If you’re done with doughnuts, mark your Chanukah shabbat with this beautiful, bready chanukiah.
Method
- Pour the lukewarm water into a mixing bowl, add the teaspoon of sugar and dissolve the yeast into the water.
- Once bubbles start to appear, pour in a third of the flour, 2 eggs, the rest of the sugar, the salt and the oil.
- Stir the mixture to combine, adding more flour little by little, until it becomes a ball of dough. Knead for 5 minutes on a clean work surface. Drizzle a little bit of leftover oil around the bowl, place the dough back inside, cover with cling film and leave to rise for 1 ½ hours or until doubled in size. Line a large baking sheet - or even your oven tray - with baking parchment.
- Once the dough has risen, knock the air out of it and roll it out into a thin, flat rectangle using a rolling pin.
- Cut the dough into long, thin strips and plait together three at a time.
- Shape the long, thin plaits of dough into a Chanukiah shape on the lined baking tray. For two separate loaves, shape one long plait into the Chanukiah base and a selection of other plaits into the candles and join the top and bottom parts together after baking.
- Once you are happy with the shapes, cover the dough with cling film or a clean, damp tea towel and let it rise again for half an hour. Towards the end of this time, pre-heat your oven to 180°C and carefully brush the plaits with beaten egg using a pastry brush.
- Bake the challah for 25 minutes at the bottom of the oven. Once cooled, decorate with edible glitter.
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