Challah for Hunger!!

So this week Leah (this blog wouldn’t be possible without her, lol) invited me to come bake with challah for hunger and I had a great time.  We baked… challah (obviously).  Challah, “is a special bread in Jewish cuisine, usually braided and typically eaten on ceremonial occasions such as Shabbat and major Jewish holidays.”  It tastes absolutely delicious if you have never had it, I would describe it as sweeter (almost dessert) bread.  With that let’s dive right into this recipe (note: I won’t be talking about all part of the bread-making process because it’s a lot!)

The Yeast

When most people think of making bread they think of… yeast!  Yeast are single-celled eukaryotic fungi that are better known for their leavening properties.  When you are making bread the first thing you do is mix your yeast with warm water and sugar.  It might seem like a strange combination, but we are actually rehydrating the yeast to wake them up.  When yeast is used in baking it is normally dry pellets, this obviously isn’t living yeast rather it is dehydrated, kind of hibernating yeast.  Lots of eukaryotes can shut down when they don’t have enough water to function and come back when they find water again.  This is essentially what we are doing with the yeast, and the sugar is to feed it!  Yeast eats up all the sugar it can and then it excretes (essentially farts) out carbon dioxide.  This is what is responsible for making your bread rise… little yeast farts (sorry it’s not appetizing but I also think it’s kind of fascinating and funny).

Besides expelling carbon dioxide yeast also produces alcohol when it eats sugar, this is why yeast is also used in fermentation to make alcoholic beverages.  Bread fermentates a little due to the alcohol, but it’s not much (we don’t give the yeast enough sugar or time to produce a lot of alcohol).  When the yeast is ready you can add it to your dough (water, flour, eggs, oil, honey).  When you mix in the yeast with the flour the proteins glutenin and gliadin—grab water and each other to form a bubblegum-like, elastic mass of molecules that is better known as gluten.  When making bread we want as much gluten to form as possible, this will make gluten matrices that provide structural support and make the bread rise more.  While you are kneading the dough you are incorporating more air into the dough (helping it rise more) and increasing its elasticity by making more… gluten!  I could probably go on about yeast for the next 2 blogs, but I won’t torture you (or myself, it gets real nitty-gritty) just know yeast is super important and really cool!

Baking and Conclusion

When the bread is put into the oven, as with every baked good, some crazy cool stuff happens.  However, I won’t talk about it all right now (maybe in a couple more weeks).  Continuing with our yeast trend… what happens to yeast in the oven?  Well, it dies.  It’s actually kind of sad we bring it back to life, let the yeast have a wild time, and then we heat shock it to kill the yeast.  Well, this was less of a baking blog and more of I love yeast PSA, sorry about that!  If you are interested in attending challah for hunger just ask Leah about it, it’s on Thursday nights in the Pasq. and it is so much fun!  That’s it for this yeasty blog… have a good break!!

  

Sources:

Yeast's Crucial Roles in Breadbaking

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yeast

https://www.thekitchn.com/how-to-make-challah-bread-181004

6 comments

  1. lxb5423 · March 5, 2020 at 5:40 pm ·

    I’m honored to be included here 🙂 thanks so much for coming again! I’m glad you enjoyed it! Now I get to bake challah with a better understanding of the yeast process too, so thank you!

  2. Lizzy · March 5, 2020 at 6:53 pm ·

    The final product looked soo good and I bet it was a rewarding process. I have never understood the yeast process so thanks for writing about it!

  3. exk96 · March 5, 2020 at 7:25 pm ·

    Super cute! I love how you make so much time for cooking on campus, it’s really admirable. I don’t think I’ve tried much Jewish food, but I would love to if I get the chance to… I hope you have a wonderful break cooking away!

  4. Kaylee · March 5, 2020 at 7:37 pm ·

    i LOVVEEEE Challah bread. I remember making it in high school cooking class and I never made it again after that because it is so much work and so time consuming. Once again I am left envious of your passion.

  5. Caitlin Grabowski · March 5, 2020 at 9:04 pm ·

    I’ve never had challah, but I’d love to try it now. My bother was actually making homemade bread yesterday and was telling me about the whole process with the yeast! Between his bread and this blog, I feel like I need a good loaf asap.

  6. rqr5425 · March 12, 2020 at 5:12 pm ·

    This post was so cool and I related to it because my sister did a whole science project on yeast at different temperatures and how that affects the rising of bread. It’s great that this post had a cultural aspect too!