Carine Goren's Challah, Take Two

I know I didnt post about Take One of this challah, and I'm even hesitant to post about this one. In addition to the cookies I made last Shabbat of course I made challah. A couple of weeks ago, when I was last by my sister I tried this recipe, which comes from one of Israel's most famous bakers, Carine Goren. I found it too dense and though that it was because I applied my overnight fermentation method- meaning the dough was too cold before I put it in the oven, due to time constraints. The resulting challot were dense and chewy but tasted good and with a good crust. This weekend, I tried again this time, letting the dough warm up more before shaping and baking and upping the yeast to a full tablespoon. The result was better; the braids better looking, the flavor great, but still, a bit dense. The texture is my only complaint here though, and even that wasn't such a terrible issue. I had my fair share and all of the challah was finished at the end of the day. I definitely think this recipe warrants being made a third time but next time I would use 2.5 tbsp of yeast (as per the conversion from grams to tbsp) and see how it works out. Additionally, I would make this dough in one shot instead of fermenting it overnight, to avoid the coldness issue. For now, I'm going to omit the recipe and come back and add it once I'm happy with it. Not giving up on this one!

The braided challot.

Just baked.