Rise Up: Good Shabbos

After my GP appointment this morning reassured me that we're doing what we can, I looked forward to my afternoon playgroup. And for this I made Chocolate Challah, choosing challah not because one of our moms is culturally Jewish but because we all like chocolate and challah can be such a wonderful, rich bread. And it was good, especially because I only made the dough in the machine and then braided it myself, as is traditional, and baked it in the oven. Let's just say that we all burned our fingers grabbing a piece and that only about 1/4 of it is left!

Good Shabbos to us all!

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Chocolate Challah

1 cup water

1 large egg plus 1 egg yolk

2 tablespoons vegetable oil

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups bread flour

1/2 cup sugar

1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 tablespoon gluten

1 1/2 teaspoons salt

2 1/4 teaspoons bread machine yeast

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Place the ingredients, except the chocolate chips, in the pan according to the order in the manufacturer's instructions. Set crust on medium and program for the Basic or Sweet Bread cycle; press Start (not suitable for the delay timer). At the beep, add the chocolate chips.

When the baking cycle ends, immediately remove the bread from the pan and place it on a rack. Let cool to room temperature before slicing.

Beth Hensperger, The Bread Lover's Bread Machine Cookbook