Vegan Challah Bread /Braided Bread

For this month Home Bakers Challenge,Priya Ranjit  has chosen Christmas cookies,cakes and Jewish Challah bread.
I tired the vegan version using the gram flour(besan) and it came out so delicious and soft but I couldn't braid it properly.
Sangeetha suggested to dry roast the besan as she had the feeling of besan smell,so dry roasted it.If you are using besan dry roast it for couple of minutes in a medium flame and use.As I made a braided bread for first time I scaled down the measurement and made a 10 inch loaf.Now off to the recipe..............

Basic Information

Recipe Source ~Sweet Life
Preparation time ~ 15 minutes
Resting time ~ 1 hour+45 minutes
Baking Time ~ 40-45 minutes
Makes~10 inch loaf

Ingredients

Ingredient	Quantity
All purpose flour/maida	11/2-2cups
Active Yeast/instant yeast	1tsp
Sugar	1/4cup
Gram flour/kadalamaavu	1/4cup
Olive Oil	3tbs
Water	1cup
Salt	3/4tsp
Sesame seeds/yellu	1tsp

Method

Dry roast the gramflour/besan  for couple of minutes,once it becomes warm enough add around 1/3 cup of water and mix it well with no lumps.To this add the sugar,oil and mix it well.In a big mixing bowl add the flour,active yeast and salt,mix it well with a whisk.

Now add the gramflour mixture and mix it well.Knead it to soft dough using water as needed for 5-7 minutes.The dough should be soft and not very sticky.Cover it with a cling wrap and keep it in a warm place to raise for an hour.

By one hour the dough would have doubled,punch down the dough and knead it well for a minute.Now divide the dough into four equal parts.Roll each part to a small log and keep it aside for 5 minutes.

Now take each log and roll into a 10-12 inch strand by moving the hands in rocking motion to get a nice strand.Place the 4 strands on a counter top or a board,squeeze the ends of the strands together and start braid.From the left hand side start the braid by crossing the 4th strand on 2 and 1 over 3,do it till the end.Tuck the finished end and transfer it to the baking tray.

Cover it with a cling wrap and keep it aside for the second raise for 40 minutes.Apply some olive oil and sprinkle the sesame seeds.Once the size become doubled,preheat the oven for 375F.Bake the bread in the preheated oven for 35-40 minutes or a nice golden crust is formed.

Cool it on a wire rack and slice it when it comes to room temperature.

Apply some butter or jelly and serve it.

Enjoy.............................................................

• Here I used sesame seeds,originally poppy seeds are used.
• My sesame seeds didn't stick to the bread properly and I brushed with oil after sprinkling the sesame seeds to get a golden crust.
• In original recipe soy milk is used for brushing.

Posted in: Bake,Bread,Breakfast,Home Bakers Challenge