During quarantine, I have taken to baking challah quite often. Not every Friday night, but a lot of Friday nights. Last month, in advance of the high holidays, I offered up to local friends that if anyone wanted a challah, I would bake them one, and about half a dozen people took me up on it. (That felt especially good, because it's something I so enjoy doing, and it brought pleasure to my friends to have a home-baked challah for the holidays.) I even joined a Facebook group, Holla for Challah, which may be my downfall. People post pictures of the most gorgeous breads, and it only makes me want to bake more - to see if I can learn these new braids and shapes.
The most intricate one I've tried is a 5-strand Zopf, modeled after a Swiss weekend breakfast bread. It was actually reasonably easy once I got the rhythm of where the strands were supposed to go. You braid it, then sort of give it a quarter-turn onto its side, and then the ends curve into a gentle s shape. The most beautiful ones are made from strands that are puffy in the center and tapered at either end. I am still practicing doing that after a lifetime of trying to make long, even strands. Here's a video with instructions in German, but all you need to watch is which strand goes where.
So this one came out nice, but I needed to taper the strands even more to get that beautifully puffy middle with delicate ends. You can see it was a tiny bit underproofed, which is why the braid pulled apart a bit. Oh well.
I often do a 4-strand round, and given it was the high holidays, round challot were called for. This time, I doubled up the strands for an 8-strand round. It came out really pretty though got a tiny bit dark while I wasn't looking. (Here's how to do the 4-strand round. First, lay out the strands, two horizontal and two vertical, overlapping. Weave them so each strand is under one strand, over the next, like a basket. Look at the pairs of strands that are next to each other. Going in a circle, clockwise, lift the underneath strand and cross it over the above strand. Move to the next pair and repeat, still going clockwise around the circle. When you're back to the start, switch and do the same thing counterclockwise. The under strand gets lifted and crossed over the over strand. Then go clockwise again. When the ends are too short to cross any more times, pinch them shut. Now you have a pretty, woven circle. This part sounds tricky, but it's not really: lift the bread, flip it over and tuck the ends underneath into the middle, making a nice, round, woven ball. Place on the baking sheet, and that is it! Here is a video that shows how.)
This is the same braid, but it has a two strand twist around the bottom to make it look like a crown. That was Hallie's favorite.
Then I learned about the six-strand round, so I immediately had to try it. (That is my inner competitive baker.) It uses the same weaving technique as the 4- and 8-strand rounds above, but with 6 strands that start out shaped like a Jewish star. The braiding part was easy, but getting it laid out properly was very overwhelming to my brain. I actually had to pause my mahjong game to concentrate. Finally got it woven correctly:
It did come out beautifully, but I'm not sure I think the additional complexity was worth it. I don't think it's that much prettier than the 4- or 8-strand rounds.
I made a 4-strand stuffed with cinnamon roll filling for Kevin. I didn't seal the strands well enough and a few of them burst and oozed, but it was still fine.
And here are a few others... a regular 6-strand:
Top left, a 4-strand round. Right, a two-strand twist which I then coiled into a round. Bottom left, a straight 6-strand with puffy/tapered strands.
A few more:
Bottom line: they were all delicious, as I know either from my friends reporting back or from actually having eaten them myself. This recipe is soft and delicate and just a touch sweet, and I really like it. Here's a link to the recipe with photos taken each step of the way!
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