Challah Back, Girrrrl!
Nouns-
1 1/2 tbsps instant yeast
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup vegetable oil
5 eggs
1 tsbp salt
8 1/2 cups flour
1 3/4 cups warm water
Verbs-
Combine the water, oil, honey, salt and yeast in your mixer or stir by hand. Add four eggs, one at a time. Add the flour and mix until incorporated. Once the dough comes together, transfer to a floured board and knead until smooth, about ten minutes. Put the dough in a greased bowl covered in saran wrap and let rise in a warm place for one hour or until doubled in volume. Punch down the dough and let rise another 30 minutes. At this point, the dough can be formed into loaves. I did six small loaves, but three large loaves works as well, with a longer baking time. I did simple 3-strand braids, but directions for a fancier 6-strand braid can be found on the Smitten Kitchen page I linked to above. Here are directions for basic braid loaves: divide your dough into equal sized sections for as many loaves as you want to bake. Take one of those sections and cut it in thirds. Roll each third into a long rope on your cutting board. Join the top end of all three ropes and braid them, pinching the ends together at the end of the loaf. Repeat with each section of dough.
Place the loaves on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper and let rise for one hour. Preheat the oven to 375. When loaves have risen for an hour, whisk the remaining egg in a bowl and spread it over the surface of the loaves so they'll be nice and shiny. Bake for 30 minutes for large loaves, or 15-20 minutes for the small ones, rotating the baking sheets halfway through.
