My life is currently hectic, seeing that there are only 12 days left until the Presidential Election. I really hoped to be able to create a new recipe and explore the culture from a new country, however, my schedule would not allow for me to dedicate so much time to a new recipe. I wanted to still bake something this week since it has been awhile since I made something. As a result, I decided to bake one of my favorite recipes I have ever made, which has also been mentioned numerous times throughout my blogs: I set out to make a load of challah bread to reconnect with my family’s culture.
Like I have previously mentioned, challah bread holds a special place in my heart. I grew up watching my grandmother and cousin baking in the kitchen. I was always “too small” and not “old enough” to help, and I always aspired to be in the kitchen. When I was finally old enough to help, I remember being more excited than my sister and I would be on Christmas morning! Baking things like challah bread was a bonding experience that I cherished a lot. I only got to see my family once every other year for a long time so those times in the kitchen, bonding while braiding challah bread, mean the world to me.
RECIPE
Challah bread is best described to be a Jewish braided bread. It consists of making the dough, separating it into six even-sized balls of dough, roll them out to be roughly 15 inches, and then braiding the six pieces together. Once braided, it gets baked for 30 minutes.
Finished product!
REVIEW
I feel like my review on this recipe is definitely biased since I grew up eating this baked good. However, I can report how my friends reacted when I baked the bread for them! I have found that most of the people I have met have never heard of challah bread. I always talk about how amazing challah bread is, and I usually end up baking a loaf just for them to try. After they try it, they usually say it is delicious! I am a firm believer of getting everyone I know to try challah bread and I am actually really excited to finally move up to Penn State so I can bake bread for all my friends!
Yay, I am glad and excited to see that you’re back to baking during this busy time. I always appreciate how you manage to connect your baking to heritage and culture in some way. The challah bread looks absolutely amazing too!
Yay! I am glad and excited to see that you’re back to baking even during this busy time. I appreciate that you always manage to connect the recipes to a heritage and culture, and this week it was your own. The bread looks absolutely amazing by the way!
I have always wanted to try challah bread! I am the biggest fan of anything to do with bread. Bread is in every meal for me in some way and it is the highlight. Unfortunately, I have not gotten the opportunity to try different breads. I want to be able to try certain culture’s bread made from people in that culture. During these times, I do not meet many people for obvious reasons, but I hope to fulfill my bread needs when all of this is over!
What a cool passion blog, Ashley! This is my first time visiting your site and I love it! My mother has actually made bread that looks exactly like challah bread, but I am not quite sure if they are the same. Based on your recipe, my mother’s “braided” bread sounds a lot like challah bread. If they are indeed the same, then I can attest to how amazing the bread tastes. It’s one of my favorites, especially during the holidays, and I also enjoy the look of it. Great post, Ashley, and I will definitely be back to check out more of your posts!
I have never tried challah bread. In fact, I never even heard of it until reading your blogs. It sounds delicious and I definitely want to try it. You should try selling it up here at PSU. I think you could make a good amount off of baked goods.