Day 34 - Braiding Challah Bread

Today our demonstration was on how to braid Challah bread. We were shown how to braid 2, 4, 5 and 6 strand bread. I actually made 2 strand, 4 strand and 6 strand Challah. It was easy to do, but my 2 strand didn't come out looking so good. I think I got my strands crossed in one area.
Below is a picture of the 4 strand in the front and 2 strand in the back.

And below is my 6 strand Challah.

Today we did build #1 on our apple sour starter. You may remember that I started my apple sour starter seven days ago. I've only opened it and stirred each day since then waiting for it to begin a yeast action. Today, I added flour, honey and water, to begin building the dough.

I also started a sponge for bagels which I'll be making on Wednesday. Here is how to make the sponge (or the starter).

Bagels (recipe from school)
yeast - 1/2 tsp
water - 10 oz
bread flour - 9 oz
This is mixed and placed in the refrigerator overnight.
Then next day you add the following to sponge.
yeast - 1/4 tsp
bread flour - 8.5 oz
salt - 1.5 tsp
honey - 1 tsp

Mix it together, then let it rise. After rising, pat down the dough.
Make 3.5 oz portions and form a bagel ring. Refrigerate till the bagel can be picked up with stretching out of shape. Before pulling out of refrigerator, prepare pot of 1 gallon of water with 1 oz of sugar. Bring water up to simmer. When water is simmering, place bagels in water without crowding as they will float at the top of the water. One the bottom side of the bagel changes color (turns just a little darker) then turn the bagel over in the water to cook the other side. This is done to keep the inside of the bagel soft while baking. After the bagels are done in the water, place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper. You can coat the top of the bagel with toppings such as salt/pepper, sesame seeds, poppy seeds, Parmesan cheese, etc. Bake the bagels in a convection oven at 350 degrees till golden brown in color.