Cooking Class: Challah Bread— Learning to Braid the Best Jewish Brioche with Jennifer Abadi
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- 17 ounces / 482 grams / about 3 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- ¾ to 1 cup black or yellow raisins (or mixture of the two) and/or mix of sugar and ground cinnamon,
- for sweet/Rosh Hashanah version (optional)
- ½ cup + 2 tablespoons lukewarm water
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 large eggs
- 345 grams/about 2¼ cups King Arthur whole wheat flour
- 137 grams/about ¾ cup King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
- 2 tablespoons ground flax seeds (optional)
- 1½ teaspoons salt
- 1 tablespoon active dry yeast
- 1 cup lukewarm water
- 6 tablespoons vegetable oil
- ¼ cup honey
- 2 large eggs
- 1 large egg beaten with 1 tablespoon cold water, for glaze (1 egg is good for brushing 2 challahs)
- Sesame and/or poppy seeds for sprinkling on top, optional
- Measuring cups and spoons
- Kitchen scale, for weighing flour (optional but preferable)
- Large mixing bowl and spoon (for mixing dough)
- Large mixing bowl (need 1 for each dough that needs to rise)
- Plastic wrap or light kitchen towel, for covering rising dough
- Large baking tray or half sheet pan, for baking 1 or 2 standard challah breads
- Standard bread loaf pan (if baking in loaf style)
- 8- or 9-inch round baking pan (if forming and baking dough into round shape)
- Parchment paper or silicone baking pad, for lining baking trays/pans (optional but highly recommended)
- Small bowl, for making egg glaze
- Pastry brush, for brushing unbaked breads with glaze
- Pastry Scraper (optional but recommended for easily picking up/cleaning dough from bowl and counter)
- Food processor, for making butter
- Medium bowl, for mixing butter ingredients
- Clean kitchen towel or large pieces of cheesecloth, for preparing butter
- Rubber spatula, for making butter
- 1½- to 2-cup size air-tight glass, ceramic, or plastic container, to store butter
Jennifer Abadi is a native New Yorker, born, bred and raised on Manhattan's Upper West Side. She is half Sephardic (Aleppo, Syria) and half Ashkenazic (Riga, Latvia). She is a researcher, developer, and preserver of Judeo-Arabic and Sephardic recipes and food customs, focusing on the Jewish communities of the Middle East, Mediterranean, Central Asia, and North Africa. She is the author of two cookbooks: "Too Good To Passover: Sephardic & Judeo-Arabic Seder Menus and Memories from Africa, Asia and Europe" and "A Fistful of Lentils: Syrian-Jewish Recipes From Grandma Fritzie's Kitchen." Jennifer teaches cooking at the Institute of Culinary Education (ICE) and at the Jewish Community Center Manhattan (JCC), as well as privately. Jennifer has been providing Jewish Food & Culture tours on Manhattan's Lower East Side for Context Travel since 2012."
This conversation is suitable for all ages.
90 minutes, including a 30 minute Q&A.
What a fun class! Jennifer showed how to make several variations of challah, plus how to make a homemade herbed butter from heavy cream. This is the best tasting bread I’ve ever made, especially with the herbed butter on it. Success!
This is a very informative, easy to follow class on the basics of baking challah. Also included is the history of challah and variations to the basic recipe.
Very well presented and organized. She explained how the class would proceed and was very inventive in how she handled the different stages of preparation, baking and presentation of the bread.
I have made many challahs but Jennifer not only provided a basic recipe, but more important to me, gave many tips that I know will help me going forward. Great teacher - very clear in-depth presentation with enriching background information throughout.