Challah Bread Times Twelve

Challah.  You may think it is some cool, twisted bread sold at Whole Foods, but it is actually a piece of dough from one of the five grains (wheat, oats, rye, spelt, and barley). However, we call the braided bread that is typically eaten on the Sabbath, challah. Observing Jews always have two loaves to remember the double portion of mana that was given to us on Fridays (none was given on the Sabbath) when we were wandering around the desert for 40 years (you can read about it in the bible or watch the movie). Apparently the manna could taste like anything you wanted and truthfully some people’s challahs today would benefit from the same feature. I’ve eaten some pretty rough challah in my days and I’ve had some I couldn’t stop eating only to pay for it later. 

About 18 years ago I adopted a recipe from a good friend; and being a creature of habit, I have been using it with some minor modifications. My secret ingredient is coconut oil. It’s quite yummy (when I actually follow the recipe). I’ve also tried sneaking in whole wheat and other such ingredients as well. My husband can taste a single whole wheat kernel in 4 cups of flour baked into bread. He only wants white. No wheat. No cinnamon. No half white/half wheat. Just white.

Most recently I decided to try and make enough challah to perform the actual mitzvah involved and “take challah.” It’s a big deal and we’re supposed to be like Sarah in the bible whose tent smelled like piping hot bread all week long. Not sure how that went over in the desert, but it’s fun to pretend I’m biblical. Now taking challah is a part of, though different from “making challah.” You may be wondering what that is exactly. Challah is actually not the bread, but a small portion of dough (about an egg size) that is taken from the raw dough and burnt in the oven (yes on purpose). This is done for many reasons, one of which is to remember the portion of the temple offering that was given to the high priests. You can check it out (Numbers 15: 18-21) for details. Our burning a piece of dough reminds us of the offering. We don’t exactly have official Kohens (priests) these days. Though, I have considered bringing an offering to our kids’ orthodontist. He’s a real authentic Kohen except he wears Mickey Mouse ears. Though he might appreciate a loaf of challah, he might not exactly see it as an offering.

Anyway, back to the challah. So, we’re supposed to take a piece of dough, pray hard and then burn it (the piece, not the entire loaf). There’s a catch though (always is). You must mix at least 16 cups (around 5lb bag) of flour into your recipe to have enough to “take challah.” You can go study a few years of gemara to figure out why that exact amount but basically it correlates to the same amount of manna that fell for each person.  Or....maybe the mitzvah makers owned a flour company. I don’t know, but that’s the rule.

Here was my problem. I really love my recipe and it only works in a bread machine. A few year’s ago, my mom gave me a 2^nd machine. Each machine holds 4 cups of flour. Don’t worry; you don’t need a math degree for this.  That means I need to make 4 bread machine recipes. I do two at a time and then mix the dough together (that part I do by hand). So now, with prayers in mind, I make this gargantuan amount of bread every few weeks. My kitchen becomes a bread factory. The upside is I then have challah for a few weeks (it freezes well) or some to give away.

The other day, I explained to my son that I had mastered the 4 machine technique and made 12 loaves. Yeh! Mom! He was elated! “You mean we can have 12 loaves of bread this Shabbos?"

Huh?

Am I missing something? Now where did he get the idea that I would make 12 loaves for one week? Lets see. I don’t recall anyone in our community having 12 loaves on their table. Ah yes…our trip to see the rebbe. I can’t say for sure as I was on the other side of the room, wall, michitza, lattice divider schmoozing (socializing) with the rebbes wife, but I do recall hearing something about 12 loaves. My husband tells me that he has 12 loaves of bread each week! Why you may wonder? The mishkan (tabernacle) also had 12 loaves (show breads). Like I said, we like to be biblical. But honestly, these breads were a divine table setting for the Almighty. 

Anyway...Not happening. At least not this week. 

I’m going to need a lot more than a couple bread machines for that. #challah bread