challah back, y’all!
last night i got a wild hair up my ass and baked two loaves of challah. and it was last night, because i embarked upon this folly at six p.m. and didn’t finish until right about ten. various sunday night movies including legally blonde1 helped me stay awake.
while my back and shoulders ache from kneading the dough, the two gorgeous yummy loaves that emerged from the oven make it all worthwhile. (mmm. challah toast for breakfast this morning; i’m looking forward to challah french toast – made with heavy cream – this weekend) the recipe, from the village baker, has what may be my all time favorite instruction: “bake 25 to 30 minutes. loaves are done when the bottom makes a hollow sound when thumped.”
thumping bread – how can you not want to make it?
hip hip challah!
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1 i hadn’t seen legally blonde since going to law school. some scenes were infinitely funnier, and some just left me scratching my head and wanting to dig out my crimlaw textbook. i managed to restrain myself.
March 31st, 2008 at 12:50 pm
That is way cool. I LOVE fresh challah, but would never ever make it… I just walk the 25 steps or so it takes to get to Whole Foods and buy it fresh right there.
My Great Grandmother (whose family owned the bakehouse and ‘company store’ for the mining town they immigrated to) made challah, and all her breads… although they called it “Easter Bread.” My Mother, in fact, still does not understand that challah and ‘easter bread’ are the same — as she insists it can be an Italian thing ONLY since her Grandmother made it.