Challah

From ArticleWorld

Challah is Jewish cuisine. It is braided bread much like brioche except it is less sweet most of the time and raisins or poppy seeds can be put in any challah. Challah is used for every Jewish holiday except Passover when the using of leavened bread isn’t allowed and Yom Kippur when it is a day of fastening. Challah with honey may be used in order to break the fast. The association of Challah with Judaism is mainly in the United States.

Jewish law and challah

According to Jewish law, Jews must eat three meals on the Jewish Sabbath. Therefore, a meal must begin with bread so challah is eaten at the beginning of the meal and a prayer is said before the challah is eaten. This prayer is said to bless the bread.

Ingredients and preparation

There can be a variety of ingredients in challah. Some of these ingredients are as follows:

• Many Eggs
• White Flour
• Sugar

In modern recipes, the number of eggs is cut down and there is even an egg less version of challah. Challah can have whole wheat flour and honey or molasses for a sweetener. The poppy seeds on the top of challah represent the manna that God gave the Israelites during their travel in the desert. An egg wash can brushed on the challah in order to get the golden brown color when it is baking. The classic challah is made without dairy products because Jewish dietary law doesn’t allow for the mixing of meat and milk. This sets it apart from brioche because it is created with milk, butter, or both. On Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year, raisins are added to challah to make it a sweet year and the challah is rolled into a circle in order to represent a year’s cycle.

Famous bakers of challah

Some bakers have created recipes for challah. These bakers are:

• Evelyn Rose
• Nigella Lawson
• Laura Trachtman