How to Braid a Six-Strand Challah
I recently taught a class on braiding 6-strand challah (I lost count of how many I demoed. Maybe 12?! Not including the Play Doh ones I practiced with minutes before show time. And I thought maybe you would like a demo too?
It’s a beautiful way to braid a challah and both not hard and really hard at the same time if that makes sense? Once you are in the zone, it’s easy. But it can be a little tricky to get started!
I love a rainbow challah, and thought this would be good for demoing. So you have your 6 strands. If you are having trouble rolling them out, let your strands rest a little aka the gluten rest. Then go back and roll more.
For this color example, switch the purple with the red with the purple on top. Now the purple is on the far left and the red os on the far right. The you move the far left (purple) to the middle. Once you move the far left over you want to replace it with the second from the right (blue). Then you do the opposite. The far right goes in the middle and replace it with the second from the left. The far left in the middle, replace with second from right. And keep going until it’s hard to braid anymore!
Here is a handy video to help. Good luck!
And if you need a recipe, here is my classic challah recipe!
Challah
Ingredients
- 2¼ teaspoons active dry yeast 1 packet
- 1¼ cup warm water about 100 degrees
- ½ cup sugar
- 2 large eggs plus one extra yolk for glazing
- ¼ cup vegetable oil
- 3¾ – 4½ cups bread flour or all-purpose flour, plus more as needed
- 1½ teaspoons kosher salt
Instructions
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First, prepare the yeast by mixing the yeast with warm water and 1 teasooon sugar in a large bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer and whisk until smooth. Let yeast stand until it puffs up, about 10 minutes.
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Whisk in the 2 eggs, oil and remaining sugar into yeast mixture until incorporated. Then about half of the the flour and then the salt and mix into a ball with a wooden spoon or dough hook. Knead until smooth, about 7-10 minutes, adding more flour as needed (pun intended). You may not need all the flour. Or you may need a little more. You want your dough to be soft and tacky. Don't add too much flour. It will also get less sticky as it rises as the gluten activates.
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Place the dough in a warm, cleaned bowl and cover with a towel. Let the dough ferment until it has doubled in size, about 2-3 hours.
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Line a baking sheet with parchment paper and braid as designed.
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Cover and let rise another 45 minutes or so until it's light and fuffy looking (exact proofing timing for challah will depend on environmental conditions.) Meanwhile, pre-heat the oven to 350 degrees F.
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Whisk the last egg yolk with 1/2 tablespoon of water and brush generously all over the challah (I do two coats, you can top with sesame seeds or sprinkles or whatever!) and bake for about 30 minutes or until golden brown. Tent the challah with foil if it starts to brown too much on the top.
