Festive Honeycomb Challah Recipe Promises Holiday Delight

As Rosh Hashanah approaches, a recipe for a festive "honeycomb challah" is being shared, designed to be a centerpiece of the holiday meal. The challah is described as soft, golden-brown, and perfectly sweet, expected to disappear quickly.

The recipe, attributed to Yafit Sham'a, requires approximately 90 minutes of preparation time and is rated as easy. It yields three braided challahs.

Key ingredients include 1 kg of flour, 100g of sugar, 20g of dry yeast, 15g of salt, 160ml of oil, and 500ml of warm water. For the topping, one beaten egg and sesame seeds or bagel seasoning are used. A glaze of half a cup of honey is applied after baking.

The preparation involves mixing ingredients in a mixer for about 10 minutes to form a soft dough. After a first rise until doubled in volume, the dough is divided into small balls (about 20g each) and arranged closely in round pans to create the honeycomb effect. A second rise of about 20 minutes follows, during which the oven is preheated to 190 degrees Celsius.

The challahs are baked for approximately 20 minutes until golden-brown. Immediately upon removal from the oven, they are generously drizzled with honey, which melts and absorbs into the hot bread, giving it a shine and a unique texture.