Cranberry Orange French Toast

If you're lucky enough to have the next week or so responsibility-free, then I envy you. Really envy you. I'm sure all of your gifts are purchased and already neatly wrapped too. If so, you're an overachiever and no one likes you.

I guess I'm here to give you an opportunity for extra credit then, if you're grown-up enough to make contributions to breakfast on Christmas morning. (If you're a small child reading this blog, I want to congratulate you for representing that demographic and urge you to cry until someone makes this for you. Maybe without the Grand Marnier. Maybe.)

It all starts with the challah (CHALLAH!). I have finally perfected the beast and would like to share with you the recipe and some field notes for success. The recipe makes enough for two big loaves, so I left one plain and made a non-traditional stick-it-to-the-man cranberry loaf.

I used SmittenKitchen's recipe, you can find that HERE.

It's a good recipe to make if you've got things to do all day. It needs to proof three times, so there's a LOT of waiting (no worries, there are ways to speed up the process too if you don't got no time for all that).

You will need:

1 1/2 packages of active dry yeast (or 1 1/2 tablespoons)

1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar

1/2 cup olive or vegetable oil, plus more for greasing the bowl

5 large eggs

1 tablespoon salt

8 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 cup raisins (or craisins!) per challah, if using, plumped in hot water and drained.

To do:

In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 Tbsp sugar in 1 3/4 cups warm water (they tell me you should temp the water to 110 - 115 degrees... so I did and it worked, but that's nobody's warm. It's hot.). Let it sit for five minutes to make sure yeast is active (it will start to foam). If not, start over with new yeast.

Whisk 1/2 cup oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining sugar and salt. Gradually add four. When dough holds together, it is ready for kneading. (You can use a stand mixer if you'd like, but it's a LOT of dough and will probably not fit... I just mixed it by hand and it works just fine. It just makes a bit of a mess. Or maybe that's just me.)

Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean out the bowl and grease it with additional oil and return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm place for about an hour (until dough is almost doubled in size). You can also heat up an oven to 150 degrees and turn it off before setting your dough in there to proof.

Once proofed, punch down dough, cover, and let rise again for another hour.

At this point, you can knead the raisins or craisins into the dough if desired. Otherwise, cut the dough in half (this recipe makes two loaves) and form the dough. 

I made a six braid round challah with the plain (see the video below, I just connected the two ends once the loaf was formed).

And a four braid cranberry (craisin) challah.

Trust me, you're going to want to watch the videos while you're braiding... I got my hands wrapped up in the middle of a loaf once when I was feeling a little too confident.

Finally, once your beauties are braided, I set them on sheet pans lined with foil. Beat the remaining egg and brush two layers over each loaf of challah. Let them rise until doubled in size (the final rise is crucial - if you're not patient, your dough will be dense and you will be sad).

Set your oven to 375 and bake in the middle of the oven for 30 to 40 minutes, or until golden.

So I'd go ahead and make this either today or tomorrow if you plan on having french toast Christmas morning. I'll be whipping up some of that Grand Marnier French Toast with the craisin loaf and I'll keep bringing the recipe up on this blog if you don't try it yourself. It turns French Toast haters into believers. This coming from a previous French Toast hater. 

Happy CHALLAH-days! Hahaha see what I did there? I'm so funny.