Traditional Challah Bread

Series Summary

Bread has been a staple food for thousands of years. Even before yeast was discovered to make it rise unleavened bread was much of the main nourishment for people in every era in almost every civilization. It is thought that bread dates back as far as the Neolithic era, discovered by either accidental cooking of water and cereal grains or by total accident, which many world changing discoveries are. Either way, it's discovery forever changed how man would survive harsh winters and scarcity of animals. Bread became and still is one of the most widely consumed foods in the world and throughout history and is also an important symbol in many religious services.

Ahhh, remember the sweet smell of grandma's kitchen? Would you like your kids to have that experience? Your kid's kids? Then this is the video series for you! Our expert, Karen Weisman, is an expert at cooking and here she walks you through every step you will need to know to bake your own loaf of the beautiful Jewish bread, Challah. She shows you all the ingredients you will need, expresses the importance of hand kneading the dough and even gives you ideas of what to do with the extra dough. Hey! No food fights! Tell me you aren't hungry after watching just one of these videos!

Video Transcript

"Today we are going to be baking braided challah loaves. Challah is the traditional bread served in Jewish homes on Sabbaths and holidays. It is a sweet rich bread made with extra honey and eggs. This recipe will yield two loaves. I'll be making this recipe twice, once with an electric mixer and once by hand without an electric mixer. Challah loaves are traditionally braided. I'll be showing you how to make a three-stranded loaf, a four-stranded loaf and a six-stranded loaf. I'll also be showing you how to make the traditional round challah loaf sweetened with raisins and served on Roshashana for a sweet New Year. Let's get started."