Tanya had never eaten a challah in her life. Saturday she milled her own flour and braided her first one. Sandy hand-kneaded for the first time, went six strands, and dedicated the loaf to Herr Sherman. Janice cussed in five languages she doesn't speak and gave us a tip that's now in the recipe. Deborah baked five loaves with three generations in the kitchen. Maureen's husband Mike is now hooked. 1,448 comments in the working thread, and Mary's tray of misfit challahs closed it out Sunday afternoon. Full recap is live: https://rosy-glider-yktp.here.now/ This week we baked with: @Tanya Pritchett @Sandy Chong @Janice Cockfield @Deborah Karaban @Maureen Kilbride @Michele Smith @Donna Angelo @Mary Nunaley @Susie Kendall @Mauvette Bailey @Cheryl Odden @Judy Lyle @Linda Glantz @Stacey Avraham @Angela Sides-McKay @Jenny Pichardo @Terri Pevsner @Lisa D @Sharon Stubbs @Michele Nilson @Ann Snow @JoAnn Amato @Colleen Vergara @Leigh Skowronski @Pat Van Schalkwyk @Ehsan Omara @Linda Gregory @Robin Yount @Andrew Brooks @Susan S @Iyaraa Iam @Jill Hart @Jesse and Veronika Olson @Tuğba Eti @Dianne Givens @Lin Landrum @Geri Page @Barb Kratzmann @Dusty Commons @Robert Caldas @Alicia Hallonda @Candi Brown-McGriff

Good morning. We're baking today. Round challah with honey in the dough and apple folded through it. If you've never made one, this is a good day to start. If you've made a hundred, stick around anyway, because the round shaping catches people who braid in their sleep. First, if you're new here from Baking Great Bread at Home, read this part. A working thread is not a live video. You don't have to be anywhere at any particular time, and you're not behind. It's one post that stays open all day. You bake at your own pace and drop a comment in here as you go. Mixed your dough, comment. Dough's doing something weird, comment with a photo. Pulled it out of the oven, comment. Everybody's progress lives in this one thread instead of scattered across forty separate posts, which means you can scroll down and see somebody two hours ahead of you hitting the exact problem you're about to hit. I'm in the comments all day. Ask me anything, and ask it here rather than in a new post, because then the answer helps the next twelve people who were wondering the same thing. Come in late. Come in tomorrow. The thread doesn't close. Photos in the comments are the whole point. Ugly ones especially. Nobody learned anything from a picture of a perfect loaf. Why round, and why apple and honey Challah is braided the rest of the year. For Rosh Hashanah it's coiled into a round, and the usual explanation is that the circle is the year itself with no beginning and no end, or a crown. Apples dipped in honey are the table tradition for a sweet year, so putting both into the bread is just taking the wish and baking it right into the loaf. You don't have to be Jewish to bake this, and you don't have to be Jewish to mean it. A lot of what I know about enriched dough I learned from a Jewish German baker when I was twenty-two, and I've never stopped being grateful for it. There's a lesson about him in the Classroom if you want the story. One note. Today is both Shabbat and Rosh Hashanah, so our observant members won't be baking or online today. That's expected. The thread stays open, and I'll be here when you get back.

A few new faces have joined us this week, and some of you didn't wait around to get started. Tanya milled her own flour and braided her first challah on Saturday. Michele's first post was a sourdough boule for a friend. That's how it works here. Nobody's keeping score, and nobody's waiting for a perfect loaf. If you're new, tell us a little about yourself in the comments. Where you're baking from, what you like to make, and one thing you'd like to get better at. We'd like to know the person behind the bread. The Saturday Bake-Along is the heart of this place. Every week there's one working thread that stays open all day. You bake at your own pace, drop your progress in the comments, ask questions, and I'm in there answering all day. Come in late, come in Sunday, doesn't matter. The thread doesn't close. This Saturday, September 19, we're baking Multigrain Sandwich Bread. Two ways in, pick your lane: 🍞 Everyday Multigrain Sandwich Bread (yeasted, one day) https://recipepantry.app/recipes/everyday-multigrain-sandwich-bread 🌾 Sourdough Multigrain Sandwich Bread (levain and soaker built Friday night) https://recipepantry.app/recipes/sourdough-multigrain-sandwich-bread Read the recipe early. The sourdough version needs a levain and a soaker started the night before, so Friday evening is when that one begins. While you're settling in: 📖 The Recipe Pantry has over 200 recipes: https://recipepantry.app 🎓 The Classroom has lessons and past bake-alongs you can work through anytime 🍞 Sourdough Starter Guide: https://sourdough-starter-guide.vercel.app 🎥 Baking Great Bread at Home on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCl4Ep9Dqm-qV6_GNMRt1Mjg Questions about anything, ask me or anyone here. Somebody in this community has already hit whatever wall you're about to hit, and they'll tell you how they got past it.