So my husband and I have this joke. When I am out of the house and I call him, when he picks up I say "Challah!" (Pronouced Holla) and he replies "bread". Get the joke?! Yeah, we're nerds. We always laugh, even if you don't.
Per Michael Ruhlman's month of bread, I just tried the recipe posted for Challah. It was so easy to make, AND so rewarding in the taste department.
For those of you who don't know what it is, Challah is a bread made by those in the Jewish faith (normally, although anyone can make or eat it) for holy days, and it has very specific religious symbolism. In NYC it is everywhere. When you go to Ben's, there is a basket of Challah placed on the table. When you pass Zabar's in Penn Station, there are fresh loaves in the cases. When you go to any diner (ANY diner) a basket of challah is put on the table. It is a sweet and eggy bread. Eat it with butter and jam, make french toast with it... pure decadence however you like it.
Like I said, it's not even time consuming. You make the dough, knead it a little, rise it over night, and then the next day you separate it out, braid it, and bake it. Done! If you do go about making this, when you set it to rise overnight in the fridge, do make sure to put it in your largest mixing bowl. The dough really rises - it almost eclipsed my 5 QT mixing bowl! It's like the dough that ate New York! I advise making this on a weekend - dough on Friday night, bake on Saturday, French toast on Sunday (if it lasts that long). This recipe does yield two large loaves, or four smaller loaves.
Enjoy!
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