Braided Challah

I should have blogged about this last night but I was really tired. Anyway, my obsession about making my challah bread finally came to fruition. You probably saw my earlier braided bread post and how crappy it was. The redeeming factor about that bread is that it tasted really good, had a nice crust and really soft inside. Instead of trying to make my three strand braid perfect, I became even more ambitious and dared to make braided challahs (yes, it’s plural so it means more than one) with six strands.

The recipe is pretty easy and I watched the instruction video on braiding over and over I got nice foam when I proofed my yeast on warm water and sugar so it should be a good sign- my bread will rise nicely and beautifully. Steps 1-7 are easy to follow but when I came to the braiding part, that’s when it got complicated. I had to watch the video again while I was braiding but I got tired rewinding so I stopped trying to make it perfect. In the end I just had to console myself that everything else about the challahs is going to be wonderful.

The kitchen came to life after twenty minutes of my loaves baking inside the oven. The aroma is just so heavenly and when I looked at the glass door, I saw how huge my bread became. They’re so beautiful! I melted unsalted butter and honey and I generously brushed my loaves as soon as they came out of the oven- that was the only change I did to the recipe and I think that’s what made them even more delicious. I took some to work and my car just smelled of butter and honey even as the bread is packed inside a covered container. I got nice comments although I didn’t have enough for everybody.

Tonight, I made two loaves again and was optimistic I’d do a better job at braiding but I think it was worse. But it is not going to dampen my spirit. I thought of a way to do it right but I will talk about it in my next post when I can proudly post a picture of a perfectly braided challah.