Vanilla milk challah bread

I only have good associations with challah bread: lazy Sunday breakfast, cup of a warm coca and butter flavour (challah bread just has to be eaten with loads of butter!)

Those two beauties I baked for the Mother’s Day. One I gave to my Mum and another to my mother-in-law. With the challah we ate last year’s plum and vanilla preserve and immediately the home was filled with the May-warmness.

Ingredients
1 oz (30 g) fresh yeast
14 fl oz (400 ml) milk
3,5 oz (100 g) sugar
1 package vanilla sugar
1 tbsp salt
30 oz (850 g) + 5 oz (150 g) wheat flour
3 eggs, slightly whisked
3,5 oz (100 g butter) (melted and cooled)
On the top: 1 egg
Crumble: 1 tbsp yeast dough (left of challah bread), 1 tbsp butter, 1 tbsp sugar, 2 tbsp flour – mix all and knead in your hand until you have crumbles.


Method
Whisk the warm milk with yeast and sugar. When yeast melts add 850 g flour, sugar and salt. Continuing whisking add eggs and butter. Knead the dough, adding another 150 g flour, until smooth and elastic. Form the dough in a ball, coat with a little bit of oil and put aside in a warm place for about 2 hours until doubled in size. During this time punch the dough twice, so it will get ‘flat’ and airless again.
Divide the dough in 2 pieces. Each divide in 3, 4 or 6 pieces. Roll each piece into a strand. Braid into desired loaf shape. Place in the greased pan, cover with cling film and let in doubled in size for about 30-40 min. Brush the dough with the whisked egg with water. Cover with crumbles. Bake in preheated oven to 360 F/180 oC for about 30 min.