The Rabbi’s Hallah recipe
Ingredients
¾ cup water
3 eggs
¼ cup canola oil
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons honey
1 tablespoon real maple syrup
1 tbs + 1tsp yeast
4-5 cups all purpose flour
1 tablespoon bromated barley powder (optional)
2 teaspoons fine sea salt
Instructions
Allow the eggs to get to room temperature
Mix water, sugar, honey and maple syrup in a Pyrex measuring cup and microwave until hot to the touch, then pour into the electric mixer or plain large bowl and allow to cool until lukewarm.
Add yeast (and barley powder) and allow it to sit for 5 minutes before gently stirring for a few moments, then leave it until frothing (approximately 10 minutes). Add oil, 2 eggs yolks and 1 whole egg, saving the whites for glazing the bread before baking. Using the mixer paddle attachment or whisk, beat the liquid ingredients until frothing.
Add I cup of flour, the salt and mix with the paddle or by hand until creamy. Add flour one cup at a time, mixing each time until it is blended into the batter.
When the batter stiffens (approximately after the 4th cup) switch to the dough hook or start kneading by hand. Gradually add the remaining flour ¼ cup at a time until the dough pulls off the bowl wall into a ball around the hook. Finish kneading for 2 minutes by hand. (It is easier to get a smoother dough need less kneadingif the flour is worked in gradually.)
Knead for at least 7-8 minutes if by hand only. No shortcuts here!
Spray or rub oil in bowl 3x the volume of the dough ball. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap (a supermarket plastic bag works) and cover with a damp dish towel. In a warm climate of over 80 degrees, place the bowl outdoors until the dough doubles in size (about 2-3) hours. (In a cooler climate, place in the oven after having briefly warmed it.)
Turn oven on at 350 degrees for 2 minutes only, then turn it off.
Divide the dough into 3 equal part; roll the parts into ropes about 18-20 inches long, braid, and place on a baking sheet covered with parchment paper or a silicone mat sprinkled with corn meal. Brush some egg white over the loaf and place in the oven on the middle rack until it doubles in size (about 1 hour).
Preheat the oven to 380 degrees, brush the loaf again and place in the oven for 17-18 minutes. Using a kitchen thermometer, check to see when the interior loaf temperature hits 170 degrees (usually a few minutes longer). Turn the over off, pull the oven rack half way out of the oven and let the loaf cool for at least 1/2 hour.
Enjoy