According to Maggie Glezer, in A Blessing of Bread, “At the height of difficulty is a Hungarian celebration challah: two high four stranded braids are set side by side and a thin five-stranded braid is laid over their joint and tucked under the ends.”Two 4-strand braids with a 5-strand braid on top, baked together as a compound braid, or koyletch:
Here is what a four stranded braid looks like when baked individually:
Alas, I forgot to take a picture of the process, but here is a picture from the Fresh Loaf (scroll down for the unbaked loaf).
And here is the recipe for the dough.
More specifics on how to do this:
Take two pounds of dough and divide it into 10 pieces (3.2 ounces each). Take four pieces and make a four strand challah (total weight about 13 ounces). Do this again. Now you have two four strand loaves. Place them side by side to make a large double loaf (total weight combined of 25.6 ounces). Take the remaining 6.4 ounces of dough and make five strands that are quite a bit longer and thinner than your other strands for the other braids (each 1.3 ounces). Make a five strand braid and lay this over the top of the two four strands, tucking the ends underneath.
Here is a link to Glezer showing how to shape the strands for a six strand.
Sending this to Yeastspotting.
Tags: challah, Chernowitzer Challah, compound braid, koletch, maggie glezer, yeastspotting
October 8, 2010 at 3:18 am |
[…] Hungarian Compound Braid Challah […]
October 9, 2010 at 5:42 am |
lovely challah
October 9, 2010 at 8:36 pm |
Thanks, Bergamot!