and the salt into the milk-and-yeast mixture.
4) Stir in 5 cups of the flour, 1 cup at a time, until you achieve a sticky dough. Flour a work surface lightly and turn the dough out onto it. Wash and dry the bowl.
5) Sprinkle additional flour over the dough and begin kneading, adding more flour as necessary, until you have smooth elastic dough.
6) Smear the reserved 2 tablespoons of butter around the inside of the bowl and add the ball of dough into the bowl, turning to coat it lightly with butter. Cover the bowl with a towel and set aside to let dough rise until tripled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.
7) Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and cut into halves and then braid
8) Sprinkle a large baking sheet with the cornmeal, and transfer the loaves to the sheet. Leave room between the loaves for them to rise. Cover loaves with the towel and let rise until nearly doubled, about 1 hour.
9) Preheat oven to 350° F.
10) Beat the remaining egg and 1 tablespoon cold water together well in a small bowl. Brush this egg wash evenly over the loaves. Sprinkle immediately with poppy seeds to taste.
11) Set baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when their bottoms are thumped. Cool completely on racks before wrapping. Makes 2 large loaves.