Our Family Challah

My grandfather and Saul's mother both worked in bakeries in the Logan neighborhood of Philadelphia from the time we first met each other as students at Cooke Junior High School in the early ’60s. The bread (and particularly the challah) from both the White Palace and Liss Bakery was legendary in the area. When we were newlyweds and began to prepare Shabbat dinners every week, we had a standing order for two challot (the plural of challah) which Saul would stop and pick up from Liss every Friday on his way home from work teaching at Cooke Junior High. It never even occurred to me to bake bread. My sister Adele and I had a terribly failed attempt at making croissants when we were in the fledgling stages of starting our catering business and thereafter swore off yeast entirely.

One can eat challah anytime, but it is especially traditional to have two unsliced loaves on Friday evening over which to recite the motzi, our prayer thanking God for providing the raw materials. On Friday, having two loaves is reminiscent of the time of the Exodus when two portions of manna were provided in the desert so the people would not violate the Sabbath rest with the labor of gathering manna on the seventh day. Traditionally, we also place a cover over the challot before we recite the blessing.

As the ethnic makeup of the predominantly Jewish Logan neighborhood began to change in the ’70s, the Liss Bakery was eventually sold to a Korean family who tried for a while to maintain the character of the earlier baked goods, but first the quality of the bread began to change, and then, the reliability of the Friday afternoon pickup. The disappointment of not having challot on Friday evenings was enough to galvanize me into trying to bake with yeast again. I still remember our friend, Larry Shipper, dubiously watching my first attempt as I wrestled with the amorphous dough. Making challah yourself also gives you the honor and distinction of pulling off an olive-sized piece to burn in the oven while reciting the blessing of the burnt offering, the transliteration of which appears below. The word "challah" actually means the piece separated to be a burnt offering. Happily, around the time I decided to try this myself, Gourmet Magazine in its September 1988 issue featured one woman's (Maxine Levy) search for the perfect loaf and provided the initial very satisfying recipe from which the following recipe has evolved over the years:

Our Family Challah

• 2 envelopes active dry yeast or 4 tsps. from jar (Fleischmann's)(not rapid rise)
• 1 Tbsp. bread flour (not all-purpose flour)
• 2 tsp. sugar
• 3/4 cup lukewarm water

Mix above four ingredients in a one-quart lidded jar. Let proof for 10 minutes.

• 2 large or extra-large egg yolks
• 3 large or extra-large eggs
• 1/2 cup Crisco Oil
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 Tbsp. kosher salt
• 4 tsp. orange blossom honey

Meanwhile, mix above six ingredients in mixer bowl with paddle or regular beaters.

• 1-1/2 cups very hot or boiling water
• 3 cups bread flour

Add two above ingredients to mixing bowl and beat with paddle or regular beaters for 2 minutes.

• 4 cups bread flour
• yeast sponge from jar

Add the bread flour and proofed yeast mixture to the mixer bowl and beat with dough hook for 10 minutes.

• 1 large egg
• 2 Tbsp. sugar
• Non-stick cooking spray
• Yellow cornmeal for dusting pans
• Raisins and/or Craisins (optional)
• Sesame seeds (optional)
  

Turn the dough into a very large, cooking spray-coated bowl and cover bowl with plastic wrap. Keep in a warm place away from drafts. Let rise for 2 hours and punch down. Re-cover and let rise for another hour. Preheat oven to 350°F. Turn out the dough onto a well-floured board, sprinkle with raisins and/or Craisins if desired and knead for 5 minutes. Cut dough into pieces. Break off an olive-sized piece and toss it into the bottom of the hot oven after reciting the blessing below.

Braid pieces to form two loaves. Transfer the loaves to baking sheets (I use Cushion-Air type pans to give a crisp crust without burning) that have been sprayed with non-stick cooking spray and dusted lightly with cornmeal. Paint loaves with a mixture of 1 egg beaten with 2 Tablespoons of sugar. Sprinkle with sesame or other seeds. Let rise uncovered in a warm place away from drafts about 20 minutes. Bake approximately 40 minutes in center of oven or 30 minutes in a convection oven.

Blessing for Burning the Challah

Baruch atah adonai eloheynu melech ha-olam asher kidshanu b’mitzvoh tav vitzivanu la ha-freesh challah.