For as long as I can remember, my mother baked fresh Challah every Friday. The bread was soft, never too sweet, and pulled apart with ease. While Los Angeles at the time was not famous for its bread, my mother was. The oohs and aahs after Hamotzi were quickly followed by everyone’s request for a…
The breathtaking Seven Heaven Challah brings a diversity of Jewish experiences and palates to your festive Shavuot table. A lesser-known Sephardi custom, it mixes together the celebration of the wheat harvest of Shavuot, Chag Hakatzir, (the Harvest Festival) with the customary milk-based foods associated with the revelation of Torah at Mount Sinai. Also called Los…
In my decades as a congregational rabbi, I always knew it was time to order our challot for the season the moment I started drafting my five High Holiday sermons. I knew that there would be no time to bake one, much less several, though I did manage to prepare our family version of seasonal…
Rukhl Schaechter and Eve Jochnowitz demonstrate how to braid your challah several different ways.
The Great British Bake Off is a great love of mine. From the mythology of the show (rumor has it Sue protects bakers from crying on camera by stepping in front of them and cursing) to the gentle pastel-y set that melts into the frontal cortex like a Xanax, GBBO is a soothing antidote to…
Pumpkin spice: it’s in lattes, Oreos, fake butter and pasta. But should it be in your challah? A quick google search for Pumpkin Spice Challah yields 800,000 results, including delectable versions from the queen of breads Shannon Sarna, Jewlish, Leah Koenig and Tori Avey. But despite how delicious they all look, the Forward staff is…
I share this recipe with a nod to the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Manhattan, New York City. I have adapted and used this recipe of theirs, which a friend shared with me, since that first time I made challah so long ago. Specifically, she said that it was used in a Mommy and Me…
When I call Dr. Beth Ricanati, she is on her way, fittingly enough, to teach a challah baking class to twelve other women. It’s 8:30 am on a Friday morning, and Ricanati is ready to go, doing what she’s been doing for the past ten years. Ricanati practices internal medicine, but these days one of…
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