In the spirit of Mrs. Zilberstein's practical encouragement,
here are some superfluous tips and ideas for your already
magnificent challos:
Homemade challa boosts sholom bayis. Your
husband will feel very proud and impressed. He will feel your
extra care and love for him, and for Shabbos, especially if
he smells the challa baking on Friday morning.
[Incidentally, it was Ezra Hasofer who instituted baking on
Friday so that guests and poor folk could be
accommodated.]
Make a full recipe and take challa with a
brocho. (A segula for women in their ninth
month for easy birth - and we wouldn't be surprised if the
kneading helped a bit, too.) Give one away to a neighbor
while it's still warm. More good feelings all around. Or
freeze for next week.
Wash netilas yodayim and give tzedoka before
baking. Try to concentrate while saying the words. Have a
written text in front of you and recite the special pre-
prayer for this particular mitzva. Add a yehi
rotzon sheyibone Beis Hamikdosh... - so that you will
merit to perform this mitzva mid'oraysa. Don't forget
to say `lekovod Shabbos Kodesh'. This will guarantee
delicious challos so that you won't knead, I mean,
need, this article altogether.
Take challa b'kavono. Remember that the kohanim
in the Beis Hamikdosh spent much of their time burning,
roasting sacrifices, cleaning, washing the floors etc.
Connect the holiness of your tasks with theirs.
It is a good time to pray while kneading the dough, and while
the loaves are baking.
Techniques
My friend Miriam surprised me by telling me she used boiling
water in the dough. I tried it myself with some trepidation,
but, surprise, again! It makes the dough rose very high and
light. If you put the water in last, it won't kill the yeast
because there are already enough cool ingredients in the
bowl.
Using eggs in a recipe yields more challa, but I find
it doesn't taste as good or stay as fresh as `water
challos'.
A small amount of whole wheat flour, about one third of total
recipe, will add color, flavor and texture to a white flour
recipe. Whole wheat is available freshly ground in certain
stores and is then put in the freezer to avoid sifting
problems.
Forget about your mixer. Your hands are the best kitchen aid
on the market; they can't be duplicated. Kneading by hand for
20 minutes (according to Goldie, the beste baalebusta) yields
results which are exponentially superior to machine or
shorter kneading times. Set the timer, put on some music, or
say Tehillim by heart. Trying it one time will
convince you. Ask the critics, I mean, hubbie and kids. The
activity is therapeutic for body and soul.
For round, neat, smooth braids, take a section of dough and
roll it out smooth and flat with a rolling pin. Cut out a
large square and then cut three or six wide strips. Roll each
strip as you would a jelly roll. When you finish, you find
before you perfectly shaped strands, all the same size, that
will make for easy braiding and beautiful challa.
For nice high challos, buy some long foil loaf pans.
Line with baking paper cut in half (Israel pre-cut - not wax
paper or tin foil), then place loaves to rise in the pan.
They will never over-rise or under-rise, and they won't stick
together during the baking.
If you don't already know how, find someone to teach you how
to braid with six strands. The diagrams in cookbooks make it
seem much more complicated than it really is. One day my
friend Hemla sat me down, tied six long pieces of string
together, laid them on the table, looked me in the eye and
said, "Aruf, aruf in di midt - Up, up in the middle."
That's all there was to it. After eight years of struggling
with cookbook diagrams, one live demonstration set me firmly
on the path of the 6-braid. The results will amaze you.
Don't forget to glaze your challos with egg and
sprinkle with sesame or poppy seeds. It makes them look so
pretty and more finished. (Check first.)
Let the shaped loaves rise an extra half hour in the pans to
avoid flat or hard challos. Preheat oven before
inserting them. This is very important.
If you find to your dismay that you have baked them too long
and they have become hard on top, immediately brush them with
oil after you take them out of the oven. This will soften
them, but this only works while the challos are still
steaming hot. Otherwise you will be left with oily
challa. Oil smeared on the palms also makes for easy
handling of the dough.
(Any cookbook will provide exact measurements. These are just
tips.) In a large bowl, put in five cups of flour, the yeast,
sugar, salt and oil. Add the water. Mix everything together.
It will start bubbling. Add three more cups of flour and mix
well. Add the rest of the flour, knead well for 20 minutes by
hand. If the dough is sticky at first, don't add anything.
Wait for it to smooth itself out. If after 10 minutes it is
still sticky, coat the entire dough with about 2 tablespoons
of oil. You will be amazed at the immediate
transformation.
Bear in mind that hot and cold weather conditions greatly
affect the quality of the dough. Cover the dough while it is
rising (even inside a plastic bag). Try to keep it in a warm
place. Yeast is sensitive to draft. Dry granular- like yeast,
similar to Fleishmann's yeast, is a good investment. It is
cheap and easy to store. Many challos have,
unfortunately, gone to waste because of the lack of yeast in
the house. Keep it in a covered jar in the refrigerator.
And now...
You will surely want to enhance your challos with a
pretty challa board and cover. Some people make it a
point to use only non-serrated knives to avoid the symbolic
harsh-cut Measure of Judgment. Use a special Shabbos salt
holder for dipping. All these highlight your product and
their holy use.
So now they are baked and cut at the Shabbos table. Try to
stay in your seat after hamotzi and eat your
kezayis like a queen. Those few precious moments of
nachas have the potential to inspire you for the
entire week. I have even begun to put everything on the table
for the first course before Kiddush so I won't feel rushed.
It makes a tremendous difference.
The Friday issue: Many people resist the very idea and insist
it is not possible or feasible. Some make challos on
Sunday/ Monday/ Tuesday/ Wednesday, bake it and freeze it.
Others make the dough, braid the loaves and freeze them, and
bake on Friday. Some prepare the dough on Thursday night and
let it rise in the refrigerator overnight, then braid and
bake on Friday.
Some make challa once a year, once a month, once a
week. All of these options are fine, but if you are
spiritually sensitive, a foregone conclusion for any Yated
reader!, you will sense the difference in performing the
whole task every Erev Shabbos, both for the end result and
the effect it will have on your home and everyone in it. It
is surely worth the try.
Behatzlacha!
