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Picture Perfect Challah

A step-by-step guide to braiding a beautiful holiday challah.

TO BEGIN with the shaping of these
special challahs, make the strands by
rolling out each ball of dough with a
rolling pin.

ROLL UP INTO LOGS toward you and
set aside for 10 minutes on your work-
table, under a plastic disposable table-
cloth so they won't dry out. They will
have risen somewhat.

TAKE your risen dough strands

In "A Taste of Challah: A Comprehensive
Guide to Challah and Bread Baking"
($34.99; Feldheim Publishers), Israeli food
columnist and cookbook author Tamar
Ansh offers everything the challah baker
needs to know to create picture-perfect
loaves. Loaded with the history of challah,
its significance in Judaism and its associ-
ated blessings, the book also offers unique
recipes including gluten-free bread, soft
pretzels and simchah challah, plus detailed
instructions and photographs to help any
baker master the art of baking challah. For
even more helpful tips, log on to Ansh's Web
site, tasteofchallah.com . Here, an excerpt
from "A Taste of Challah" guides readers
through braiding a beautiful woven round
challah for Rosh Hashanah.

Tamar Ansh

Special to the Jewish News

WOVEN ROUND CHALLAH
Round challahs are most tradition-
ally used for the Jewish New Year, Rosh
Hashanah. At the beginning of the new
year, to usher in a sweet and delectable
judgment, many people have the custom
to serve sweetened foods — and chal-
lah is no exception to this rule. For this
reason, Rosh Hashanah challahs are often
sweeter than those served the rest of the
year. Some add more sugar than they nor-
mally do to the dough, others add raisins
to the dough and still others do both. I
enjoy adding all this to my challahs, but
with another twist, too; after they are egg-
glazed and ready to be baked, I sprinkle
each with a mixture of cinnamon and
sugar. The smell they emit while baking is
absolutely heavenly, and the taste is out of
this world. Truly a holiday treat!

46

September 6 • 2007

IN

"unders" over their corresponding
partner, in a counterclockwise rota-
tion. Practically speaking, this means
that the left piece of each set will be
placed over the right piece of each set.

DO ONE MORE OPPOSITE rotation if
you have enough dough left.

AND ROLL them out gently as long as
possible.

1

TO FINISH, pinch each set of two ends
together firmly, and then bring all four
sets together toward the center.

DO THIS WITH FOUR pieces of dough
until they are all about the same
length. Lay the pieces out in front of
you, tic-tac-toe style.

When the rotation is finished, WORK
IN THE OPPOSITE DIRECTION, clock-
wise. What was formerly the right
piece will now go over the left piece in
the clockwise direction. The pieces are
not yet next to each other, as they are
still apart from the first rotation. Pull
them close to each other and bring
the right pieces (the one you did not
touch in the first rotation) over the
left piece of the neighboring strand:

EACH STRAND should be placed in
opposite directions: One side is over/
under; the next row is then under/
over. There should now be 4 sets of 2
strands each coming out from the four
sides of the woven middle, one under
and one over in each set.

FROM EACH SET, pick up the one
that was "under" and pull it over its
partner, thereby placing each of these

AFTER THIS second rotation is done,
do a third one, now in the other direc-
tion.

NOW comes the really fun part:
Carefully flip over your challah and
take a look!

YOU NOW have a beautiful woven,
round challah.

LEAVE TO RISE on a large baking
tray that has been lined with parch-
ment baking paper. Cover the challahs
loosely with disposable plastic table-
cloths while rising. After 20 minutes
of rising, turn on your oven to preheat
at 400F, as most ovens take 20 min-
utes to reach full temperature. After
the full 40 minutes of rising time,
glaze your challahs and place them
directly into the hot oven for optimum
baking results
BAKE for 35-40 minutes until the
top and bottom are golden. E