The Fresh Loaf

A Community of Amateur Bakers and Artisan Bread Enthusiasts.

Choliday Challah!

Cooky's picture
Cooky

Choliday Challah!

My first challahs of the '08 season! I went with the simple three-strand braid for these. Next up is six-braid, with dried blueberries and cherries.

 

Challah loaves

Soundman's picture
Soundman

Nice work Cooky!

What's the plural of challah? Those are beautiful!

Let us see the 6-strand version?

Soundman (David)

knit1bake1's picture
knit1bake1

I believe I'm correct in this. I'll be baking my first challah in Venice tomorrow. I'm usually only here in the late spring/summer (for work), but happen to be here now, for work also. Last week we bought some challah in the ghetto. Most of it is just like a plain roll, and goes stale almost immediately. We found another that was more like "askanazik" (like what we're used to in the US). Anyway, I'll bake up one tomorrow in the apt. I couldn't get whole wheat flour yesterday, so bought some kamut flour, which is quite popular here. Today I made a "hearth" loaf combining bread flour, kamut, and semolina. I still miss my crisp crusts when I'm baking here. I'm a little afraid to use the ice cubes I normally use at home here - afterall, I don't want to take any chances with the ovens in these rented apartments. I also miss my baking stone - that goes without saying. Happy holidays, everyone. Beth

 

Marni's picture
Marni

You're correct, the plural is "challot" in modern Hebrew, but it seems that it has been Americanized into "challahs" and is widely accepted.  Modern Hebrew uses Sefardic pronunciation, some might say that the S ending is the Askenaz version.  So many Eastern European Jews came to the States, "Challahs" became familiar.

These loaves look great no matter how we say it!