specialty challah

The round shape represents the never-ending natural cycle of the year. Circles have always been used as symbols of wholeness and eternal life, even in cave paintings. The round challah expresses the hope that the coming year will be complete and unbroken by tragedy.

The round challah also represents a crown, because at Rosh Hashanah we crown God as our Sovereign.

With all that said, “round” can be more than one thing. Round can be a coiled braid, a twisted turban, a woven crown …

An apple challah is a magnificent creation that makes a fabulous quick breakfast before rushing out to shul on Rosh Hashanah morning, or with a cup of tea in the afternoon.

If you follow the weekly Torah readings, you’ll know that some of them practically beg us to play with food. And one of the coolest ways to do so is with challah. You’ll find these suggestions in the menus for those particular parashas.

The shapes that our challahs can take are limited only by our imaginations.

You may come up with other ideas for special challot on your own. If you do, I’d love for you to share them with me, and with your fellow challah bakers!

happy baking!

Food should be nourishing. And tasty. And appetizing to look at. And Fun!

So, in total rebellion against parental admonitions, I say, “Play with your Food!”

It’s impossible to talk about Jewish culture without talking about food. Lots of Jews who are otherwise not observant eat latkes during Chanukah, hamantaschen during Purim, and jelly apples at Simchat Torah. Holidays present lots of opportunities to play with food. And, each holiday has its symbols—menorahs, matzo, bad guys and queens… you get the idea.

I’m a dedicated food player-er (I don’t think that’s a word) from way back. I love creating challah in different shapes to celebrate holidays. It’s a great way to nudge the dinner conversation toward telling the stories and exploring their meanings. What’s really fun is to watch the faces of the people at the table, when the cover is removed and the unexpected is revealed. 

There’s another, mystical layer to these imaginative shapes. Energy collects, and energy is transferrable. The thoughts and emotions we hold at any given moment are absorbed by whatever our hands are upon. So, when we consciously infuse our acts and our creations with love and with sanctity, being mindful of the energy we would like to emanate, we are, in a way, alchemists. And that energy is transferable.

Whether we are conscious of it or not, whatever energy we put into the food we’re making will be absorbed by those who eat it. And whatever energy we exhale into our environment will be breathed in by others in the space.

When we do this consciously we are fashioning something sacred out of the mundane; we’re doing our part to repair the world.

If we can train ourselves, little by little, to approach everything we do in this way, we will one day suddenly discover that we are living on a higher spiritual plane. When we live with a conscious awareness of the one-ness of all, of how energy flows through us and between us, we’ll have cultivated an inner peace, a quiet joy that will be our rock, even in the most challenging times. I’m enjoying the journey towards getting there, and I hope you are, too.

You don’t need any sort of great talent to make these fanciful challot. If you can remember how to play with play-dough, you can do this.

apple challah

The challah that is served during the Yom Kippur pre-fast meal is sometimes decorated with birds. These are really cute and it’s super easy to do. If you can tie a knot, you can make a bird. Decorating the challah with birds expresses the hope that, just as winged creatures fly heavenward with ease, so will our prayers rise quickly and be answered favorably. Sometimes I make birds to equal the number of people at the table so that each person can have a bird to take home, to enjoy after the fast.

Note: I learned the hard way that if you top your round challah with birds before baking, the birds will burn before the bread is fully baked. Bake the birds separately and then “glue” them on with a bit of confectioner’s sugar and water.

Hoshana Rabbah (the seventh day of Sukkot—the festival of booths). Our tradition teaches that on Rosh Hashanah we’re judged and on Yom Kippur our verdict is decided. On this final day of Sukkot we’re handed the written verdict. And although the gates of atonement may not be open as wide as they were through Yom Kippur, God is always waiting for us to do teshuvah—to repent and change direction in our lives. A true heart can always cry out and be heard, and a verdict can always be annulled.  A super easy challah to make for this holiday looks like a coiled arm with an extended hand at the end. The extended hand represents the acceptance of the kvitel (the document on which the verdict is recorded). Just make a long thin braid of dough and coil it into a circle leaving the end extended. Shape the end into the form of a hand.

The challah often served on Purim, is a long, three strand braid that represents the long rope used to hang Haman, the villain of the story. That’s fun, and you can even make a loop at one end to turn it into a noose, but for me it’s a little too macabre. I go in a different direction and make a rather elaborate challah for Purim, one that looks like Haman. It always delights both children and adults. A bit time consuming but not hard to do.

For the first challah made after the week of Passover (during which we refrain from eating anything leavened), there’s a tradition to hide a key inside the loaf, or to shape some dough into a key and set it on top of the loaf. The key represents the key to the "gate of release" from the bondage of Egypt. According to tradition, this gate can be opened for one month after the festival of Passover. Of course, each of us has our own “Egypt,” our own bonds from which we need to be released, so we could all use the help of a key. You can fashion a small key and place it on top of your normal six strand braided challah, or the entire dough can be formed into one large key.

On Shavuot (the festival that celebrates receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai), some communities make round challot, while others make them elongated. Either way, a ladder of dough is placed on top of the bread. The ladder design was chosen because the numerical value of the Hebrew word for "Sinai" is the same as that of the Hebrew word for "ladder," and it symbolizes the ascent of Moses to receive the Ten Commandments. I think it also symbolizes the spiritual ladder we climb when we become students of Torah and commit to all the mitzvot therein.

 On Chanukah, try making a challah that looks like a menorah. It might look complicated, but it’s really just a collection of small braids, little balls, and curls, all stuck together. I’ll bet you can follow the picture.

 For the pre-fast meal on Tisha B’Av (the historical date on which so many national tragedies befell the Jewish people—including the destruction of both the first and second temples—a challah shaped like a tear drop can add to the solemnity of the day.

Tu B’Shevat is the New Year for Trees. It’s kind of a no-brainer. Make a tree! Braid three long, thick strands to make the trunk. To make branches, lay your trunk out on a parchment-lined baking sheet, leaving room at the top for the branches. To make the branches, start splitting each of the three strands into thinner sticks, splitting again and again as you get to the end. Arrange the branches artfully into a tree shape.

Here are some ideas for specialty challot for holidays.

Rosh Hashanah

The special shape that most people are familiar with is a round challah for Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year, Day of Judgement). Every bakery that sells challah replaces their oblong loaves with round ones during the High Holy Days.  It’s common to make round challah from Rosh Hashanah through Simchat Torah (Literally, Rejoicing in the Torah—the day we complete the reading of the entire Torah and start again at the beginning).  Raisins are sometimes added for a sweet year, and many people add extra sugar, or honey, to the dough for the same reason. This is the only special shape I make that actually requires a different dough. You can find the recipe here.