Vegan Challah Bread

Makes 2 small Loaves

Ingredients
3 cups unbleached organic flour
2 cups whole wheat organic flour
1/2 cup agave syrup
1/3 cup oil
1 Tbs. Kosher salt
1 1/4 cup warm water
2 Tbs. yeast
For Glaze- Mix 1Tbs. Maple syrup with 1 Tbs. Non dairy milk
Poppy seeds or sesame seeds if desired.

Directions
1. Mix yeast, agave syrup and warm water in large bowl and set aside. Let yeast rise for 5 minutes.
2. In another bowl, mix together the flour and salt
3. Add the oil to the yeast mixture. Then add the flour mixture, incorporating all of the flour. On a clean work surface sprinkled with flour, knead the dough for about 5-7 minutes until it becomes more elastic. Try not to add a lot of additional flour.
4. Clean the bowl and wipe with oil. Put the dough into the bowl and cover with a slightly wet warm towel.
5. Let rise until doubled in bulk in a warm place (like an oven with only a pilot light or a sunny spot). This will take approximately 1 1⁄2- 2 hours.
6. After rising, punch down the dough and knead again for 5 minutes.
7. Divide dough in half. Using 1 half of the dough, cut into 3 pieces. Roll out each piece in to a long thread about 14” long. Braid the threads together to form the loaf. Repeat with other half. For the Jewish New Years, form the loaf into a circle.
8. Brush with glaze mixture
9. Let rise again until doubled in size (1 1⁄2- 2 hours)
10. Preheat oven to 350°F
11. Bake for 20 minutes, brush again with glaze mixture and sprinkle on poppy seeds or sesame seeds if desired. Rotate pan and bake for another 15-20 minutes until finished.