Chocolate Cherry Challah

My husband is funny. I told him I was making a chocolate cherry challah.
He asked why.
Well, because we have a pound of chocolate covered cherries to use up, and I wanted to try a new recipe from my new cookbook. (This is just a slight variation from the recipe, I am really liking my new Smitten Kitchen cookbook...)

Ingredients:

Bread

• 2/3 cup warm water (about 112 degrees F)
• 2 1/4 teaspoons active dry yeast
• 1/4 cup (85 grams) plus 1 teaspoon honey
• 1/3 cup (80 ml) olive oil, plus more for the bowl
• 2 large eggs
• 2 teaspoons kosher salt
• 4 cups (500 grams) all-purpose flour

Filling:

• 12 ounces or so leftover chocolate cover cherries, diced

Instructions:

1. Whisk the yeast and 1 teaspoon honey into warm water on stand mixer using blade.
2. Let yeast proof for a few minutes until foamy. 
3.  Mix in the remaining honey, 1/3 cup olive oil, and eggs.
4. Add the salt and flour, and mix until dough begins to hold together.
5. Switch to the dough hook, and knead at low speed for 5 to 8 minutes.
6. Remove dough from bowl briefly, oil bowl, and return dough to bowl.
7. Cover with plastic wrap or a tight fitting seal.
8. Let dough rise for 1 hour, or until almost doubled in size.
9. After the dough has risen, turn it out onto a floured surface.
10. Divide dough into half. 
11. Roll the first half of the dough into a wide rectangle.
12. Spread half the filling evenly over the dough, leaving a 1/2 dry edge.
13. Roll the dough into a long, tight log, trapping the filling within. Seal the long edge and the ends,
14. Gently stretch the log as wide as feels comfortable into ropes.
    (Try for three feet or more.)
15. Cut loaf in half.
16. Repeat this process with the other dough half and filling.
17. Weave the dough on top of a piece of parchment paper.
    (It is probably best to look at the weave pictures from Smitten Kitchen now http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2012/09/fig-olive-oil-and-sea-salt-challah-book-tour/ )
18. My suggestions for weaving:
    * Arrange two ropes horizontally, and two vertically weaving over and under like a lanyard lashing.
    * Take the four “underneath” legs and flop over the leg to their right.
    * Take the unmoved legs and lop over the leg to the left.
    * As needed, repeat weaving the “underneath” leg flopped to the right and unmoved leg flopped left until you run out of rope.
    * Tuck the rope end under the main dough ball to form a rounded mound.
    
    Note: Doug that the rising dough  looked like mating eels...


19. Slide the dough on the parchment paper onto a pizza peel.
20. Beat an egg until smooth, and brush over challah. Save the leftover egg,
    Place a pizza stone on a rack in the middle of the oven.
21. Preheat the oven to 375 and let the challah rise for an hour.
22. Brush the remaining egg over the challah. Sprinkle with some sea salt if you like.
23. Slide challah on parchment paper onto the pre-heated pizza stone - bake for 35 to 40 minutes.
24. Check the bread around 30 minutes to see if it is done- it should get very dark, and have a temperature of 195 degrees on an instant read thermometer.
25. Remove from oven, and cool on a rack before serving.

Carole's Notes:

This was a fun bread to play with - we brought it over as a dessert for some friends.


The recipe is from the Smitten Kitchen Cookbook but uses a different filling. (It is also on the http://smittenkitchen.com web site.)