Shabbat Bread (evening seudah)
Friday Night Braided Challah
FestiveDocumented🍯 🧂moyen3 h (including rising)
A braided brioche bread, egg-washed, lightly sweet and soft. Traditionally two loaves are placed side by side on the Friday night table, covered with an embroidered cloth, in memory of the double portion of manna in the desert.
Shabbat Bread (evening seudah)
A braided brioche bread, egg-washed, lightly sweet and soft. Traditionally two loaves are placed side by side on the Friday night table, covered with an embroidered cloth, in memory of the double portion of manna in the desert.
You know, we didn't have much, not in Kiev nor in Milwaukee, but on Friday the challah had to be on the table, golden and properly braided. I kneaded the dough by hand, for a long time, until it answered me under my fingers — a soft dough doesn't lie. Three tight strands, an egg wash for color, and we'd wait for the house to smell good. At my home, Shabbat doesn't start without it, even when you're running a country.
Ingredients
- •Wheat flour — a good measure (dough base)
- •Fresh yeast — a piece (leavening)
- •Eggs — a few (softness and glaze)
- •Oil (or schmaltz for dairy-free days) — a drizzle (richness)
- •Honey or sugar — a little (sweetness)
- •Salt — a pinch (flavor)
How it was made : In shtetl homes and later emigrant communities, challah was made with what was available — oil or chicken fat instead of butter, which is forbidden with meat. The three- or six-strand braid and the Shabbat cloth are ancient customs, passed from mother to daughter.
Sources : Claudia Roden, The Book of Jewish Food (1996)