You picked ‘em, now I’m cooking ‘em. First, it was Pad Thai. Next up is homemade Challah.

This is the second recipe in our Reader’s Choice series, put on in partnership with my fabulous friends over at Cookstr.com.

This recipe is originally by Nick Malgieri, former executive pastry chef at New York’s Windows on the World and current director of the baking program at the Institute of Culinary Education. The recipe is featured on Cookstr.com, as well as in Malgieri’s book, How to Bake.

I’m pleased as can be about the timing of this post. It’s just in time for the Jewish New Year this weekend. And the cooler weather we’ve been having this week has left me just itching to bake.

So what is Challah bread, anyway?

Challah is a traditional yeast bread—with a glossy crust frequently dappled with sesame seeds—that gets its trademark golden yellow color from the addition of eggs.

Older recipes include several eggs. Most modern versions, like this one, usually call for fewer. (In this case, just two whole eggs plus one additional yolk.)

While it’s eaten in many parts of Europe, it’s probably most well known in the U.S. as a Jewish celebration bread served on the Sabbath and holidays.

You can form the airy bread into several different shapes. A braid is one of the most traditional.

Freshly baked Challah keeps for a day or two on the counter, and freezes well for about a month. It also makes a-ma-zing French toast. (More on that soon.)

While I’ve baked dozens of loaves in my day, I’m by no means an expert on the history and lore of Challah, so if you have other fun facts, please pipe up and leave a comment!

How to make braided bread (it’s easier than you might think!)

In my book, braided breads are some of the most satisfying—and forgiving—loaves to bake.

You can be fairly imprecise with your braid. It can be a little uneven. It can be lumpy. But, it always amazes me how a little time in the oven can transform a few tightly twisted ropes of dough into a poofy, gloriously impressive work of art.

I mean, this:

Turns into this (yes, please!):

Challah isn’t the only bread that takes well to braiding. I’ve also made braided French loaves…

And chocolate loaves…

It’s also really easy to turn a braid into a wreath. Just connect the two ends so the braid forms a circle. Then pinch it together so that it’s secure.

Here’s a large loaf of Challah-like bread I made for New Years a year or two ago. I doubled my dough recipe. The finished bread was about as big as a large pizza pan—and a huge hit at the party we brought it to.

Braided breads are great to bring to holiday gatherings. They look impressive, but are really pretty simple to make—even if you consider yourself a really novice baker.

(Read on for step-by-step instructions on forming the loaf. Trust me. If you can braid your pigtails, you can make a braided bread.)

Tips on equipment & ingredients for making challah

Malgieri makes this bread in a food processor. I used my 11-cup Cuisinart to mix the dough, per his recipe, but my bowl was pretty close to full—which meant I had a hard time getting the dough to come together.

The next time I make this, I’ll definitely opt for my stand mixer. (You could also make this the old fashioned way: With a wooden spoon and a lot of elbow grease.)

Oh, and about the yeast. No matter what brand of yeast you’re using, always measure it with a measuring spoon—even if it comes out of one of those little envelopes. Packets of yeast are notorious for not always containing the same amount of yeast.

Take two seconds to measure it out and be sure you’re not tossing in too much—or too little. If your house is hot (or you don’t bake a lot), store your yeast in the freezer to help it keep longer.

Yeast

Alrighty. To the ovens!

Braided Challah Bread

By Nick Malgieri

5 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
2 teaspoons salt
1 cup warm tap water (about 110 degrees)
2 1/2 teaspoons (1 envelope) active dry yeast
1/4 cup vegetable oil + a little more for the bowl during the first rise
2 large eggs, plus 1 egg yolk

Egg wash: 1 egg well beaten with a pinch of salt

Yields 1 large, braided loaf

Make the challah dough

Put the flour, sugar, and salt in the bowl of your food processor. Pulse the dry ingredients together quickly to combine them.

Put the water in a separate bowl and toss in the yeast.

Whisk the yeast and water together to combine well.

Pour in the oil. (I used olive oil, but use a milder flavor oil, like canola, if you like.)

Add the eggs to the mixture.

Whisk to combine well. You want to completely incorporate the eggs. Your mixture will be about the color of cafe-au-lait.

Pour the liquids into the dry ingredients in your food processor, pulsing about 8-10 times as you go.

When all the liquid is in the bowl of your food processor, run the machine continuously for about 30 seconds, until the dough comes together and balls up. (This is where I ran into a little trouble.)

I wound up taking the cap off my Cuisinart twice, scraping down the sides and loosening up the dough, then processing it again quickly. This is where I decided to use my stand mixer next time. You want your dough to look about like this:

Challah dough: The first rise

When your dough has come together, transfer it to a lightly floured board.

Round it up into a neat ball with your hands and knead it a few times.

Drizzle a little oil (again, I used olive oil) into a large mixing bowl. I used maybe a tablespoon, give or take.

Toss your dough ball into the bowl with the oil. Roll it around to coat it completely. (This will keep it from sticking to the bowl later on.)

Cover the bowl with plastic wrap or a few warm, damp paper towels (I like to do this, because that little bit of heat and moisture give the yeast a little boost). Set the bowl aside on the counter and let it rise for about an hour, until it’s about doubled in size.

Braid the dough and let it rise a second time

Once your dough has about doubled in size, you’re ready to braid it. Line a sheet pan with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat. Set it aside while you deal with the dough.

Transfer your dough to a lightly floured board. Smoosh the air out of it with your hands.

Round it up gently into a tidy little ball.

Whack it in three even pieces with a bencher or butcher’s knife. Make the pieces as even as you can, but don’t make yourself nuts. (If you want to make them perfectly even, weigh each piece of dough.)

Take one piece of dough and roll it out into a rope that’s about 12-15 inches long.

Repeat with the other two blobs of dough. When you’re done, set the ropes on your prepared sheet pan.

Now, for the braiding. Turn the pan so that the dough is pointed at you like this:

Start braiding in the middle of the dough. (Yep, you heard me: In the middle, not at one end. Malgieri said that doing it this way helps create a more even braid. And he’s totally right.) Braid away!

Leave the ends a little loose for now.

Your braid should be half done, and look about like this:

Repeat with the other side.

When the braid is complete, grab the ends of one side. Pinch them together and tuck them neatly under the loaf.

Like this:

Repeat with the other end. And your bread is ready for its second rise!

Cover the dough braid with a piece of lightly oiled plastic wrap. Set it on the counter for another hour, or until it’s just about doubled in size.

Bake the challah!

About 15 minutes before your second rise is done, preheat your oven to 400 degrees. When your dough braid has doubled in size, it should look about like this:

Beat up the egg wash really quickly. (Crack an egg in a bowl, toss in a pinch of salt, and whip furiously for a minute or two until frothy.)

Using a brush (or even your fingers) gently brush the surface of the dough braid with the beaten egg. Be careful not to press too hard on the dough, because you can deflate it.

Pop your pan into your preheated 400-degree oven. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the top is nice and brown.

When it’s done, it should register about 210 degrees on the inside (use a meat thermometer), and should produce a hollow sound when you thump the crust with your fingers.�

Let it cool on the pan for about 5 minutes, then transfer it to a wire rack to finish cooling. (Resist the urge to tear into it when it’s piping hot. It can leave your loaf a little gummy when it cools.)

Enjoy!

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Pad Thai, perhaps Thailand’s most infamous noodle dish, has dozens of incarnations—including several regional variations—each one a slightly different take on the mouthwatering combination of sweet, salty, and sour flavors. Some are super spicy, and some—like this recipe—are very mild. Regardless of your recipe, this is one of those dishes that’s all prep and very little actual cooking.

Pad Thai: The winner of our first Reader’s Choice Recipe Poll

Back in the beginning of June, we asked you all to vote for your which delicious-looking recipe from Cookstr.com you’d like to see demonstrated in The Hungry Mouse’s signature, step-by-step style.

This Pad Thai by Australian chefs Victoria Blashford-Snell and Brigitte Hafner won our poll, with 55 of the 273 votes cast. You can also find it in their book, The Illustrated Kitchen Bible.

Deborah Madison’s Spring Rolls came in second, and Nick Malgieri’s Challah came in third. Look for step-by-step walk-throughs of those recipes in the weeks to come.

A little history about pad thai

One of Thailand’s national dishes, Pad Thai typically consists of rice noodles stir fried with a combination of eggs, another protein (shrimp, tofu, or chicken), peanuts, fish sauce, chili pepper, bean sprouts, and lime—along with any number of other ingredients, including tamarind juice, coriander, cabbage, banana flower, and preserved turnip.

Many hold that the dish is actually Vietnamese in origin, and was adapted to the Thai palate. A popular street food, vendors would wrap the noodles up in a bundle of banana leaves to feed hungry folks on the go. It was officially promoted by the Thai government during World War II, as part of an effort to reduce wartime consumption of rice (one of the country’s biggest exports at the time).

It continued to be a staple in the lean times that followed the war, with rice noodle shops and factories popping up all over the country as a way to help the people get by.

Ingredients in pad thai

Most larger supermarkets should carry some version of these ingredients. To track down these specific brands, your best bet it to hit up a big Asian grocer (or order them online). In the Boston area, we head to Chinatown or hit Super 88.

Rice Noodles—For this recipe, you’ll need wide, flat rice noodles. Think fettuccine.

Fish Sauce—Also known as nuoc mam. Like soy sauce, the fewer ingredients in fish sauce, the better. Look for bottles made only with anchovies, salt, and sugar.

Fish sauce is pungent stuff. It should be a rich brown color and as thin as water. (Looks a lot like my vanilla extract, doesn’t it?)

We like Golden Boy brand fish sauce a lot. If you can’t find it in person, you can order a 24-oz. bottle of the stuff here for just under $4. (I can’t imagine ever going through such a big bottle. But, the good news is that it doesn’t need to go in the fridge, so you can just stick it in a cabinet. I could be wrong, but I’m guessing it keeps forever.)

Oyster Sauce—As with fish sauce, look for an oyster sauce whose first ingredient is, well…oysters. Oyster sauce is thick and syrupy.

We like Lee Kum Kee Premium Oyster Flavored Sauce (order it online here for about $8). Steer clear of their Panda brand, whose first ingredients are water, sugar, and salt.

Shrimp—I don’t mind shelling and deveining shrimp myself. Click here for step-by-step photo instructions on how to clean the little beasties. Try cleaning shrimp under cold running water. It makes the whole operation a lot easier. (Or, if you’d rather skip it and save a little time, just buy them already cleaned.)

Tips on cooking Pad Thai

• Prep all the ingredients in advance. The whole dish takes about 5 minutes to cook, if that, so there’s no time to chop as you go.

• Cook it when you’re ready to eat. The leftovers are still tasty, but they pale in comparison to the hot-out-of-the-wok experience.
• Use the largest wok or frying pan you have. All the ingredients, including the noodles, go into the pot and get tossed around.

Pad Thai

12 oz. (350g) flat rice noodles
boiling water
4 Tbsp. vegetable oil
2 Tbsp. cilantro, chopped
1 small hot red chile, seeded and finely chopped
9 oz. (250g) large shrimp, peeled and deveined
4 shallots, finely chopped
4 large eggs, beaten
1 Tbsp. sugar
2 Tbsp. oyster sauce
1 Tbsp. Thai fish sauce
2 Tbsp. fresh lime juice
9 oz. (250g) bean sprouts
4 scallions, white and green parts, sliced
1 cup unsalted roasted peanuts
1 lime cut into 4 wedges, for garnish

Serves about 4

Pad Thai: Prep all your ingredients

No, really. Do this all in advance.

Cook the rice noodles

Set a kettle of water on the stove over high heat to boil. Grab your rice noodles and toss them in a large mixing bowl.

When your water is boiling, pour enough into the bowl to submerge your noodles.

With a pair of tongs, scoot the noodles around to loosen them up and separate them.

Cover the bowl with some aluminum foil and let them soak for about 15 minutes, or until soft. (Give one a taste to see if they’re ready.)

Drain the noodles and set them aside.

Mix the pad thai sauce

In a small bowl, add the lime juice, oyster sauce, and fish sauce.

Mix together to combine well. Set aside for a few minutes.

Stir fry the pad thai ingredients

Don’t start cooking until you can give it your full attention for 5 or 10 minutes. Once you start, the whole thing comes together really, really fast.

Heat a wok or large frying pan on the stove over high heat. Add 2 tablespoons of the oil, and the chopped cilantro and chili pepper.

Toss in the shrimp. Stir to coat with oil, cilantro, and chili. Stir them around constantly—making sure to flip them over on both sides—for about a minute, until they’re just opaque.

You want them to look about like this. They should be opaque on both sides, and will only be about 1/2 cooked through at this point.

Yank them out of the pan and set them aside for a minute on a plate.

Keep the heat on high (or drop it a little if your pan is starting to smoke).

Add the remaining 2 tablespoons of oil to the hot pan. Toss in the chopped shallots. Stir fry for 1 minute.

Pour in the eggs.

Toss in the sugar.

Begin to stir the eggs immediately so they break up into bits as they cook. Cook for about 1 minute, until the eggs are totally scrambled.

Pour in the mixture of lime juice, fish sauce, and oyster sauce.

Stir around to distribute the sauce. Add the noodles to the pot.

Toss in the bean sprouts and shrimp.

Stir fry for another 2 minutes. This will help the all the flavors marry together and finish cooking those shrimp.

Sprinkle in the sliced scallions and half of the peanuts. Stir fry for another minute.

Pour the whole pan out into a large serving bowl. Garnish with lime wedges and the rest of the peanuts.

Serve immediately.

Enjoy!

Thanks again to our friends over at Cookstr.com. Look for our other Reader’s Choice winners soon! (And maybe I can even convince The Angry Chef to share his top-secret recipe for Pad Thai with us…)

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Here’s the deal. Here are 8 intriguing and delicious-looking recipes from Cookstr.com. You vote for the recipes you’d like me to cook. I’ll do step-by-step walk-throughs of the top three.

How about it?

I have to say, we couldn’t be more excited here at The Mouse House. A lot of different things drive what we publish on The Hungry Mouse. What we’re eating. What’s in season. Above all, though, special requests from our readers come first.

Keep your eye on Cookstr—if you haven’t taken a look yet

Cookstr is rapidly building one of the best food sites I’ve seen. (Proof positive of their fabulous-ness: They’ve been nominated for a Webby in the Food and Cooking category.) All their content comes from chefs and cookbook authors. If you haven’t already, definitely check them out.

Reader’s Choice Recipes: Let the voting begin!

Here are links to 8 different recipes—along with a picture of the chef and the book they appear in. So go and click around, have a nibble, and see which recipes look good to you. Then:

• Vote for the recipe you like best in the poll at the end of this article.
• Voting ends on Saturday, June 20.
• I’ll do a step-by-step walk through of the three recipes that have the most votes and post them up over the next month or so.

1. Challah, by Nick Malgieri

Malgieri is the former executive pastry chef at New York’s Windows on the World and current director of the baking program at the Institute of Culinary Education. He’s been writing about baking and cooking for more than 30 years.

Nick Malgieri

This recipe for sumptuous, braided egg bread is featured in Malgieri’s book, How to Bake. Read more about Malgieri or visit his website.

2. Pad Thai, by Victoria Blashford-Snell and Brigitte Hafner

Victoria Blashford-Snell and Brigitte Hafner teamed up to write The Illustrated Kitchen Bible. Australian chef and writer Brigitte Hafner runs The Gertrude Street Enoteca in Melbourne. Trained at Le Cordon Bleu, Blashford-Snell runs a catering company in London and has coauthored several cookbooks.

Brigitte Hafner

Blashford-Snell and Hafner originally published their recipe for this famous rice-noodle-and-shrimp dish in their book The Illustrated Kitchen Bible.

3. Mango Ice Cream, by Amy Besa and Romy Dorotan

Besa and Dorotan, both natives of the Philippines, ran Cendrillon in New York City for 13 1/2 years. Their new restaurant in Brooklyn, Purple Yam, is due to open in June 2009.

Amy Besa, Photo by: Neal Oshima

Romy Dorotan, Photo by: Neal Oshima

Their recipe for mouthwatering mango ice cream appears in their book, Memories of Philippine Kitchens. Read more about the duo here.

4. Baked Lemon Tart, by Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau

Mentesana and Audureau have owned the delectable-sounding Once Upon a Tart in New York City for more than 10 years.

Frank Mentesana and Jerome Audureau, Photo by: Tess Steinkolk

The recipe for their easy and popular baked lemon tart appears in their book, Once Upon a Tart.

5. Deep-Dish Pizza with Sausage, Garlic and Mozzarella, by Diane Morgan and Tony Gemignani

Diana Morgan is an Oregon-based cookbook author, food writer, culinary instructor, and restaurant consultant. She teamed up with pizza tossing champion and chef Tony Gemignani (of Pyzano’s Pizzeria fame) to write a book on homemade pizza.

Diane Morgan, Photo by: Adair Lara

The recipe for this Chicago-style deep dish pizza appears in their book, Pizza: More than 60 Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pizza.

6. Horn and Hardart’s Macaroni and Cheese, by Arthur Schwartz

As a cookbook author, culinary instructor, and former restaurant critic and executive food editor of 18 years for the New York Daily News, you could say that Arthur Schwartz knows a thing or two about food. Check him out over at The Food Maven.

Arthur Schwartz

Find the recipe for Horn and Hardart’s Macaroni and Cheese in his book, Arthur Schwartz’s New York City Food: An Opinionated History and More Than 100 Legendary Recipes

7. Chicken Fajitas with Green Olive Cilantro Salsa, by Victoria Wise and Susanna Hoffman

Victoria Wise is a writer, cookbook author, and the former owner of Pig By The Tail Charcuterie. Wise also cooked the very first (!!!) meal ever at Chez Panisse. Susanna Hoffman is co-founder of the Good & Plenty Cafe in Oakland, CA, and started her baking career at Chez Panisse.

Victoria Wise

Wise and Hoffman co-authored The Well-Filled Tortilla, where you’ll find the recipe for these mouthwatering fajitas.

8. Spring Rolls with Shredded Cabbage, Mushrooms and Tofu, by Deborah Madison

Deborah Madison is a chef, cookbook author, teacher, and community activist with deep roots in the sustainable and local food movement.

Deborah Madison, Photo by: Doug Merriam

Find these crisp spring rolls in Madison’s book, This Can’t Be Tofu!: 75 Recipes to Cook Something You Never Thought You Would–and Love Every Bite.

Phew! So what do you think? Which recipe would you most like to see made from scratch? Vote today!

Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post's poll.

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