• Prep. In the bowl of your stand mixer, whisk together bread flour, salt, and instant yeast. In another, whisk together warm water, room temperature eggs, egg yolk, honey, and olive oil.
• Mix. Pour the wet ingredients into the center of the dry ingredients and let the dough hook mix everything together on low-medium speed, pausing to incorporate flour from the sides of the bowl as needed until the dough comes together in a shaggy mass on the dough hook without any dry bits left in the bottom of the bowl. Be patient, this can take 5-8 minutes, if not more depending on the size of your mixer bowl.
After 7 minutes of mixing, if the dough is still struggling to come together, you can drizzle water ¼ teaspoon at a time onto the dry bits in the bowl until it does before moving on to kneading.
Note: Read more about the difference between mixing and kneading.
• Knead. Increase the speed slightly and knead the challah dough for another 5-8 minutes until it is smooth and slightly elastic. It will be slightly tacky, but not sticky to the touch.
If the dough is sticking to the bottom of the bowl, pause periodically to scrape it up. You can also pull the dough off the dough hook and flip it over in the bowl so that it kneads more evenly.
• Rise. Shape the challah dough into a ball, coat lightly with olive oil, and place back in the mixing bowl. Cover the bowl and rest in a warm spot for 1-2 hours. until doubled in size. NOTE: Mine usually takes around an hour and 15 minutes, though sometimes it needs closer to two hours if it's very cold in my kitchen.
Use the fingerprint test to check if the dough is ready to shape.
• Pre-Shape. Divide the dough into 3 equal pieces using your kitchen scale (each piece should be about 226 grams). Gently flatten each piece against the counter, stacking any smaller pieces on top of larger ones. Working with one piece at a time, roll the dough into a thick log, pinching the edge to seal the seam at the bottom.
• Roll Ropes. Starting with the first log of dough, roll each one into a tapered rope about 20 inches long. Try to keep the "seam" of the dough against the counter so that it seals shut.

  The dough ropes will relax and shrink back slightly as they rest, so I like to measure them after rolling all three. If they've shrunk back, I roll them again quickly to reach 20 inches. If you don't have a long ruler and are just eyeballing the length, just make sure they're all equal length once relaxed.
At any point if the dough feels like it's fighting you, doesn't want to roll any longer, or is shrinking back a lot each time you lift your hands, you can cover the ropes with a clean dish towel and let them rest for a minute or two, then resume rolling.
• Braid. Join the ends of the three ropes of dough together at one end with the middle rope on top of the other two. Pinch to seal and use the heel of a bench scraper to hold them in place. Braid the challah loosely, leaving room for the ropes to expand and fill in during the final rise. Pinch the other end shut, then tuck the each of the two pinched together ends under the loaf and place it on a parchment lined sheet pan.
• Rise. Lightly spritz the top of the challah with non-stick spray or brush with olive oil, then cover with plastic wrap and let rise in a warm spot for 1 hour. During this rise, the challah will double in size and should spring back slightly when you poke it.

During the final 30 minutes of the rise time, preheat the oven to 350°F with a rack in the middle of the oven.

• Egg Wash. In a small bowl whisk the reserved egg white with water and a pinch of salt. Brush a thin layer of egg white all over the surface of the mini challah, making sure to get the sides, around near the bottom, and into the creases.
• Bake. Bake in the center of a 350°F oven for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. You're looking for an internal temperature of 195°-200°F.
• Cool. Remove from the oven and let the braided challah cool before slicing or serving.