Shana Tova from our Bayit to Yours | A New Round Challah Shape

Well hello there, little blog. Hellooooo out there in Feedly land. Anyone still following? I'm still baking, but my focus is elsewhere. Mainly it's on this little one.

...who's not really so little anymore. We've been cooking and baking up a storm. Earlier this week, I made a batch of challah using my trusty half-batch recipe and tried out a new round shape. This shape is from Maggie Glezer's A Blessing of Bread, one of my favorite challah cookbooks. Here's how it came together for me.

First, I rolled out my dough (about half of my batch), wide and round like a pizza. Once it was pretty round (not as round as the picture in the book, but oh well), I cut it using my pasta cuter.

Since I wanted to fill it, I melted a bit of margarine and brushed it over the top of each side. Then I added a 3-to-1 sugar-cinnamon/spice mixture. I ran out of cinnamon, so it was part pumpkin pie spice and part cinnamon. Sprinkle 1 gala apple, peeled and cut into small chunks, and roll up from the small side.

The next part was the fun part. Take those loooooong noodles and, one at a time, fold them up on themselves and twist them a la those old camp friendship bracelets. Magic, right?

Arrange them together circling each other, and ta-da! Another fun challah shape for a sweet new year (More shapes here, here, here, and here).

So, little blog, I miss you, and I'm glad you're still here, and I'm glad any of you readers are still out there. Wishing you all a happy, healthy, and peaceful new year, filled with lots of joy.

Rosh HaShanah 5774 | Favorite Shapes and Methods

Here are a few of my favorite round challah shapes for the High Holidays.

How-to: The Perfect Round Spiral Challah

How-to: Round Braided Challah

How-to: Pomegranate Shaped Challah

Happy Purim from The Challah Blog!

On the Shabbat before Purim, we always get into the spirit a little early and make fun challot.  Here are some of our ideas from past years.

Hamantaschen Challot are an easy and fun way to surprise your guests. Baked upside down, they look like slightly triangular-shaped rolls. But flipped over -- a great surprise!

Okay, so we sometimes make Sprinkle Challah even when it's not Purim, because it's a lot of fun, and kids love it.

By now, you've probably realized how much I love mix-in challot. M&M Challah is just fun, colorful, and easy!

Shabbat Shalom and Purim Same'ah from our bayit to yours!  What's YOUR Purim costume this year?  We're having a Star Wars theme at our synagogue.

Repost: Tree-Shaped Challah for Tu Bishvat

On Wednesday for Tu Bishvat I shared with you a great challah from my friend Rabbi Phyllis over at Ima on (and off) the Bima.  I liked her idea that we could extend Tu Bishvat into Shabbat, at least for challah shapes.  So, I decided to make my own tree-shaped challah.

I basically managed to take my worst, most blurry shots of challah ever. Oh well. You get the point. I started with three really long strands. Then I braided them without really closing off the end. At the top, I coiled them a la Croatian Star Challah or Parting of the Sea Challah.

I decided that there weren't enough co
ils, so I added a few more. (My strands were actually a bit too long, so I tore them and used the ends as the additional coils). I'm thrilled with the result.

I think it will be really fun to tear apart the strands.

Shabbat Shalom from our bayit to yours!

Gobble Gobble!

Gobble Gobble!

Last year, I had a lot of fun making this turkey challah for our Shabbat Thanksgiving feast (we had to move Thanksgiving due to a family issue). This year, we'll do another, but probably for Thursday (leftovers for Shabbos? Who knows!)

Since life is so crazy now, I haven't been too creative with my recipes, but I'm still here! If you have an awesome Thanksgiving shape or challah inspiration that you'd like to share, feel free to shoot me an email at themrs {at} thechallahblog {dot} com!

Rosh Hashanah 5773 | Making the Perfect Round Spiral Challah

I know, I know, Rosh Hashanah has passed, but I still put it in this title.  In our family, we make round-shaped challot all the way through Shabbat Shuvah, Sukkot, and Simchat Torah.  Personally, I think that the braided round (tutorial from last year) is really the loveliest of round challah shapes, and the Croatian star is one my most commonly hit pages here.  However, for certain recipes, the simple spiral challah is the perfect shape.

The round spiral is known by a few names, apparently.  I was surprised to read it referred to as a "turban challah," which to me brings up all sorts of funny visions of Maimonides (Rambam, Moshe ben Maimon, however you want to to call him).

{Source: medievalists.net}

Another name for the spiral is a Faigele which is Yiddish for "little bird." This website gives a good description for this name...

According to the Encyclopedia Judaica, the New Year's spiral is a shape with a Ukrainian origin, originally a bird shape with the center of the spiral culminating in a bird's head: "The bird's head symbolizes the phrase in Isaiah 31:5 'As birds hovering, so will the Lord of Hosts protect Jerusalem'" — which helps to explain why this spiral shape would be called a faigele, "little bird" in Yiddish.

Regardless of what you call it, it's lovely.  The following technique is a great way to make a really nice, smooth round challah shape.  It works equally for plain challah and for stuffed challah, so I've given you a set of pictures from both methods.

Start out with your dough on a flour surface.  With a rolling pin, roll the dough out smoothly and flat into a long, oblong rectangle about 1/4 inch thick. Next, coil up the challah, trying to keep as many of the bubbles out as possible. The resulting strand should be about the size you would normally use to braid challah.

For a stuffed apple challah (or any filling), the process is the same, however you add your apples! I keep my apple pieces very small, flour them, and keep a consistent amount throughout the coil, which helps prevent air pockets. Also, keep them away about an inch or two from the ends to get a good seal.

Once you have your long strand, use your palms to length it if desired. When coiling, start by making the small central point and then switch to bring the long tail around the center (I learned this from an elderly woman at my synagogue... I'm not sure quite why, but it seems to make a more successful shape.)

If you like your round challah to be tall, keep the strands nice and tight together with each other. The result will be that, as the challah bakes, the center will be pushed up for a nice tall loaf.

Conversely, if you want your challah to be flatter, try to keep a bit of air in between the coils. The key is just a tiny bit otherwise your challah won't fuse enough. I always try to do this method, because I like my round challot flatter. Below is my crowning achievement in round challot... no other loaf has been quite as pretty as this one.  And perhaps that is the key... accepting that your challot are beautiful no matter what, even if they're a little extra tall like the one above.

Wishing you a Shabbat of rest and of peace and a very meaningful fast this Yom Kippur. From our bayit to yours.

Single-Stranded Braid Challah Shape

When making stuffed or coiled challah, one thing has always bothered me... the ends.  The ends of the bread never seem to have any of the goodies.  No Nutella, no cinnamon sugar... which is really why you spent all that time making the stuffed challah in the first place.

Enter The Single-Stranded Braid, which will fix all your problems with the ends of your challah lacking in the fillings.  Plus, this shape works awesome to achieve small-size rolls that mimic the overall braided look of a three-strand challah.  Cute, simple, and successful.

I started with a long, flat piece of dough that I rolled out and filled with a melted margarine base topped with cinnamon sugar. I then coiled the roll-up, length-wise, being careful to avoid too many air pockets.

As you can see in the following pictures, I didn't seal this challah as well as I could have. As a result, the filling did leak out. Ultimately, I don't mind too much because cinnamon sugar just crystallizes into deliciousness when it leaks out. You can always pinch the seam tighter if you like.

Start with the right end tucked under about the middle of the long strand.

Bring the long tail beneath and through the circle you've created.

Now grasp the circle and twist it once toward you.

Bring the long tail underneath and through.

It's that simple!  Bake as normal.  I can tell you this week how much we liked this cinnamon sugar challah, because between just The Hazz and me, this challah is GOOOOOONE.  Success!

Shavua tov from our bayit to yours!!!

PS: I'm thrilled to be participating in a Rosh Hashanah Blogger Party coming later this week! Stay tuned.

Rosh Hashanah Challah Shape | Pomegranate-Shaped Challah

Pssst! The Challah Blog's first giveaway, a dough whisk and bread flour from King Arthur Flour, is going on now! Have you entered! It's easy! Just leave a comment on the giveaway post!

It's no secret in our house that I love pomegranates.  I have a pomegranate-shaped necklace, and our ketubah has a pomegranate on the scroll.  Pomegranates are associated with Rosh Hashanah because many people eat them on the second night of the holiday as their traditional "new fruit."  Additionally, pomegranates supposedly contain 613 seeds, the same number as the mitzvot in the Torah. You can read more here.

I'm working on a Pomegranate flavored challah.  In the meantime, here's a how-to for a pomegranate-shaped challah, sure to bring some festivity to your Rosh Hashanah table.  Don't worry, it doesn't have 613 steps ;)

For this challah, you can use any dough you like.  I used about half of my Small Batch Challah, or the equivalent of about 1 1/2 cups flour dough.  This artists's gorgeous ring on Etsy inspired this challah shape.

Start with half of your dough. For nice smooth strands, roll with a rolling pin and coil. (You can actually do this with all of your challah strands, however I don't find it makes a big difference with most braids.)

With your palms, extend your strand out really long. Like, REALLY long. Several feet. This will form the "frame" of your pomegranate.

Place the long strand in an S-shape on parchment paper covered baking sheet.

Divide the rest of your dough into small pieces, about the size of a golf-ball. Using a flat palm, roll each into a nice smooth ball and assemble your pomegranate "seeds."

Form the top of the pomegranate, making sure to pinch the tips of the top so they are nice and crisp.

Now, here's an important step: don't let this challah rise as long as you normally would. I usually let my challah rise for 30 minutes once braided. So this challah doesn't completely lose it's shape, limit the second rise to just 15 minutes. Pinch the tops of pomegranate again before egg-washing and baking (as normal, I do 25-30 minutes at 30).

I'm very pleased with this shape, and I definitely plan on using it at our Rosh Hashanah table. I have dreams of adding pomegranate seeds in between the dough "pomegranate seeds."

Now, about that giveaway. Shabbat Shalom from our bayit to yours!