Once upon a time, I had a friend who worked at Penzey’s.  We talked a lot of cooking, and one day he brought me a huge brick of instant yeast.  I baked all of my own bread for a year or so, and messed it up every time.  Too little kneading, left out the salt, under-baked, over-baked …  I never made the same mistake twice.  Then I met a boy who worked in a bakery, and made wonderful hearth-baked breads.  We got married, and I haven’t baked bread in about 6 years.

I regularly make a French toast casserole, which is great, but has been less so since we moved from Pittsburgh, and no longer have access to Allegro Hearth, and I’m not sure I’ve seen a loaf of challah since.  A friend recently blogged her own first foray into braided egg bread, and I was inspired.  Since I had today off, and I’ve promised an egg-bake to a family get-together this weekend, and we were recently given the new New York Times Cookbook, which includes a detailed recipe run in the paper in the late ’70s, I tried it.  And it probably could’ve rested longer before going into the oven, but still, I’m pretty proud of this eight-strand braid.