Five-Stranded Braid (and the return of Almond Cinnamon Sugar Challah)

Almond Cinnamon Sugar Challah is awesome.  It's bright, it's sweet, it's aromatic, it's a delight.  It's EVERYTHING that challah should be.  Don't want to toot my own horn, but it's soooo special. I'm eating my own words a bit from last week when I recommended not to use complicated braids for stuffed breads.  Really, I do stand by what I said for things like Nutella Challah (or peanut butter perhaps, note to self, must try), but for a rolled loaf, bigger braids are okay for the adventurous.

And I was feeling adventurous today.  Since we're not having Shabbat at home tonight (Shabbat Under the Stars at our synagogue), I brought out the almonds.  Refer to the original recipe of the method and proportions.  I almost always make too much of the toping, but you can always save it.



Step One - Lay your strands out and gather at the top. Just like the four-strand, they are numbered right to left.

Step Two - Bring #1 over #2, #3, and #4.

Step Three - Bring #5 to the middle (over #1 and #4)

Step Four - Bring #4 over #5.

Repeat!  Make sure to tuck in the ends.  You did it!  I know several methods then say to give the entire loaf a quarter turn, but I don't do this. LeighAnn, I'm paging you on this!  Do you?!?!?!

I'm just going to go ahead a say it, it's not my most perfect, evenly shaped loaf.  But I'm sure it'll taste great.  For those loaves I'm really proud of, you can click here and here and here. But since the cinnamon is in each strand and there are five strands going around and around, I think this'll be great and really infused with deliciousness!


Shabbat Shalom!