Quest for Challah!

We love challah! None of the grocery stores around here carry it and the one bakery we found that makes it just doesn't get it quite right.I was directed to this recipe to try:  Challah! This is the printable version of the recipe. In the regular web page version, there is no "About this Recipe' paragraph.

In that paragraph it says "I don't use all the water called for in the recipe"... Well if you don't use it all... why is it stated as that much in the recipe?  I added 1 1/4 cups and it was still too much. Tell me how much to start with and then I can add! I ended up with sticky dough and had to add flour to fix it.

So I got out my bread machine which hasn't seen any use in oh... 5 or 6 years maybe? It was in the garage, and practically frozen! As you can see I made a mess.

Put all the ingredients in the bread machine. You have to do it in the right order or something bad will happen with the yeast. Not sure what... but I don't want to find out!

The bread machine does it's thing for oh... an hour and a half. Then you  dump it out and try to braid it.

 I tried to braid it into 2 loaves. They look kinda mooshed. It's so cold in my 

house it took longer than the prescribed half hour for them to rise.

Finally get to put them in the oven and here is the finished product!!!

They taste exceptionally yummy! And all in all they weren't that hard to make. And as an added bonus, the house smells really good!! I don't think they're going to last long!

Next I think I'm going to make some sourdough starter and try for sourdough!