Shabbat Shalom

June 24, 2009
By Judy Bart Kancigor

I hadn't looked at my grandmother's challah recipe since her death in 1975 at age 91, which she had dictated in Yiddish to my mother during her final hospitalization in intensive care. But with Rosh Hashanah approaching, I longed for my grandmother's turban shaped loaf, the centerpiece of our holiday table.

I grew up downstairs from my grandparents in our two-family home in Belle Harbor, New York. My brother and I never needed coaxing to run up the stairs and light Sabbath candles with them each Friday night. From the time we arrived home from school, the aroma of baking challahs sent intoxicating fingers through every room in our house. And on Rosh Hashanah, the traditional braided loaf gave way to a majestic spiral, signifying the circle of life. Only on this holiday would Mama Hinda fold in raisins for extra sweetness. We'd tear off chunks to dip in honey and wish each other a sweet new year.

Now I examine her recipe with a critical eye. Uh-oh. "Add a little sugar. Mix with warm water." Measurements, where given at all, are in glasses, not cups. But which glass?

I call Faye Levy, author of "1,000 Jewish Recipes" and "Jewish Cooking for Dummies" and fellow OU Cooking columnist. She helps with the measurements, but cautions: "Is your grandmother's challah gaining the rosy glow of childhood memories, impossible to duplicate? Recalling the warm family atmosphere in which your loving grandmother served you challah may have something to do with how good it tasted."

Could Faye be right? I've never had a good memory for people – names or faces - but food? Ask me what I ate at Marvin's Bar Mitzvah in 1959 and I can tell you. (Also how much I weighed, but that's another story altogether.)

So I bake. Challahs 1 and 2 are disasters. I'm thinking perhaps asking for a recipe when one is on her deathbed may not be the most opportune moment to do so.

Eight batches later I'm getting decent challahs, even good challahs, but still not Mama Hinda's challah. (Somewhere around batch No. 6 I get the irresistible urge to defrost and cook ten pounds of chicken to make room in the freezer for more challah.)

"Oh, Judy, why don't you just go to the local bakery and buy a challah," suggests my mother. No one can ever accuse my mother of being overly sentimental.

But I'm on a mission. I consult the baker at my local bakery. First I buy his challah. I tear into it. Omigosh - Mama Hinda's challah! I kick myself for not consulting him eight batches sooner. (Yet another reason to listen to my mother.)

"My challah is too crusty," I whine. He looks at my recipe: "Bake for 10 to 15 minutes in slow oven. Then raise heat," instructed Mama Hinda. Hyde disagrees. "If the temperature is too cold, it takes longer to bake the inside, so it's drying on the outside. Most home ovens are about 25 degrees off, so bake it at 375 for 20 to 25 minutes, never more than 30."

He generously gives me his challah recipe, but it's by weight, not cups. When I do the math, with a silent thanks to Mr. Falkenheim, my high school algebra teacher - I knew that stuff would come in handy one day - I'm amazed to discover that Hyde's recipe is very similar to the one I have been working with. So what am I doing wrong? I call him back.

"It's really hard to make bread at home kneading by hand," he tells me. "Use your mixer, with the paddle, if your machine can take it, or use the hook."

But Mama Hinda kneaded by hand. And trust me, she had no personal trainer or ever saw the inside of a gym. But those were the arms that in 1907 carried a nine-month-old baby on a ship across the Atlantic. Those arms held, dressed, fed, sewed for, and cleaned up after seven children, during the Depression, with no conveniences.

I decide no bicep curls will ever give me her strength, and I make the pivotal decision to go for the finished product. The heck with trying to replicate her method. Guiltily eying my KitchenAid I tell myself, hey, I'm not driving around in Papa Harry's '51 Pontiac, and I haven't worn a Merry Widow since the '60's. This is the 21st century. I'm sure my grandparents, who had witnessed the horse and buggy give way to Sputnik, would approve.

Miraculously, after a few more adjustments, there it is, lucky No. 13, Mama Hinda's challah, just as I remember it. Thomas Wolfe was wrong. You can go home again. You just may have to take a different road to get there.






Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family” and can be found on the web at http://www.cookingjewish.com.





MAMA HINDA’S CHALLAH (well, sort of)

From “Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family” (Workman Publishing) by Judy Bart Kancigor

3 1/2 cups bread flour
1/2 cup warm water (100° to110°F)
2 3/4 teaspoons (1 package plus 2 teaspoons) active dry yeast
1 teaspoon plus 1/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup vegetable oil, plus extra for oiling the bowl
1 1/2 teaspoons kosher (coarse) salt
1/3 cup raisins (optional)
Vegetable oil or vegetable cooking spray, for greasing the baking sheet (or parchment paper)
Egg wash: 1 egg yolk mixed with 1 tablespoon water
Poppy seeds (optional)

1. Set aside 2 tablespoons of the flour. Place the remaining flour in the large bowl of an electric mixer fitted with a flat paddle or a dough hook. Make a well in the center of the flour and pour in 1/4 cup of the warm water. Sprinkle the yeast over the water and add 1 teaspoon of the sugar. Using a fork, stir the water, yeast, and sugar together gently, keeping the mixture in the well (don’t worry if a little flour becomes incorporated). Let stand until bubbly, about 10 minutes.

2. In a separate bowl, beat the eggs, the 1/4 cup oil, the remaining 1/4 cup sugar, and the salt together with a fork. Add the egg mixture and the remaining 1/4 cup warm water to the flour mixture, and beat on low speed until incorporated. Then beat on medium speed until smooth and silky, 5 to 10 minutes. The dough should feel slightly sticky and, to quote Jeffrey Nathan in Adventures in Jewish Cooking, “like a baby’s tush.” If it is too sticky, add the reserved 2 tablespoons flour (or more if necessary), 1 tablespoon at a time, and continue to mix for a few more minutes.

3. Oil a large bowl and place the ball of dough in it, turning the dough so it is oiled all over. Cover with a kitchen towel and set aside in a warm place until the dough has almost doubled in bulk, at least 1 hour. (Now to find a warm place: Mama Hinda used the top of her stove, but she had a pilot light. My garage on a summer’s day does the trick for me, but I have also used my oven, preheated at the lowest setting and then turned off.)

4. When the dough has almost doubled, punch it down and knead it by hand for 1 to 2 minutes, incorporating the raisins, if using.

5. For a braided challah, separate the dough into three equal portions and roll each portion out to form a strand 1 1/4 to 1 1/2 inches wide and about 12 inches long (lightly flour your work surface only if necessary). Braid the strands. (For a spiral Rosh Hashanah challah, roll the dough into a single rope about 34 inches long. Beginning at one end, wind the rope from the center of the spiral outward, keeping the center slightly elevated, like a turban. Tuck the end under.)

6. Lightly grease a baking sheet or, better yet, line it with parchment paper. Place the shaped dough on the prepared baking sheet, cover it with a slightly dampened cloth, and allow it to rise in a warm place for 1 hour.

7. Preheat the oven to 375°F.

8. Brush the top of the loaf with the egg wash, and sprinkle it with poppy seeds, if using. Bake until the top is brown and the bottom sounds hollow when tapped with your fingers, 25 to 30 minutes.

9. Transfer the loaf to a wire rack and allow it to cool completely.

Makes one 1½-pound challah


APPLE AND CHEESE-STUFFED CHALLAH FRENCH TOAST

From “Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family” (Workman Publishing) by Judy Bart Kancigor

1 1/2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, plus extra for greasing the baking pan
3/4 cup (packed) light brown sugar
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoons kosher (coarse) salt
4 large green apples, peeled, cored, and sliced
6 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1 loaf (1 pound) challah, thickly sliced (see Note)
About 1/3 cup raspberry or apricot jam
6 large eggs
3/4 cup whole milk
1 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
Cinnamon-sugar, for sprinkling

1. Combine the lemon juice and cornstarch in a small bowl, stir well, and set aside.

2. Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add the brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt, and stir until the sugar has dissolved. Add the apples and cook, turning them constantly, until they are beginning to soften, about 4 minutes. Stir in the lemon juice mixture and cook until thickened, about 30 seconds more. Set the skillet aside.

3. Spread the cream cheese over the challah slices, and set aside.

4. Butter a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

5. When the apples have cooled, arrange them evenly in the prepared baking pan. Cover with half of the challah slices, cream cheese side up; if necessary, cut or tear the challah to fill all the spaces. Spread the jam evenly over the challah. Cover with the remaining challah slices, cream cheese side down, again cutting or tearing the challah as needed to fill all the spaces.

6. Whisk the eggs, milk, half-and-half, and vanilla in a bowl. Pour this mixture over the challah. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.

7. When you are ready to bake the French toast, preheat the oven to 350°F.

8. Sprinkle the casserole lightly with cinnamon-sugar and bake, covered, for 40 minutes. Uncover and continue baking until it is puffy and golden, about 20 minutes more. Allow it to rest for 5 minutes. Then cut the French toast into squares, and serve.

Serves 8 to 12

Note: If you freeze the challah slices for a few hours first, it will be easier to spread the cream cheese without squishing the bread flat.

CHALLAH CHIPS

From “Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Recipes from the Rabinowitz Family” (Workman Publishing) by Judy Bart Kancigor

If a recipe calls for crustless challah, don’t throw away those challah crusts: Make challah chips instead.

Cut the crusts off with a serrated knife and divide them into chip-size pieces. Grease or spray a baking sheet, and arrange the crusts on it in a single layer. Spray the crusts with vegetable cooking spray, sprinkle with garlic powder, seasoned salt, and grated Parmesan cheese, if you’re serving dairy, and bake in a preheated 350°F oven until crisp, 5 minutes or so (longer for thicker crusts). Remove the chips as they brown. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.


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