Challah

This is my attempt at Challah.  I think it turned out pretty good and J came home from CQ pretty much just to sample the food.  He loves my cooking.

I decided to go for a real challenge and cut the dough into 6 balls then rolled it out into what is in this photo.  Now for the hard part, braiding the dough strips.

It took a bit of playing with but I got it finally.  I should have done a better job on tucking the ends in and under but well, this is my very first time making Challah.

I let the dough rise for one final time.  Don't mind the jelly roll pan its not really dirty but it is stained from the non stick surface wearing off.  I guess I shouldn't have used a metal spatula on the pan over the past decade but the damage was done with the first big scratch, after that I didn't care.
It really did rise nicely and I'm quite proud of the bread.

Fresh from the oven.  Even hours later when J came home to grab a bite to eat this bread was the first aroma that he had when entering the house.

Not the best photo, it looks really dark, but here it sits on my Grandma's cutting board.

There is a story behind this cutting board.  It was lost to me for 6 years while I moved about with my first husband.  When I got back to the states from Germany I went to my  first apartment, they were renovating it, I went in and asked the workers if I could get something.  Sure enough the cutting board was where I had left it 6 years before my first military move to Texas from NY.  I had used Grandma's cutting board to extend a shelf in a cabinet in my tiny apartment beside its original use.  I was so happy to have the cutting board in my possession again too.  With my move here to WA some how the board split in two.  J repaired it for me and I'm once again using it for its original purpose.  This is the only item that I can think of that I have from my mom's mother.  The cutting board has to be close to 80 years old and the handles broke off years before it was passed down to me.

Oh and I hate to say, but there is only about half of the loaf left.  Fresh baked bread doesn't last long in my house.

Just a little note, I got two lines today on my OPK.  The test line was darker than the control line.  We have a go.  Oh I highly doubt with all my issues this one will implant and there is of course the possibility that the follicle has no egg in it too.  But trying naturally is way more fun than any IVF!