Preheat the oven to 200°F.

Dissolve the teaspoon of sugar in the ¼ cup warm water. Add the yeast, mix well with a fork for about 15 seconds, and set aside until frothy, about 5 minutes.

Measure and combine the dry ingredients in one bowl, getting rid of clumps.

Combine the honey, oil, milk, eggs, and warm water.

Pour the wet mixture into the dry mixture slowly and mix to combine.

Add the yeast mixture from the first step.

Mix well for 3-5 minutes (I do it all by hand, folks, but feel free to use your mixer). The mixture will be a little runny, but shouldn’t be too runny.

Turn the oven off.

Rising (~ 2 hours)

First Rise: Cover the dough bowl with parchment paper and leave in the warm (but off!) oven for about 1 hour or until the dough has doubled in size.

Take the bowl out and turn the oven back on to preheat to 200°F.

Stir the dough down and spoon into your lightly greased pans — small loaf pans work, but I use the challet pan, and this recipe makes 4 challets.

Turn the oven off.

Second Rise: Cover the pan(s), return back to the warm (but off) oven, and let rise again for another 40 minutes or so, until the dough has doubled.

Remove the rising challah from the oven.

Baking (~ 30-35 minutes)

Preheat oven to 375°F.

Part One: Bake uncovered at 375°F for 15 minutes.

Line a cookie sheet with the parchment paper you used to cover the dough.

Remove pans from oven and invert half-baked loaves onto the cookie sheet. They should be solid at this point.

Lightly glaze loaves with the egg yolk, then return to oven.

Part Two: Bake uncovered at 375°F for 15-20 minutes. You’ll want the tops to have a nice, golden brown coloring.

Move to wire rack to cool.