Daring Bakers' Challenge: Challah

Daring Bakers' Challenge:  Challah!

This is my first Daring Bakers' Challenge.  I have made Challah before, but not this particular recipe.  And, of course, I had to tweak it a bit (don't all bakers do this?).  So, let's just jump right in!

 I used a bread machine to mix everything and do the kneading for me.  Honestly, who wants to stand around and do that all day?  Anyhoo.....the original recipe called for 1 1/2 cups of raisins, but I wanted to mix in a couple of other things too.  I hope that's still in keeping with the kosherness of Challah.  My apologies if it's not.  So, I added about 3/4 cups of raisins and 3/4 cups of dried cranberries.  I also threw in about 1/4 cup of chopped pecans, just because they had been sitting on my counter, giving me the evil eye for about 2 weeks now.

Ok, so wet ingredients, dry ingredients, and away we go!  An hour and a half later, voila!

I did actually knead in the cranberries, nuts and raisins by hand.  Give me some credit!

 For shaping, I used the spiral method, instead of braiding, just to save time.

It was a beautiful dough to work with.  Very smooth, and not sticky in the slightest.  It reminded me of the German bread Stollen, which I often make at Christmas.  But, unlike Stollen, Challah is not as time consuming, and still very tasty!

I hope everyone enjoys my variation, and I look forward to next month's challenge!