Tuesdays with Dorie: Apple-Apple Bread Pudding with Homemade Challah Bread

Elizabeth of Cake or Death? picked Dorie's Apple-Apple Bread Pudding for her week. This is an apple version, with caramelized sauteed Gala apples and homemade Challah bread smeared with apple butter. Then a lovely custard is poured over all and baked away. We all enjoyed this.

Since I have a hard time finding Challah bread here without the seeds on it, I decided to make my own. I inquired my Mother in Laws bread machine after she passed away (my old machine quit heating), so this is the first time I used it to make the dough. I used a simple recipe I quickly found online, but my braiding skills were not so simple, afterwards I looked up more info and learned to braid it from the middle to the ends. It looked so silly once baked, but tasted great! I wasn't sure if all of this could fit in my bread machine, so I cut the ingredients in half and made 1 loaf at a time. In the end, I'm sure it could've all fit.

The Best Bread Machine Challah
adapted from RecipeZaar

makes 2 loafs (I used 1 loaf for the bread pudding)

1 1/2 cups water
5 large egg yolks
1 1/8 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup oil
4 1/4 cups all-purpose flour or bread flour
1/2 cup honey
1 tablespoon active dry yeast
1 large egg, lightly beaten

-Place the water, egg yolks, salt oil, flour, honey and yeast in the bread machine pan, according to the manufacturer's directions.
-Process the ingredients in the dough cycle.
-Remove immediately when the machine beeps.
-Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
-Divide the dough in half.
-Divide each piece into three sections.
-Roll each section into a long strand.
-Braid the three strands (starting from the middle), pinching the top and bottom ends together.
-Place on a parchment-lined or lightly greased baking sheet.
-Repeat with the remaining dough, making the second challah.
-Let the loaf rise, covered, for 30 minutes.
-Brush the loaf with the beaten egg.
-Bake for 30 minutes.
-Cool on a wire rack.

enjoy,