Those are beautiful! I love making braided bread. By the way, I could not help noticing your parchment sheets, I need to buy some since I'm out. I usually get mine from King Arthur, is that where you get yours or do you have a different source?

Joanne

Your bread looks great. I have never made braided bread, I ususally make bread in individual rolls or a loaf, but your picture looks so good I'm going to try it.

i could sure go for a piece of that right now - they look amazing and i'm sure taste equally wonderful.

happy holidays to you,
maryanne

My husband buys them - He use to get it from Cash and Carry because our Smart and Final didn't have it but they moved to a larger space so now they do. So next time he will probably get it from Smart and Final. It is a box of 1000 sheet pan size sheets so I cut it in half for my half sheet pans but my cookie pans are bigger than a half sheet so I end up just folding the excess under. It is going to take a long time before I need another box.

Those are absolutely beautiful loaves. I did kind of smile, though, thinking of you chasing poppy seeds around the kitchen. (grin)

A piece of that would sure be yummy for breakfast, I'll be thinking about it tomorrow morning, you know.

Annie

*thud*

Beautiful bread. I'll take the poppy one!

I'd love to have your recipe for this magnificent bread even though it's the week before Passover. A search of the website didn't have the recipe although the threads listed when I searched were really fun to read.

Thanks so much, and have a great holiday.

Gorgeous!!

Oh WOW!!! those loaves are gorgeous.

Ann

Thank you all - I guess it helps technique to do a thing most every week. The thing I'm still working on is keeping the braid even along the loaf. I tend to start out loose with the long strands and get tighter as the strands get short.

trixietx, the braiding is pretty fast. The work is in making the six 12-inch long strands for each loaf. That seemed to take forever at first but after a few weeks it goes more quickly. It's a physical skill that takes the muscles a bit of practice to learn.

The recipe I use comes from Secrets of a Jewish Baker. His directions tend to be pretty wordy so I'll paraphrase. We usually make the dough in the bread machine (dough cycle) and take it out after the first rise but to do the double batch (4 loaves) I did it in the KA stand mixer. This recipe has a lot of yeast and some sugar so it rises very quickly.

Challah from
Secrets of a Jewish Baker George Greenstein
paraphrase by cloud_swift

1 cup warm water
2 packages active dry yeast (about 1 1/2 tbsp)
1 egg plus 2 yolks, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I usually use a mild olive oil)
1/4 c plus 1 1/2 tsp sugar (that's what his recipe says, I usually just do a slightly rounded 1/4 c)
4 to 4 1/2 cup bread flour
2 tsp salt
1 egg beaten with 1 tsp water for egg wash
corn meal for dusting pan (I usually bake on parchment without dusting - I like corn meal or semolina on the bottom of some breads but its too rustic for challah IMO)
poppy or sesame seeds for topping if desired.

In mixing bowl, sprinkle yeast into water and stir to dissolve. (I'm pretty haphazard about the stirring)
Add the egg and yolks, oil, sugar, salt and 4 cups of flour.
Stir to combine. (He doesn't say to do so, but I usually let the dough rest for 10-15 minutes before starting to knead - that gives the flour some time to absorb the water so I don't add to much flour to get a firm dough.)
Knead adding more flour 1/4 cup at time to make a firm dough, this shouldn't be a sticky dough.
Knead until the dough is smooth and elastic (10 to 15 minutes). Dough should push back when you push at it. (I do the window pane test.)

Put in an oiled bowl, turn to coat and cover. Let triple. (I usually aim to let it go to somewhere between double and triple. This is the time it is easiest to make a mistake as the dough rises quite quickly so if you aren't careful it will over-rise and the loaves won't taste as good.)

Transfer to floured work surface, punch down (I've become a fan of doing a more gentle pat down and forming into a rectangle for division). Divide in half and allow to rest for 15 minutes (sometimes I'm in too much of a hurry to do this rest and it doesn't seem to matter for this dough).

For the six braid challah, divide the half into 6 equal pieces. Roll into ropes. I find this goes best if I have little or no flour on the work surface so that the surface helps keep the rope stretched, the pieces have picked up enough flour when they were divided on the floured surface.

Braid the loaves - see steps for six braid below. They may look scary but it goes fast once you get use to it. We find that the challah tastes better when baked in the six braid than in a three braid.

Put the loaves on a corn-meal dusted pan (as mentioned above, I prefer to put them on parchment on a pan). I give them their first brush with egg wash at this point. Allow to rise in a warm draft-free area until doubled in size.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Brush with egg wash. If desired, sprinkle with poppy seeds or sesame seeds or go to town and use both. Bake about 35 minutes until top has a rich brown color and the lines between the braids have begun to color. When you press lightly on the top of the challah it should be firm when done. (He gives various tests - I suggest using an instant read thermometer to see if it is around 200 degrees - after a bit you will be able to look at the challah to see if it is done.)

Allow to cool on a wire rack.
Steps for six braid:
Here's how it goes:
Start with 6 strands pinched together at the top.

Lift left most over to the right and up.
Lift the original right-most (i.e. not the one you just moved) to the left and up

Now you have a strange beast that has two arms crossed at the top and 4 legs. From here you will continually be moving an arm down to be the center leg and replacing that arm with the opposite outside leg so after each two steps you will have 2 arms and 4 legs with the "head" of the creature growing longer and longer. So:

1) Take the right arm and move it down to the center (between the 4 legs).
2) Take the left-most leg and move it up to be the new right arm.
3) Take the left arm and move it down to the center.
4) Take the right-most leg and make it the new left arm.

Repeat steps 1 through 4 until it is all braided.

Va va voom! These pictures should've come with a warning.

Sol

Cloud, I'm still using your method of six strand braids. I've done them about ten times and I still don't have it memorized, and I sometimes lose my place, but man oh man they look gorgeous!

Beautiful looking challah! Great tutorial too, thanks!

Shelley

Your challah are absolutely beautiful. I was looking at the pictures and exclaiming how pretty they were earlier this morning when the hubby peeked over my shoulder and said, "Sure they're pretty, but that looks like a pain in the butt to do!" The next words out of his mouth are how I know he's getting into me learning to bake/cook, "So when are you making me one?" He's so spoiled. Thank you for the beautiful pictures, instructions and inspiration!

Bri

I am so glad you posted the pictures and the recipe. I have long wanted to make Challah, but didn't know anything about it. Thank you! (By the way, it is absolutely gorgeous...I am so hungry for bread!)
I just got back on Weight Watchers, but in a couple weeks or so, I might want just a little cheat. This is perfect!
Sherry

They look delicious!

Those are amazing loaves!

Beautiful!!!!!!! I'm ready to give it a try, it's something I've always wanted to make. Great inspiration!

Nancy

Amazing! Move out of the way Jessy, I'm about to faint!

Ren

I don't guess I've ever heard of challah but I would would give you my truck for one slice. That's the best looking bread I've ever seen.

Very pretty, my favourite bread.

Gorgeous bread. Makes me want to eat it right off the screen.

I made three-braid challah some time ago, and while I didn't particularly like it (it was okay, but nothing more than that - I probably didn't have the best recipe) the bread had such a wonderful dark glaze on it. I will file your recipe and try it some time.

I'm drooling all over my keyboard. Pardon me.

YUMMM!!!

Pat those are really beautiful!

SharonCb

OK - it's a couple of days old now. Is it time for French Toast????

Bonnie