queen esther’s crown

There are two challah shapes that I make for Purim.

Some years I do one, some years I do the other. Some years I do both.

The other one, the Eyes of Haman challah, is whimsical, which is very appropriate for this holiday.

This one is more elegant, but that doesn’t mean it’s not festive and fun.

I pretty much love anything almond. Almond croissants, almond horns, rainbow cookies, almond French Toast… You get the picture. If there’s almond, and especially marzipan involved, I’m there.

This beautiful challah is just a little bit sweeter than my usual Shabbat challah. A bit more sugar and a touch more salt really bring out the almond flavor.

Once again, I offer you choices. There are two methods you can use to form the crown.

One is easy; the other is very easy.

We’re using the same recipe as for my Golden Shabbat Challah, with just a couple of changes.

Ingredients:

You will need all of the ingredients for my Golden Shabbat Challah

with the following changes:

Increase the salt to 1 tablespoon.

Increase the sugar to ¾ cup.

When adding the eggs, add—

2 teaspoons vanilla paste or extract

and 4 teaspoons pure (not artificial) almond extract. 

Method:

Prepare the dough according to the directions for my Golden Shabbat Challah

Very easy:

After the first rising, punch down the dough gently and turn it out onto a floured counter. All you need to do is roll balls. One big ball, six smaller balls. I use a scale to weigh out the dough so that my six balls are all the same size. Set the large ball in the center of your pan and arrange the six smaller balls around it. As the dough expands, they will merge.

Easy:

After the first rising, punch down the dough gently and turn it out onto a floured counter.  Divide the dough into four equal pieces and roll each of them into long ropes. You want to make them all the same length, or as close to equal as you can. I like to use my kitchen scale to weigh out the dough in grams, but if you don’t have one I’m sure you can do it well enough by eye.

Let the ropes rest for 10 minutes, covered with a tea towel, and then roll them again. This will allow the gluten to relax so that you can coax the ropes to roll longer and thinner.

This may sound confusing, but it’s actually simple. Check the photos below for a guide.

• Lay one rope vertically, then lay the second one just to the right of the first.

• Place the third rope at a right angle, and just above the midpoint of the other two, weaving over the first and under the second.

• Place the fourth rope just below the third, but this time going under the first and over the second.

• Weave the crown by numbering your ends 1—8, starting at the first rope you laid down and going around counter clockwise. Even though there are technically 4 ropes, we’re going to work them as though they are 8 strands.

  As you weave the ropes, bring them close to the center crossover, keeping it fairly tight. Weave the ropes as follows:

• Cross strand 1 over strand 2. Cross strand 3 over strand 4. Cross strand 5 over strand 6. Cross strand 7 over strand 8.

• Now reverse—Cross strand 2 over strand 7. Cross strand 8 over strand 5. Cross strand 6 over strand 3. Cross strand 4 over strand 1. If you haven’t used up the dough at this point (if your strands are longer), reverse the weave again.

• When you’ve used up most of the dough and only have a little tail remaining, twist the ends together in the following way, tucking each twist under the crown—7 with 4, 1 with 6, 3 with 8, and 5 with 2. Use your hands to coax the crown into a nice round shape.