A Challah of Prayers and Memories
By JOAN NATHAN
Linda Spillers for The New York Times
http://www.nytimes.com/
HIGHER AND HIGHER One of the secrets to good challah is to let the dough
rise three times, once in the refrigerator.
LEARNED how to make challah years ago from Ada Baum Lipschitz, an elderly
woman in Brookline, Mass. Her hands were racked with arthritis, but no
matter how terrible the pain, every week she made the bread, which is
traditionally eaten on the Sabbath and Jewish holidays.
The word challah originally meant only the small portion of dough that was
put in the oven when baking bread as a reminder of the destruction of the
Temple in Jerusalem. It has evolved into the twisted, sweet, almost
brioche-like bread that was brought to America by immigrants from Central
and Eastern Europe.
Although straight loaves of braided challah are eaten throughout the year,
round challahs, often studded with raisins, are served now, for Rosh
Hashana, and also for Yom Kippur and Sukkot, the holidays celebrating the
New Year and the fall harvest.
June Salander, 93, of Rutland, Vt., makes challahs for children having bar
and bat mitzvahs in her small town. For her, she said, baking is a
spiritual exercise. "Add flour and water and something wonderful happens,"
she said. "I love giving things that will make somebody happy. It bounces
off on your soul."
Rose Zawid, 76, a Holocaust survivor living in Atlantic City, can make
dozens of loaves, she said, "with the flick of a wrist." For a survivor
like Mrs. Zawid, who at an early age learned the importance of plain bread,
a delicacy like challah is even more significant. She turns half the dough
into onion poppy-seed rolls.
This has become a weekly Saturday morning tradition in my own family. I
often reflect on her story as I sprinkle on the poppy seeds.
Although you can buy challah at bakeries, you are missing out on something
if you don't make it yourself. It is the process as much as the final
product that makes the bread a blessing.
Throughout the years, I have picked up tips from challah bakers throughout
this country and in Europe and Israel. For example: Several risings make a
better loaf, and if you want an especially brioche-like texture, let the
dough rise slowly in the refrigerator for one of the three risings. The
secret to a glossy loaf is to brush with an egg wash twice, once just after
braiding and then again just before baking.
This week, with its chasm of tragedy, lends a special poignancy to making
an object of common comfort. Challah, formed into a circle for the hope
that the New Year will lead to a more heavenly period, is usually eaten in
a group, with the traditional blessing before the meal, giving thanks.
As I look at my own Rosh Hashana table with the circular challah in the
center, I think of all these women whose lives were marked by tragedy, but
found solace in the act of baking challah and sharing it with others.
Recipe: My Favorite Challah
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/dining/191BREX.html
Time: About 1 hour, plus 2 1/2 hours' rising
1 1/2 packages active dry yeast (1 1/2 tablespoons)
1 tablespoon plus 1/2 cup sugar
1 3/8 cups vegetable oil, more for greasing bowl
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon salt
8 to 8 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
Poppy or sesame seeds for sprinkling.
1. In a large bowl, dissolve yeast and 1 tablespoon sugar in 1 3/8 cups
lukewarm water.
2. Whisk oil into yeast, then beat in 4 eggs, one at a time, with remaining
sugar and salt. Gradually add flour. When dough holds together, it is ready
for kneading. (You can also use a mixer with a dough hook for both mixing
and kneading.)
3. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead until smooth. Clean out bowl
and grease it, then return dough to bowl. Cover with plastic wrap and let
rise in a warm place for 1 hour, until almost doubled in size. Dough may
also rise in an oven that has been warmed to 150 F then turned off. Punch
down dough, cover and let rise again in a warm place for another half-hour.
4. 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 what is now 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. Make a second loaf the
same way. Place braided loaves on a greased cookie sheet with at least 2
inches in between.
5. Beat remaining egg and brush it on loaves. Either freeze breads or let
rise another hour in refrigerator if preferred.
6. To bake, preheat oven to 375 F and brush loaves again. (If freezing,
remove from freezer 5 hours before baking.) Then dip your index finger in
the egg wash, then into poppy or sesame seeds and then onto a mound of
bread. Continue until bread is decorated with seeds.
7. Bake in middle of oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until golden. Cool
loaves on a rack.
Yield: 2 challahs.
Recipe: Onion Poppy-Seed Rolls
http://www.nytimes.com/2001/09/19/dining/192BREX.html
Time: About 1/2 hour, plus 1/2 hour's rising
1/2 recipe for challah dough
1/2 medium onion, diced
2 tablespoons poppy seeds
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 large egg.
1. Follow recipe for challah through Step 3. Roll out dough to a rectangle
about 12 by 18 inches. Sprinkle onions, poppy seeds and salt over dough,
leaving a 1-inch border.
2. Brush border of dough with 2 tablespoons vegetable oil. Roll dough up
like a jellyroll. Pinch ends closed.
3. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease 12 muffin tins or a baking pan with oil.
4. Using a dough cutter, cut dough into at least 12 rounds, and place into
tins or pan, cut side on top. Mix egg with a little water, and brush over
rolls. Let rise for another 1/2 hour.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until golden. Remove from oven and serve warm.
Yield: 12 onion rolls.