Apple Challah (combination)

By commercecook

For this challah I used the apple challah recipes from the following sites: www.twobluelemons.com
www.marthastewart.com
www.kingarthurflour.com

Ingredients

• Glaze:
• Bread
• 1/2 cup lukewarm water
• 6 tablespoons safflower oil
• 1/3 cup "good" honey
• 2 large eggs
• 4 cups (17 ounces) King Authur Unbleached Bread Flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons salt
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon instant yeast
• Filling
• 2 medium Granny Smith apples, peeled and cored: one sliced in 1/4 inch slices and one cut into small pieces
• 4 tablespoons butter
• 1/3 cup honey

Preparation

Step 1

Using a bread maker for dough;
Combine flour, cinnamon and salt and put in bread maker. Combine remaining ingredients except yeast, and pour on top of flour. Close top and add yeast to dispenser.
Set on dough mode. (2 hours 25 minutes) Leave an additional 45 minutes in the bread maker after completion of cycle.

Prepare small diced apples Take dough out of bread maker and place on floured surface. Pat into a 8 x 14 inch rectangle. Add apple pieces and knead to incorporate. This just wasn't possible when I made it, so I put the dough in my Kitchen Aid with the dough hook, set on level 2 until apples were mostly in the dough, maybe 2-3 minutes.The dough will be sticky.

Turn dough into a bowl, brush with 1 tablespoon melted butter, cover and let rise until dough almost doubles in volume, about 1 hour more.

Prepare sliced apple. Butter a 9 inch round pan with removeable bottom. Roll or stretch dough into a rope, about 24 inches on a floured surface. Spread out the dough sideways and make a row of the apple slices in the middle. Bring the sides of the dough together to enclose the apples with the dough. Coil into a circle and transfer to pan. Cover dough with plastic wrap and let rise again until dough almost doubles in volume, about 45 minutes or until it reaches the top of your springform pan. I used the oven, off and on in the warm cycle.

Glaze: Heat the 4 tablespoons of butter and 1/3 cup honey in saucepan or in microwave until butter melts. Brush dough with half the mixture. Bake at 350 degrees for about 35 minutes, checking after 25 minutes. Probe inside should measure 200 degrees in the middle. Make sure the middle is cooked. If it gets too brown, cover with foil to finish baking.
When finished, brush challah with remaining butter/honey mixture. Let cool in pan for 30 minutes. Turn out the loaf and cool.