Braid

2, 3, 4

5, 6, 7

8, 9, 10

I've always loved the look of braided bread and I finally looked up how to make it. Thanks to good ol' youtube, I now know. 

How to Braid Bread

1. Make your dough ( I used Smitten Kitchen's Challah for this recipe) and separate it into six even balls. Roll each ball out by hand into strands. 

2. Lay strands next to each other and connect one end together (pic 2). 

3. Take the stand on the right and cross it over to the left side (pic 3).

4. Take the strand on the left and cross it over to the right, below the 1st stand (pic 4).

5. Take the 1st strand and lay it over the 2nd strand and down the middle of all the strands (pic 5).

6. Take the strand on the right that is pointed down and cross it over to the left side (pic 6).

7. Take the strand that is pointed to the right on the right side and lay it over the last cross strand and down the middle of the other strands (pic 7).  As you're doing this, spread out the strands so that the loaf stays straight. 

8. Take the left strand pointed down and cross over to the right (pic 8).

9.  Take the strand pointed to the left and lay it over the last strand and down the middle of the others (pic 9). Starting to figure it out?? It took me forever to get the pattern:)

10.  Cross the strand on the right pointed down and cross it to the left and so on (pic 10).

Eventually you end up with a nice braided loaf! You can then either leave it as a long loaf or just take the loaf and curl it around and mold the ends together so that it becomes a circular loaf.  This braid works great on all sorts of dough, not just challah. I recently made my mother in laws amazing communion bread recipe with the braid and it was to die for. Perhaps I'll share the not-so-secret recipe in the future:)

Enjoy!