Mix the yeast, salt, eggs, honey, and melted butter with the water in 5-quart bowl.
Mix in the flour without kneading, using a spoon, or a stand mixer with dough hook. Add in the Herbes de Provence while mixing the dough. Mix until all ingredients are thoroughly incorporated.
Cover and allow to rest at room temperature until the dough rises and collapses (or flattens on top),approximately 2 hours.
At this point the dough can be used immediately after the initial rise, though it is easier to handle when cold. Refrigerate in a container with a non-airtight lid and use over the next 5 days.
Beyond 5 days, freeze in 1-pound portions in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks.
Defrost frozen dough overnight in refrigerator before using. Then allow the usual rest and rise time.
To bake: butter and grease a cookie sheet, or line it with parchment. Dust the surface of cold dough with flour and cut off a 1-pound (grapefruit size) piece. Dust the piece with more flour and shape it into a ball by stretching the surface of the dough around the bottom on all four sides, rotating the ball a quarter turn as you go.
Divide the ball into thirds, using a dough scraper or knife. Roll the balls between your hands, stretching, to form each into a long, thin rope. If the dough resists shaping, let rest for about 5 minutes, then shape. Braid the ropes, starting from the center and working to one end. Turn the loaf over, rotate it, and braid from the center out to the remaining end. This produces a loaf with a more uniform thickness than when braided from end to end.
Allow the bread to rest on the cookie sheet for 1 hour and 20 minutes (or just 40 minutes if you are using fresh, unrefrigerated dough).
Twenty minutes before baking time, preheat oven to 350°F. Brush the loaf(s) with the egg wash.
Bake near the center of the oven for about 25 minutes.
The bread is done when golden brown, and the braids at center of loaf offer resistance.
