Just Baking

It’s that time of year when many of us find ourselves thinking about how to create festive dishes for our holiday gatherings. For bread bakers, creative shaping is one way to add that extra flair that can elevate a loaf from the everyday to the celebration-worthy.

This rosette looks complicated to make, but in fact it couldn’t be simpler. My loaf is a challah, but the technique can be used with any dough that’s not overly soft, and it works for rolls as well as loaves.

Divide the dough into two equal portions and roll each one out into a snake with slightly tapered ends. (For this eighteen-ounce loaf, each strand was about 24 inches long.)

Wind the strands together like rope.

Now coil the rope up into a spiral, tuck the end underneath, and you’re done!

Easy, no?