Great British Baking Show: “The Beginnings” (Netflix), Season 5 (PBS) –A.K.A. The Great British Bake Off Series 3
Episode 2: Technical Challenge– 8-Plait Bread Loaf
The technical challenge for this episode is an 8-strand loaf, in other words, a giant 8-piece braid. I think they just did a regular loaf of bread on the show, but I decided to do challah because it’s delicious and I’ve been wanting to make some lately. I ended up using a video from the YouTube channel of one of the GBBO contestants, Mat Riley to do the braid because I needed the visual element. I’ve done braids before in my hair, and I’ve even done a 6-strand challah, but I haven’t done 8 and it’s a lot to work with! Mat’s tutorial was a huge help too.
As you can see my braid got smaller as I went and a little lopsided, but it still tastes good! I don’t think I would have scored too well if Paul and Mary were judging it.
So the challah dough is simple. I just combined yeast, warm water, and sugar and let it the yeast foam up. Then I added in the rest of the ingredients and blended it with a dough hook in my stand mixer. I kneaded the dough by hand for 6 minutes and added a little bit of flour while I was doing it so my dough wasn’t too sticky to work with.
After kneading, I put the dough in a greased bowl, covered it with siran wrap and put it in the warmest part of my house. I let it rise for 2 hours. After the first rise, I cut it into 8 equal portions and rolled out the balls into strips. Then I had to combine the ends together and start braiding. I followed Mat Riley’s Youtube tutorial and you should too! I have the video embedded below for you to watch while you braid. As I braided my dough was kind of stretching out and I didn’t make my braid tight enough so I ended up with a loose stretched out plait. Hopefully next time around will work better for me.
After braiding, I carefully transferred the loaf onto a cookie sheet with parchment paper. I covered it and let it rise for another hour. Then finally it went into the oven! I cut a coupe slices for my husband and I after it was fresh out of the oven and put some butter on them. Let me tell you, nothing is better than hot bread fresh out of the oven! The recipe is below with a link to the original recipe which I followed from Kitchn.
Challah Bread (8-Strand)
Borrowed from Kitchn.
Ingredients:
- 1 c. warm water
- 2 tsp. active dry yeast
- 4 c. flour
- 1/4 c. granulated sugar
- 2 tsp. salt
- 2 large eggs
- 1 egg yolk (use white for egg wash)
- 1/4 c. avocado oil
Directions:
*Video is below for how to braid the loaf.
- Put warm water in your stand mixer bowl. Add sugar and sprinkle yeast on top. Let sit for 5-10 minutes until foamy. Using dough hook, add the rest of the ingredients and mix together until combined. The dough should be a bit sticky.
- Take out of bowl and hand knead for about 6 minutes. You can add a bit more flour so it’s less sticky. After kneading, place in a large greased bowl and cover let rise in a warm place for 2 hours.
- After it rises, cut the dough into 8 equal portions and roll out into 16″ strands. Combine the tops and braid together. Transfer onto baking sheet with parchment paper. Let rise another hour.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Mix the egg white with a little bit of water and brush onto loaf. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown. You should be able to knock on the bread and it’ll sound hollow.
If you find the 8-strand braid too difficult, Kitchn included 6-strand braid directions or you could do the easiest, a regular 3-strand braid like you would do in your hair. Below is the YouTube video for an 8-plait loaf, by the channel Life of Riley.
Update!! I just found this amazing blog post on the many forms challah can take, you can braid it, loop it together, or make little mini buns. Check it out if you want to expand your horizons! Tori Avey’s How to Braid Challah Post
Melissa's Great Baking Challenge 