Braiding challah | Imamother

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Forum -> Recipe Collection -> Challah and Breads

Braiding challah

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Rikola

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 8:15 pm

I have a delicious recipe, my challah tastes great. But it looks pretty sad. I could be nice and call it rustic LOL

... I'd love to hear any and all tips on how to have a more polished-looking finished product.

justanothermother

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 9:03 pm

-slightly dust each coil with flour before braiding to keep seperate.

-bake in a loaf pan if your challas are coming out wide and flat.

-remember an egg wash and seeds.

If you can take a pic and post it, I can try and let you know what you can change.

bashinda

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 9:33 pm

You could try rolling out each strand. Someone mentioned this tip on the board and I thought "no way" but then I got Tamar Ansh's Challah book and followed her instructions and my challahs have really improved, B"H.

greenfire

Thu, Aug 09 2007, 9:40 pm

you could take a loaf pan and smooth out 5 pieces and simply put them in one after the other ... sometimes I make the center one a drop bigger ... it looks like a sectional ... easy to do ... and for rolls ... roll out a long enough piece to make a knot ... or put them in cupcake tins ... I don't bother with the egg wash - seems like too much time and I like things quick and simple ... you can also take 7 knots and put them in round pan - it makes a nice round one sort of stuck together ...

TzenaRena

Fri, Aug 10 2007, 2:24 am

it took some experimenting, but I got it down to a science. At least the shape. If you have a very good smooth elastic but not sticky dough, and roll it out well, you don't get lumpy crusts. As for the shape, I do a six braid, which builds up the shape nicely, so the loaves are high, not flat.

Don't roll the strands out too long. They should be thick and full, not ropy and stretched out. Don't worry about the loaves being short, when they rise after shaping, and in the oven, they grow to a nce size and length. The challahs should come out somewhat diamond shaped, tapered to a rounded point at each end and full in the middle. If the strands are thick and full, that's how it will come out.

Each strand is fashioned from a piece about the size of my fist. That's also the size of each bulkeh (challah roll).

Rikola

Fri, Aug 10 2007, 9:39 am

Thank you all very much! Great tips! I'll give a few a try today - I'm sure it'll make a difference.

Smile

Mommastuff

Mon, Oct 15 2007, 11:44 pm

A tip that I was told was to taper the ends of each strand. Make the middle of the strand thinker than the ends so the middle rises more than the ends.

My round challos for Y"T were looking flat so I put a ball of dough under the middle of the spiral of dough and the middle was higher because of that.

Also, someone told me that if you can't do 6 bread then just make a smaller 3 bread and put it on top to look like a 6 strand challah. That'll make it higher too.

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