What nobody told you about baking Challah

Although we are the ones who knead and bake the dough to actually create bread, we don't bless G'd for bringing forth wheat from the earth, but "bread from the earth" ~ lechem min ha'retz. Why is that? Our hands are the necessary partners of the divine hands; our human love and effort are indispensable to cause this blessing to actually fufill itself. So actually, we place our most human efforts, which crown us as the ones transforming wheat into bread, thus becoming midwifes ~so to speak~ to a divine~human partnership. The same process happens with "Torah from the Heavens" ~ "Torah min Hashamayim". God has given us Torah, but it is "not in the Heavens", but upon us to discern, interpret, live and love. Just like bread ~ lechem. And if we make bread in a loveless haste, lechem can become a domestic milchama , i.e. war, which comes from the very same root לחם. Both mystically and emotionally, Shalom Bayit can be enhanced by the intention by which we make Challah

Which one would qualify as the quintessential recipe for every Jewish woman, ~ the recipe you must learn even if you never actually do it because, as Grandma wouls say, otherwise "you will never meet your, Bashert, your soul mate"? Well, this is it: Challah of course. And it's not as difficult as you think. With time and practice it's not only very easy, it is actually fun to make.

Baking bread has something magical. The transformation of the flour into the dough that slowly ferments in the kitchen and the process in which a loaf rises inside the oven, leaving your house under the sensual spell of paradise, can only be something magical and blessed ~ bendisho.

But before I give you the best-recipe-of-the-world-that-never-fails-and-is-always-spectacular, here are some very important tips:

- Use fresh ingredients. ALWAYS. Dry yeast is fantastic but it lasts a short time. Altough the package may say 1 year, the truth is that at 6 months the strenght of the yeast begins to weaken, so it's better to buy a small package if you are only going to bake occasionally than to save for later a larger package that you will have to toss away. Eggs need to be very fresh although for baking you will need to keep them at room temperature.

- Take your time. I will never say that enough. Challah is moody. If you don't bake Challah with love and patience, as I said above, it won't come out well. Don't ask me why, I just know it is that way.

I suggest you schedule a morning or afternoon to knead and bake. Unplug the telephone, turn off the cell phone and indulge yourself into doing something delightiful.

- "Time" means: Time for preparing the dough, time for kneading, time for leaven, time for braiding, time for letting the braids leaven and finally, time for baking: about two hours.

- Both salt and hot water will "kill" the yeast. Don't forget this. Never add salt directly to the yeast and remember to dissolve the yeast in lukewarm water (you shoud be able to introduce your hand into the water without burning yourself)

The Recipe

Ingredients:

- 2 cups warm water

- 1 tsp. sugar

- 5 tsp. dry yeast.

- 1/4 cup vegetable oil

- About 1 kg all purpose flour

- 3 large eggs

- 1 tbsp. salt. (For sweet challah, discard the salt and use 3/4 cup granulated sugar)

For the egg wash:

- 1 egg, slightly beaten with 1 tbsp. water

- Sesame or poppy seeds.

Preparation:

In a big bowl, dissolve the tsp. sugar with 1/2 cup of the warm water. Pour in the yeast, whisk and let it stand. A thick foam will be formed in about 5 to 10 minutes. Once the foam is formed, add the rest of the warm water, the eggs, oil and 1 cup of flour. Mix well with a fork and add the salt.

Keep stirring and adding small quantities of flour until the dough becomes very dense and you will need to use your hands.

Introduce ONE HAND in the dough which will feel sticky. If you are right handed use your left hand; if you are left handed, use the right. You will need your skilled hand to hold the bowl and add the remaining flour.

Transfer the dough to a floured surface and begin kneading. Continue kneading and adding flour -if needed- to form a soft, elastic and smooth dough that won't stick, about 10 minutes.

Once a ball of soft and elastic dough is formed, transfer to an oiled bowl and rub the surface with more oil to prevent it from forming a custard.

Cover the bowl with a clean cloth and let me give you this wonderful tip that remained a secret until now:

For the dough to rise faster and remain moist, put your dough inside the oven, over the upper rack. In the lower rack, just under the dough bowl, put a pot with boiling water, like this:

...And close the door of the oven. The heat and humidity will help the dough rise and stay moist.

If you did everything well, then in 20-40 minutes your dough should have doubled its size and look like this:

Next step is to transfer the dough to a floured surface and knead again. Add flour if the dough is still sticky.

In this moment, just before you braid the loaves, you must separate the challah and say the blessing:

"Baruch ata Adonai Elohaynu Melech Haolam, Asher Kidshanu Bemitzvotav Vetzivanu al Hafrashat Chalah"

Burn the piece of Challah you separated, over the stove.

Now comes the fun part of the recipe which is to make the braids. Honestly I am very bad at explaining how to do this specially in English, but there are hundreds of tutorials in Youtube to learn how to do it.

Once the braids are ready, place them in a greased tray or use wax paper to cover the tray. Brush the loaves with egg wash and let rise for another 20 minutes.

After the last rise, brush again with egg wash and sprinkle with the seeds. Bake at 400°F (200°C) for 5 -10 minutes and then lower the heat to 360°F (180°C). After that time, take the Challot out of the oven and brush again the white parts that are revealed when the dough rises. Bake further for 15 to 20 minutes until they are golden and your house smells like paradise.

Wrap your loaves in a clean dish towel and allow them to cool down.

They will look this pretty :)

With this recipe you can do 2 XL challot; 3 big challot; 4 medium or 6 small....divide and conquer...

Every Yom Tov requires three pairs of challot, One for Shabbat or Holidays' Eve, another pair for noon-lunch and the last one for Seuda Shlishit i.e.: third and last meal before dusk.

I say you better start baking :).

Semanada buena,

Yael

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