Quail Egg Russian Orthodox Challah (?)

I think I was beamed here from the distant Barcalounger star. I am, a sloucher who loves to bake. It's tricky because baking is really labor intensive. It requires the kind of commitment and patience that I have never had. Whenever someone praises my baking I simply cannot accept the compliment without feeling like a fake. I am not really the type of person who bakes her own bread. I'm the kind of person who doesn't make her own bread, who made some bread once.

All of that being said, my most impressive baking endeavor must be the Challah loaf: It has the esoteric tribal appeal of a golden-colored Adrian Brody. It just looks pretty darn impressive. It tastes tender and eggy and is wonderful for sandwiches. It can be frozen and mailed. Everyone loves it.




So, this is my usual Challah recipe. I decided one night that I wanted to add dyed quail eggs to make it resemble Russian Orthodox Easter Bread that my grandmother makes with regular eggs:



*Challah*
INGREDIENTS:
2 cups milk (I use whole, or the fattiest stuff I can find)
8 tablespoons (1 stick) sweet butter
1/3 cup granulated sugar
2 packages active dry yeast
4 eggs, at room temperature (Important, take your eggs out of the fridge now)
2 teaspoons salt
6 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cornmeal
1 tablespoon cold water
sesame seeds

Directions

1. Take your eggs out of the fridge if you haven't already. Boil milk, 6 tablespoons of butter, and the sugar together in a medium-size saucepan. Remove from heat, pour into a large mixing bowl, and let cool to lukewarm (105° to 115° F).

2. Stir yeast into the milk mixture and let stand for 10 minutes.

3. Beat 3 of the eggs well in a small bowl, and stir them and the salt into the milk-and-yeast mixture.

4. Stir in 5 cups of the flour, 1 cup at a time, the dough will still be sticky.

5. Sprinkle flour onto the counter. Add additional flour over the dough and begin kneading, adding more flour as necessary, until you have smooth elastic dough.

6. Smear the reserved 2 tablespoons of butter around the inside of the bowl and add the ball of dough into the bowl, turning to coat it lightly with butter. Cover the bowl with a towel and set aside to let dough rise until tripled in bulk, 1 to 2 hours.

7. Turn dough out onto a lightly floured work surface and cut into halves. Cut each half into 3 pieces. Roll the pieces out into long "snakes" about 18 inches long. Braid three of the snakes together into a loaf and tuck the ends under. Repeat with remaining snakes.

8. Sprinkle a large baking sheet with the cornmeal, and transfer the loaves to the sheet. Leave room between the loaves for them to rise. Cover loaves with the towel and let rise until nearly doubled, about 1 hour.



9. Preheat oven to 350° F.

10. Beat the remaining egg and 1 tablespoon cold water together well in a small bowl. Brush this egg wash evenly over the loaves. Sprinkle immediately with poppy seeds to taste.

11. Set baking sheet on the middle rack of the oven. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until loaves are golden brown and sound hollow when their bottoms are thumped. Cool completely on racks before wrapping. Makes 2 large loaves.