How to Braid a Magen David Challah

This is a guest post by Caroline Musin Berkowitz.


Are you tired of your usual braided challah? Need something special  to wow your Shabbat guests?

I learned how to make a Magen David (Star of David) challah at a Chabad class a couple months ago, and I’m happy to share it this easy skill with you today. Even though there are several steps, I can guarantee that it takes less time than making dough ropes and braiding!

First, take the dough you’d use for one challah (or a little less if you make large challot) and form a ball. Flatten it with your hand.

Take a paring knife and make a roughly 2” cut in the dough. It does not need to be a precise measurement; you should aim to cut about halfway to the center of the dough. Repeat five more times so that you have six evenly-spaced cuts in the dough, which will now look like a flower with six petals.

Within each “petal,” make two cuts in the dough. These cuts should be shorter than the six you just made. Repeat for the rest of the dough.

Within each petal, lift the middle third and fold it back toward the center of the dough. Pinch the other two pieces together to form a pointy end.

Repeat with the rest of the dough until you have a Magen David in front of you!


Rise, egg wash, bake, and enjoy!

Note from Mara: I love this and can’t wait to try it! Thank you so much to Caroline for sharing this tutorial with us!

Caroline Musin Berkowitz is a newlywed, an educator, a sporadic blogger, and a Pampered Chef. Her musings on life can be observed (and commented upon) on Twitter @CarolineEr.

Comments

  1. Is there a printable view?

  2. Caroline, that’s amazing!

  3. wow! that is so cool! Maybe one day I’ll get back into making my own challah and try it, but for now, I’ll just make sure to tell my friends about it.

  4. nice! think i will try it for Chanukka!

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