Raisin Challah

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (freshly baked raisin challah) Newer posts will have photos.

New York City schools get a bad rap for gang-violence, low-performance, and general dysfunctionality, but what none of the movies or statistics remember to point out is that a big perk to working in the NYC Dept. of Ed is all the Jewish holidays that schools get off!

We spent this past four-day-Rosh-Hashana-weekend on our annual-romantic-Cape-Cod-trip-then-CQ/CK-visit-for-the-holidays combo.  The weather on the Cape couldn’t have been more perfect — crisp New England air, blue sky, made only more perfect by the Busch-Light-Drinking-Big-Dog-Owning fisherman who offered to take a picture with our camera and then gave us quite the photo shoot.  The weather held out when we got to the CQ/Ks and when not eating masterpieces cooked by the CQ, we were sipping wine and sitting around the CK’s fire pit.

The challah below was a recipe the CQ used for our Rosh Hashana family service and dinner, and one of the many food-successes of the long weekend.  We raved about it the whole car-ride home and then realized that we actually had all the necessary ingredients.  The recipe below is delicious.  It is also decidedly time-consuming, but most of that time is spent doing other things while waiting.  The actual prep is quite simple, we promise.  Give it a shot (before next Rosh Hashana) or, if you don’t, apologize to your stomach and add it to your list of New Year’s Resolutions.

 

Raisin Challah

(Barely Adapted and originally by Maggie Glezer)

Makes two 1lb loaves

 

1 envelope instant yeast

3 and 3/4 cups bread flour

3/4 cup warm water

2 large eggs (plus one for glazing)

1/2 cup melted butter

1 1/2 tsp salt

1/4 c sugar

3/4 c raisins

1/2 c apple brandy

 

 

Start by soaking the raisins in the apple brandy and set aside.  Set your oven to 150 degrees.  (The CQ taught us this.  She does hers at 100, but our 19″ oven isn’t the most sensitive piece of equipment.)

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (golden raisins soaking in apple brandy) Newer posts will have photos.

Next, make the yeast slurry, which simply means: combine the yeast, 3/4 cup of the flour and the warm water and whisk until smooth.  Let the slurry stand, uncovered, in the warm oven for 20 minutes.

2 photos lost when the old site was hacked. (yeast slurry in a bowl; yeast slurry after rising) Newer posts will have photos.

Now it’s dough time.  Whisk the 2 eggs, melted butter, salt and sugar into the slurry until it is all incorporated.  Then dump in the remaining 3 cups of flour.

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (mixing wet and dry ingredients for the challah dough) Newer posts will have photos.

Combine it with your hands and give it a good kneading.  Then divide the dough in half, break out your food processor and food-process each half separately for two minutes each.  Meanwhile wash the dough-bowl.

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (challah dough balls) Newer posts will have photos.

Drain the raisins, put the dough and the raisins back into the original dough-bowl and knead to combine.

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (kneaded dough balls and raisins) Newer posts will have photos.

Cover with plastic wrap and stick it back in your 150 degree oven.  Let it sit for about 2 hours.  It should double in size and be pressed up against the plastic wrap.

3 photos lost when the old site was hacked. (fully-combined and kneaded raisin challah dough before rising; raisin challah dough that has risen up to the plastic wrap; raisin challah dough after rising) Newer posts will have photos.

When two hours have passed, grease two baking sheets or line them with parchment paper.  Since Rosh Hashana Challahs are supposed to be circular to symbolize the circle of life, you don’t have to worry about the braiding process.  Instead, just roll out the dough into one fat, but narrow, strip — roughly 1 1/2-2″ thick, 3″ wide and however long.  Then wind it up and tuck the final piece under.  Cover with plastic wrap and leave to rise (we didn’t put them in the oven this time).  They should triple in size over the next  1 1/2 – 2 hours.

Photo lost when the old site was hacked. (round raisin challah rising) Newer posts will have photos.

Finally, preheat the oven to 350.  Make the glaze by beating 1 egg with a pinch of salt and a tbsp of sugar.  When tripled in size, glaze the loaves and bake the loaves for 30 minutes (rotating once).  They should get nicely browned.

3 photos lost when the old site was hacked. (egg glaze; round raisin challah dough with egg glaze; round raisin challah just out of the oven) Newer posts will have photos.

The Bad News: Rosh Hashana is long past and we are behind in our posts.

The Good News: although this recipe has a number of steps, the majority of the work is the waiting (easy!) and the actual prep work is surprisingly un-taxing.

The Best News: if you have a day at home and lots of things to keep you busy while you wait, you don’t need to wait until the Jewish calendar year 5774 to try this.

The Really Best News: you may have found a way to save money on over-priced store challah, and you’ll get a better challah that your family can ooh and aah over.