September 8, 2010 - 7:04pm
Holla for some Challah
Being Jewish and moving to Salt Lake City was a big shock for me, not in a bad way, just finding other people to share the holidays with is a little tough. Fortunitly I have a few friends at work who are also Jewish. Tomorrow we are having a little Rosh Hashanah lunch and I prepared the center piece Challah. This is from my great grandmothers recipie so I feel very honored to be continuing that tradition. As always comments, questions, and critique are always welcomed. Shana Tova!
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a couple of suggestions: first, it's appropriate to make a round challah ("shtraymel koyletch) for the high holy days, symbolizing the continuity of life. Easy to do ... just roll the dough into a single tapered strand and make a spiral, then proof, glaze and bake.
secondly, that three-braid is lovely, and i'd encourage you to learn the four- and six-braids once the holidays have passed.
Shanah Tovah!
Stan Ginsberg
www.nybakers.com
Challah is just about the only bread I make in the course of a year using commercial yeast. I am a little out of practice with the stuff. Nevertheless, here are my round loaves for this year, some rounder than others:
Happy New Year to all Concerned!
Greetings,
Yes, that loaf is beautiful. Stan has a great suggestion about making a round loaf for Rosh Hashanah. I have some hand issues so I no longer do long-rise breads. I like to use my breadmachine for the dough, then shape and bake. See link below for my simple recipe with pictures.
Shana Tova! Mimi
http://bakingfix.com/thefix/?p=2581
Thank you for all the comments. I had intended to join the ends of this loaf, however it wasn't playing along, even after resting, so I left it as it was.
And very happy time to you all! I am not Jewish, but certainly like the look of that lovely bread.
I have seen it done in the round, and wondered about the symbolism of it, but since I had no one to ask, just thought it was the way they did it! Guess I was right, but it does have a reason, so that is also nice to know.
It's also "traditional" to put a bird or ladder made out of a scrap of dough on the round challah to symbolize an effort to reach higher goals in the coming year. I forgot to take pictures of mine this year.... sorry :(
But I agree with everyone else, that's a beautiful braid :)
Here's a picture from a previous year where you can just barely see the birds:
beautiful challah! would you mind sharing the recipe??
Sure, I have 3 recipes, scaled differently. The first will make about 8 2# challas and requires a 20qt mixer : http://www.recipesonrails.com/recipes/show/34-challah
The second is a no-knead version that makes 3 2.5# challahs, if my memory serves me: http://www.recipesonrails.com/recipes/show/551-challah-no-knead
And the third is a quick one loaf version for when I just have a hankerin for challah. It is made in a ThermoMix but you could use a food processor just as easily: http://www.recipesonrails.com/recipes/show/639-challah-small
Procedure varies on all three but the ingredients are proportional. IOW, they are essentially the same challah, just made 3 different ways. Hope one of the recipes works for you :)
Congratulations, restever99, for making that centerpiece challah. It's lovely and looks delish. Good luck in your new city. If I ever figure out how to put my photos on this website, I'd be happy to share pictures. This year I tried Hamelman's Winston knot pattern for my holiday challah, and it made a "round" challah that actually looked more like a crown. Now for those instructions . . . Help!
Joyful
It looks great Restever! I had 'crowning' problem with a vanilla challah [spiral] as well, perhaps we are rolling it too tight?
A friend came over last week, we made Apple Honey Challah w/o butter/milk , it was delish, rustic looking due to the turbanado sugar and egg yolk was. Nothing beats french toast made with challah imho.
Really pretty Restever! I also had 'crowning' issue with the spiral version, maybe I rolled too tight w/o room to grow? I made Apple-Honey challah last week, it came out quite rustic with the turbanado, best french toast ever........
I think moving to Salt Lake would be a big cultural shock for alot of us! No offense, and I suppose it is what you make it to be. I wish you luck in that. I am not sure that I could do it without some "adjusting" on my part. I admire you being there! There are some Jewish groups like www.jewishutah.com and maybe a couple of others.
Maybe find a bread bakers guild or some other commonalities too. Salt Lake is a wonderful city and it is breathtakingly beautiful with alot to offer. I hope you experience it to its fullest and reach out to the entire community for friendship.
You are also in the heart of baking country where baking is a way of life, and MANY women do it. Lucky you - maybe you'll find a better supply of good grains, etc. Also, I think you're fairly close to Honeyville Grains - the mill at least.
Hi restever99,
Just remembered that, when we were vacationing near Salt Lake, we stopped at Lehi and went into the store at Lehi Roller Mills. I bought some Turkey red bread flour there--it's terrific. And there are lots of other goodies that Lehi sells, pancake mix, brownie mix--they all looked good.
Joyful