After your dough has risen, turn it out onto a clean, floured counter and use a dough scraper to divide it into two even halves.
Roll the first half of the dough into a wide rectangular shape and spread half the fig filling evenly over the dough, stopping short of the edge.
Starting from the longer edge of the rectangle, roll the dough into a long and tight log, trapping the fig filling within. Then, gently stretch the log to as wide as it feels comfortable (mine was around three feet long) and divide it in half. Set these two smaller logs (ropes) aside.
Repeat with the remaining dough and fig filling, ultimately ending up with four ropes.
(I highly suggest heading over to Smitten Kitchen for this step:) Arrange two ropes in each direction, perpendicular to each other, like a tight tic-tac-toe board. Weave them so that one side is over, and the other is under where they meet. Now you've got an eight-legged octopus. Take the four legs that come from underneath the center, and move them over the leg to their right, jumping over that piece of rope. Take the legs that were on the right and again, jump over each leg before, this time to the left. Continue to do so until you run out of rope. Tuck the corners or odd bumps under the dough with the sides of your hand to form a round. Transfer the dough to a parchment-covered heavy baking sheet. Beat one egg until smooth, and brush over the braided challah loaf. Let the challah rise for another hour, but 45 minutes into this rise, preheat the oven to 375 (F).
Before baking, brush the loaf one more time with egg wash and sprinkle with coarse salt. Bake in the middle of the oven for 35 - 40 minutes. If the bread starts to brown too quickly, cover with foil for the remainder of the baking time. When the loaf is ready, an instant-read thermometer inserted into the center of the bread should read 195 (F).
Cool loaf on a cooling rack before serving.