but somehow

at the start of this year i made the transitional challahs with tiffany, which contained some whole-wheat flour. today i used the recipe from my american book, which uses all-white flour. you see, challah is defined by the eggs, not the type of flour. (brioche however must be white bread, so whole-wheat brioches are an oxymoron.)
all the eggs and olive oil makes the dough a bright yellow, like a brioche dough sans the butter. is it the eggs that give the dough this gentle, waxy look?
this time i divided the dough into five portions to make a 5-braid challah. the strands were not tapered properly, so the ends of the loaf came out too fat.
before and after proofing. the egg wash gives it this glossy sheen that is so nice to look at. i like that, up-close, you can see lines in each strand of the braid. it's like the strands of gluten in the dough.
it feels as if the loaf is tightening up as it baked, as if the braids were being tensioned.
it turned out really huge, almost filling up the whole oven space, and it's so much bigger than my hand. i love it's dark golden brown shine. i think it truly is a bread for celebration.

challah!