This week I’m wavering between a state of anxiety and denial. It feels like we are in the middle of a Margaret Atwood dystopian novel, but, make no mistake, COVID-19 is very real.

I hope everyone is staying safe and healthy and taking all the necessary precautions. Like most of my virtual friends, I’m staying in and baking. It helps me keep the anxiety at bay. There is even a hashtag for it, #stressbaking (over 22,000 posts on Instagram!). While I haven’t been hoarding toilet paper and Purell, I will admit to having a healthy stock of butter in my freezer. But that’s not because of the pandemic. I regularly have at least 8 pounds of butter in the freezer at any given time.

I have been wanting make this 5-strand braided challah for quite a while now. The inspiration comes from Katharina of the brilliant Instagram account @besondersgut. She is a bread goddess. I used my favourite challah recipe (2/3 all-purpose flour and 1/3 whole wheat) and her braiding and shaping technique. She calls it “Challah Chapelet”. I looked up the translation for chaplet, and discovered it means prayer beads, specifically, rosary beads. I thought it might be a bit sacrilegious to top my Shabbat challah with rosary beads, so my working title is, “Challah with Pearls.”

The shaping technique is actually very easy. The base is a 5 strand braid, which is one of the simplest to do. Once braided, you turn a 6th strand into a “string of pearls.” Check out the video I made.

I was really thrilled with the results. I baked 5 challahs on Sunday and by the fourth I was fairly proficient with the shaping.

Any leftover challah is delicious for breakfast with butter, jam and honey.