Eight Strand Braided Bread

For the past week, I’ve been experimenting with a sleep-shifting thing to help avoid jet lag when I visit my friend and in-laws in the Netherlands in a few days.  So what does a girl do when she suddenly starts getting up at 2 and 3 am?  Well, bake bread…duh!  There are so many reasons why this is a brilliant idea: it’s quiet, so you’re not going to be disturbing the rest of the sleeping household; it takes a little effort, which is great for making sure I stay awake; and of course, you get yummy fresh bread to eat afterward!

I’ve wanted to try the eight-strand braided loaf from Paul Hollywood’s technical challenge on Great British Bake Off, but it has a really intimidating set of instructions.  In fact, the first time I tried, I chickened out and did a four-strand braided loaf instead.

I gathered all of my ingredients so I wouldn’t have to search for anything. Only after weighing out my bread flour did I realize I was just shy of the required 500g.  I supplemented with regular old all-purpose, and it didn’t seem to hurt the bake in the end.  First lesson learned: maybe a spontaneous baking decision at 3 am isn’t the most brilliant idea.  Second lesson: I can still problem-solve when I’m a little loopy from weird sleep.

The bread ingredients are pretty straightforward: flour, yeast, salt, a touch of olive oil, and water.  Mix, knead, cover and prove.  Yay!  Simplicity itself!

Wrong. It wouldn’t have been a technical challenge if it were that simple.  Never.  I kept going. Divide into 8 equal portions?  Can do.  Roll out into equal lengths?  It was close…but probably not perfect, I’m not gonna lie.  The one thing I knew I’d need was a visual way to know which strand was which as I braided.  Solution?  I taped the numbers 1-8 on my counter.  Elegant? No. Practical? Absolutely.  Also, it worked, so I call it a win.

By the time I got around to braiding, I’d had a double cup of coffee, so I felt more awake. I tried to take my time, and I found myself repeating the steps out loud.  I have no idea if it actually helped, but since I don’t think I made any mistakes with the braid, then yes…yes, it helped.

The braid was complicated — but in all honesty, that was the worst and scariest part about this bread.  The dough is simple (thankfully), and if you just keep the steps straight, the braid comes together nicely.  So from one amateur bread braider to another, don’t let the complicated instructions intimidate you.  Take your time, number the counter — not the bread strands — and you too can have an amazing loaf of eight-strand braided bread!