Perfecting the Pippi Longstocking of Breads

During my entire elementary school career, I never tugged on a classmate’s pigtails, but I must confess I have a bit of an obsession for braided bread. Challah is a traditional Jewish bread, enriched with eggs and served on the Sabbath. An egg glaze gives the bread a glossy, bronze finish, and the braided dough is a stunner. The plaited strands are a symbol of love.

Four years ago, I took a month-long course in Classic European Breads at the French Culinary Institute in New York. We worked like dogs, making dozens of baguettes each day for restaurant service, as well as learning to make a range of classic styles of bread. We made some impressive Challah. When I tried to make it at home, the obstacles were numerous. The home kitchen is nothing like the professional bread kitchen. I used a stand mixer to mix the dough, and probably overworked it. I couldn’t’ find a spot in the house with the ideal temperature to encourage bread to rise. I did a nice job with the braiding, but on the final rise, the loaf barely budged. The loaf I brought to a Thanksgiving dinner looked good, but was dense and chewy. Everyone was polite (how could anyone be critical on Thanksgiving?), but I knew I knew my Challah was an unqualified flop.

Recently, I installed a warming drawer with a setting for proofing bread. That hefty investment made, my bread now rises spectacularly well. And, I have to laugh when I think about the fact that my Great Grandmother used to leave her bread to rise by the furnace. That never worked for me, but a pricy warming drawer delivers the desired result. She probably finds this quite amusing.

I’ve also eliminated the stand mixer from the process. I’m a physically fit guy. I can manage a few minutes of kneading. In fact, the tactile approach is what baking bread is all about.

So, I can honestly say this latest attempt was an improvement over the last. When placed in the warming drawer, the braided loaf did actually double in size, and the crumb in the finished loaf had a nice, feathery texture.

I had a little trouble keeping the braid together, and one side got a little tattered. This is probably because I didn’t coat the dough with oil during the second proofing in the refrigerator, and it developed a bit of a skin. This made it harder to roll the dough into ropes, and some of the ropes tended to tear a bit. I can probably fix this next time.

But, heck, right now I’m eating Challah that I kneaded, braided and baked myself. It’s edible, it’s even tasty, and it didn’t come out of a plastic bag. What could be better than that?

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