Challah Bread
It is that time of the year again. Us jews will repent and
reflect on the year and fast for a day. We are light weights in our dedication
to fasting when you compare us to Islamics and their month longish fast. In my family we would sneak out of
temple and get some slurpees from 7-11 mid-service. High holy day services
where held at the old high school in the center of town due to high numbers of
attendees. If we went on any day of the year….this was the big one to go to. You made up for a year of wrong doings
and lazy mitzvahs simply through 10 days of reflection and one day of no
eating. We would indulge in brisket, mashed potatoes, veggies and hallah bread
at sundown. Never had I felt more famished, except on the years where I snuck
Entenmanns soft chocolate chocolate chip cookies from the kitchen.
Now I celebrate in VT, converting friends to Judaism for a
day and night. This year I was determined to make my very own hallah bread,
mostly because it is hard to find. Hallah is the traditional Jewish Sabbath and holiday egg bread. On special occasions we say a blessing over two loaves of bread to symbolize the bread that was given to jewish children on friday nights during the exodus from Egypt. The braided version symbolizes love (intertwined arms) and each braid typically symbolizes truth,peace, and justice. The round loaves are used for Rosh Hashanah to symbolize having no beginning and no end. I used a recipe from The Book of Jewish Food by Claudia Roden cookbook my sister got me for Christmas….
yes think that through. Damn you inter religious family. After careful research
on how to braid the bread, because I clearly didn’t learn how to do hallah
braids at tap and jazz, and having my friend read the instructions out loud as
I braided, I had a delightful looking bread, well the second one...the first one looked a bit nuclear in shape. If you find yourself with excess bread, it is a well known fact that stale hallah bread makes the ultimate french toast!
Challah Recipe:
2 tbls dry yeast
2 ¼ cup lukewarm water
½ cup sugar
4 eggs beaten plus 2 yolks for glazing
1 tbl salt
½ cup vegetable oil
about 9 ¼ cups flour
Instructions:
1. Dissolve the yeast in the water with 1 tsp
sugar.
2.
Beat well and leave 10 minutes, or until froths.
3.
In a large bowl lightly beat the eggs.
4.
Add in the salt, sugar,oil and beat.
5.
Add the flour gradually until you have formed a
soft dough.
6.
Knead vigorously for 15 minutes.
7.
Pour oil into a bowl and cover with plastic
wrap: let rise 2-3 hrs or until doubled.
Divide one loaf into 3 pieces to do a braid.
Roll each peace until it is about 18 inches long and 1 and 1/4 inch wide.
Pinch one end of all strands together.
Bring the right rope over the middle rope.
Bring the left rope over the right and continue.
I did a 6 rope braid which is a little more complex and goes as follows:
To make a 6-braid challah, either straight or circular, take half the dough and form it into 6 balls. With your hands, roll each ball into a strand about 12 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide. Place the 6 in a row, parallel to one another. Pinch the tops of the strands together.
Move the outside right strand over 2 strands. Then take the second strand from the left and move it to the far right. Take the outside left strand and move it over 2. Move second strand from the right over to the far left. Start over with the outside right strand. Continue this until all strands are braided. For a straight loaf, tuck ends underneath. For a circular loaf, twist into a circle, pinching ends together. It helped me to have my friend read it out loud!
Once the loaves are complete place on well oiled baking sheet or parchment paper.
Allow loaves to rise for one hour.
Brush the loaves gently with egg yolks and sprinkle with poppy seed if you want.
Bake in a preheated oven at 350 degrees for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown. They are done when they sound hollow when you tap the bottoms.
mmm Delight!
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