Bread Question

[donutsweeper]

I'm not sure anyone here will really know the answer, but maybe someone'll know where I can ask.  I spent all damn day making challah, followed the recipe exactly, but every time I make it the lovely braid effect gets ruined because of how it rises and bakes.  So it comes out like this:


with the lines of where the braids were, instead of looking all nice and pretty like this one from online:


anyone have any ideas what I'm doing wrong?

Comments

[stackcats.livejournal.com]

The way I understand it, the actual cooking is supposed to kill the yeast. Otherwise, under warm conditions, they'll just keep producing CO2, and the bread keeps rising.

It's frustrating when you spend all day baking and it doesn't turn out right; I hope you figure out what's going on!