Courtesy of Shereen Sarick, Aspen

It is an honor to be sharing this!

Yield: 2 loaves

1⁄3 cup hot water (as hot as your tap runs)
11⁄2 teaspoons sugar
1 tablespoon yeast
2 eggs plus 1 egg for brushing the loaves
1⁄2 cup vegetable oil
1⁄2 cup hot water
1⁄2 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
4 cups flour
Sesame or poppy seeds

On Friday morning spend just 10 minutes doing the following: Mix 1⁄3 cup hot water, 11⁄2 teaspoons sugar and yeast in a large bowl, and set aside a few minutes
to foam. Add the two eggs, oil, 1⁄2 cup hot water, 1⁄2 cup sugar and salt. Stir until well blended, preferably with a wooden spoon, like in the old country. Add
2 cups of flour; keep stirring. Add in 2 more cups of flour and begin to knead the dough into a ball. Put some elbow grease into it until you have a nice ball
— not too sticky but not crumbly. Slam the ball hard three times into the bowl. (With work like this, who needs aggression therapy?) Cover the dough ball in
the bowl with a tea towel and put it in a warm place.

Go have a nice day.

In the afternoon: Take out the dough and divide it into eight equal-sized little balls. Roll them into snakes.

Braid them into two loaves of four strands each (or three-strand braids, if that’s what you know — they just turn out long and skinny.) Leave the loaves on a
baking sheet in the kitchen for their second rising.

Half an hour or so before Shabbat dinner: Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Brush the loaves with one egg (mix it up well, and then paint). Sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds. Bake for 22 minutes, or until the loaves look done and sound hollow when thumped. Mazel Tov! May your challah be as sweet and warm as those with whom you share it.