arts & life continued from page 48 Hummus he writes. “One of the great things about bread,” Scheft says, “is that even if it doesn’t turn out the best, family will enjoy it.” He adds, “Like so many other things in life, you can always do better tomorrow.” I write this, sipping very good cof- fee, at a communal table at the uptown Breads, which opened earlier this year near Lincoln Center, alongside some Russian immigrants sharing breakfast sandwiches and pastries. Nearby are tourists from Sweden, a designer from Dubai attracted by the look of the place and an Asian family cutting into a whole babka. “The idea of this beautiful and nour- ishing loaf made by hand and bringing people together around a table or even gathered at a kitchen counter to rip off a piece and eat it with such great enjoyment — to me, this is true love,” Scheft writes in the book’s introduction. Those words, “true love,” appear on the T-shirts worn by Breads workers. “When I branded my Israeli bakery, I had the idea not only about breadmak- ing. This is the atmosphere of my shops, between coworkers, toward customers. True love,” he says. With bread and with people, he tries to pay close attention to the way they do things. “You have to live what you’re talking about, by example more than by talking about it.” * CHOCOLATE BABKA continued from page 48 and mix until the dough is smooth and has good elasticity, 4 minutes. Stretch and fold the dough: Lightly dust your work surface with flour and turn the dough out on top; lightly dust the top of the dough and the interior of a large bowl with flour. Grab the top portion of the dough and stretch it away from you, tearing the dough. Then fold it on top of the middle of the dough. Give the dough a quarter turn and repeat the stretch, tear and fold. Continue to do this until you can stretch a small piece of dough very thin without it tearing, about 5 minutes. Then use your hands to push and pull the dough against the work surface and in a circular motion to create a nice round of dough. Set the ball in the floured bowl, cover the bowl with plastic wrap, and set it aside at room temperature for 30 minutes. Chill the dough: Set the dough on a piece of plastic wrap and press it into a 1-inch-thick rectangle. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 1 hour or up to 24 hours before proceeding. Lightly coat 2 standard loaf pans with room-temperature unsalt- ed butter. Roll the chilled dough: Lightly coat 2 standard loaf pans with room-temperature unsalted butter. Unwrap the cold babka dough and set it on a lightly floured work surface (or on a long dining table — you need at least 4 feet of work space). Roll the dough into a 9-by-24-inch rectangle (it should be just a little shy of ¼ inch thick) with a long side facing you. Pull and shape the corners into a rectangle shape. Note: Only roll going along the length of the dough (left to right) and not up and down the dough. The height will naturally increase as you roll the dough, and by rolling the dough in just one direc- tion, you’re not going to stress the gluten. If the dough starts to spring back, that means it’s tired. Let it rest for 5 minutes before trying again. Fill and roll the dough: Spread the Nutella in an even layer over the dough, all the way to the edges. Then sprinkle the chocolate chips in an even layer over the Nutella, across the entire surface of the dough. Working from the top edge, roll the dough into a tight cylinder. As you roll it, push and pull the cylinder a little to make it even tighter. Then, holding the cylinder at the ends, lift and stretch it slightly to make it even tighter and longer. Twist the strips into a babka: Use a bread knife to slice the cylinder in half lengthwise so you have 2 long pieces, and set them with the chocolate layers exposed. Divide the pieces crosswise in half, creating 4 equal-length strips. Overlap one strip on top of another to make an X, making sure the exposed chocolate part of the dough faces up; then twist the ends together like the threads on a screw so you have at least 2 twists on each side of the X. Repeat with the other two pieces. Place each shaped babka into a prepared loaf pan, exposed chocolate–side up. The dough should fill the pan by two-thirds and fit the length perfectly. Cover the pan with plastic wrap and repeat with the other pieces of dough. 50 December 1 • 2016 Note: Embrace the mess! Twisting the dough is a sticky process, but don’t worry — after baking, even the messiest babka will still look beautiful and, more important, taste great. Let the dough rise: Set the loaf pans aside in a warm, draft-free spot until the dough rises 1 to 2 inches above the rim of the pan and is very soft and jiggly to the touch, 2 to 3 hours, depending on how warm your room is. Note: If your room is very cold, you can speed up the rising pro- cess: Set a large bowl of hot water on the bottom of the oven, place the loaf pans on the middle oven rack, close the oven door, and let the dough rise in the oven. Just remember that your babka is in there before preheating the oven! Preheat the oven to 350°F. (If you are letting the dough rise in the oven, as described in the note, be sure to remove the loaf pans and bowl of water before preheating.) Bake the babkas: Place the babkas in the oven and bake until they are dark brown and baked through, about 40 minutes; check them after 25 minutes, and if they are getting too dark, tent them loosely with a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil. Meanwhile, make the simple syrup: Combine the sugar and water in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over high heat. Reduce the heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally to dissolve the sugar. Turn off the heat and set aside the syrup to cool. Brush with simple syrup: Remove the babkas from the oven, and while they are still hot, brush the surface generously with the cooled sugar syrup (the syrup makes the top of the babkas shiny and beauti- ful and also locks in the moisture so the cake doesn’t dry out; you may not need to use all the syrup — save any extra for sweetening iced coffee or tea). Use a paring knife to separate the babkas from the pan edges, and turn them out from the pan. Slice and serve warm, or cool completely in the pans before unmolding and slicing. Freezing and defrosting babka: Babka dough can be frozen so a fresh-from-the-oven babka can be had anytime. To freeze the shaped dough, double-wrap it in plastic wrap, then in aluminum foil (and then in a resealable freezer bag if it fits). To defrost the dough, unwrap it and let it sit out at room temperature, loosely covered with a kitchen towel or in a homemade proofing box, until it has proofed to about 1 inch above the lip of the loaf pan (the dough will take several hours to defrost, then extra time to proof depending on the warmth of your room). Then bake as instructed. Baked babkas also freeze beautifully, so don’t hesitate to wrap one or two from your batch in a double layer of plastic wrap and then aluminum foil and freeze them for up to 1 month. Leave the wrapped frozen babka at room temperature for a few hours to thaw, and then remove the plastic wrap and rewrap in foil and place it in a preheated 325°F oven for 8 to 10 minutes to warm through. For the last 5 min- utes in the oven, open the foil to expose the surface of the cake so it dries out just a bit. Makes 2 babkas. * Celebrity Jews Nate Bloom Special to the Jewish News DECEMBER MOVIES: OSCAR CONTENDER RELEASE TIME Manchester by the Sea, which opens Friday, Dec. 2, has already gotten good- to-great reviews from major critics and Oscar-talk is in the air for the lead actors and Kenneth Lonergan, 55, the film’s director and screenwriter. The film tells the story of the working-class Chandler family. Joe and his 17-year-old son, Patrick (Lucas Hedges), live just north of Boston. Joe dies suddenly, and his will names his younger brother, Lee (Casey Affleck), as Patrick’s legal guardian. The money that comes with the guardian- ship persuades Lee to give up his noth- ing job and come back to Manchester- by-the Sea, even though it forces him to deal with a tragic past involving his ex-wife (Michelle Williams), who lives in Manchester. Lonergan, whose mother was Jewish, has plowed this ground before. Most of his works begin with an unexpected event that forces a confrontation between close friends or family mem- bers. The confrontation always features dialogue that is smart, sharp and sur- THROUGH DECEMBER 22: BBAC HOLIDAY SHOP More than 3,500 square feet of the Birmingham Bloomfield Art Center’s Birmingham gallery will be trans- formed into a boutique for its annual Holiday Shop. One-of-a-kind items — including ceramics (like these vases by Sarah Gelsanliter), jewelry, home decor, stationery, paintings, Judaica and more — by 130 artists will be offered Dec. 1-22. (248) 644-0866; bbartcenter.org.