This past Sunday we held our First Annual Recipe Contest in conjunction with the CrossRiver Kosherfest happening Sunday, January 11th. Each day this week we’ll be posting a new recipe from one of our finalists, in the order they were reviewed by our judges. Then on Sunday at Kosherfest, we’ll be announcing the winners. First up, Adam Schwartz’s challah. One judge loved the sweetness of the challah but wished it was a bit more crunchy. Another judge thought it was “tremendous” considering the short cook time. Below is the recipe!
Title:
Schwartz Challah
Yield:
2 big challahs, or many small ones
Prep time:
1 hourish
Cook time:
45 minutes
Ingredients:
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 150.
- Mix well, especially the sugar and yeast.
- You need to knead.
- Put in oven with heat turned off.
- Let rise.
- Punch down.
- With well washed, dried, and floured hands, knead some more on floured board.
- Braid into two or more loaves.
- Put product into oiled pan(s).
- Put said pans into oven to let rise again.
- Bake at 350 for approx. 45 minutes until goldy-dark.
“This is my family recipe. Growing up in Tennessee, we were unable to buy challah commercially, so every Thursday evening I would make challah in a special bowl my Uncle brought back from Greece. I loved playing with the dough and how it made my hands smell like honey afterwards, despite there being no honey in the ingredients. Eventually, we had a small boutique bakery come to town and sell challah, but it was dairy, so I kept on making it every week until I went off to college! Now, years later, and at a different school, I continue to bake my family’s challah.”
