new york | With the no-carb craze sweeping the nation, Atkins diet adherents make sure to avoid pasta and potatoes. But when the High Holy Days roll around, even purists are tempted by succulent Jewish breads.
What would Rosh Hashanah be without huge round challahs? Or Yom Kippur without bagels to break the fast? Not to mention Bukharan bread, za’atar pita and the wide variety of breads that Sephardim adore.
Atkins converts aside, bread has historically been among the most important staples in the Jewish diet. Indeed, bread was once considered a complete meal, and until recently was the mainstay of many people’s daily calorie intakes. In the Bible bread is a symbol representing food.
“Jewish law says that if bread is served, you have a meal; without it, you are having a snack,” wrote Maggie Glezer in her upcoming book, “A Blessing of Bread: Jewish Bread Baking Around the World” (Artisan/Workman).
Bread is central to Jewish celebrations. Ideally before each meal, and certainly before holiday meals, a blessing is recited, thanking God for bringing forth bread, and by implication all food, from the earth.
“At Rosh Hashanah, my family likes the same breads each year,” says Glezer, an Atlanta mother of two who bakes huge batches of sweet honey challahs and freezes them.
Knowing that challah-braiding is a dying art, what inspired Glezer to write a book about baking Jewish bread?
“I’m a bread fanatic and a Jew — that’s how I came to this,” she says, adding that she’s been studying bread baking for 15 years. This is her second book on the subject.
With more than 60 recipes in her cookbook, Glezer encourages people to stray from the usual fare to try new delicacies like Turkish coffeecake rings or Hungarian walnut sticks.
Nonetheless, Glezer has a special place in her Ashkenazi heart for sweet challah. At Rosh Hashanah, people often drizzle honey and raisins into challah, hoping for a sweet year. Instead of the oval-shaped, braided variety, the Rosh Hashanah challah is spiraled to represent the cycle of life and the completeness of the world.
“Rosh Hashanah is apple season,” says Glezer, explaining that while apples have been a symbol of sweetness for centuries, this treasured fruit has recently begun to appear in American challah recipes.
While her apple challah can be prepared in a loaf pan or a circular cake pan, at Rosh Hashanah she prefers the cake pan because it’s round.
Apple Challah | Makes two 8-inch rounds
2 envelopes instant yeast
5 cups unbleached bread flour
1 cup warm water
3 large eggs
6 Tbs. vegetable oil, plus extra for the pan and dough
2 tsp. salt
1/2 cup granulated sugar, plus extra for sprinkling
3 large baking apples (Braeburn preferred)
In a large bowl, whisk together the yeast and 1 cup of the flour. Then whisk in the warm water until yeast slurry is smooth. Let it ferment uncovered for 10-20 minutes, or until it begins to puff up slightly.
Whisk the eggs, oil, salt and sugar into the puffed-yeast mixture. When eggs are well incorporated and the salt and sugar have dissolved, stir in the remaining 4 cups of flour all at once with your hands. When mixture is a shaggy ball, scrape it out onto work surface and knead it until it is smooth and firm, no more than 10 minutes.
Soak mixing bowl in hot water to clean and warm it. If the dough is too firm to easily knead, add a tablespoon or two of water. If the dough is too wet, add a few tablespoons of flour. The dough should feel smooth, soft and only slightly sticky.
Place dough in the clean, warmed bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Let the dough ferment for one hour, or until just slightly puffy.
While the dough ferments, peel, quarter and core the apples. Cut each quarter in half lengthwise. Then cut each slice across into three pieces. End up with large, squarish apple chunks. Measure 4 1/2 heaping cups of the chunks. Reserve them in a covered container.
After initial ferment, sprinkle dough and work surface with flour. Pull out the dough. Cut dough into two equal pieces, keeping one piece covered while working with the other. Roll out the dough into a 1/8-inch-thick, 16-inch-long square. Scatter 1 heaping cup of apples over the center third of dough. Fold up the bottom third to cover it. Press dough into apples to seal it around them.
Scatter another heaping cup over the lower half of dough — onto the second layer of dough — and fold the top of dough over both layers to create a very stuffed letter fold. Press down on the dough to push out air pockets and to seal dough around apples. Roll dough into a bowl. Move dough in bowl so that the smooth side — without a seam — faces up. Cover with plastic wrap.
Repeat with other piece of dough, using another bowl. Continue fermenting both doughs for about an hour, or until they have risen slightly and are very soft.
Oil two 8-inch-round cake pans. Using as much dusting flour as needed, pat each dough half into a rough round shape. Try to keep smooth side intact on top. You won’t be able to deflate dough much now because of the apples. Slip dough into pans smooth side up and cover them well with plastic wrap. Let loaves proof for about 30 minutes, until they have crested their containers.
Immediately after shaping the breads, arrange an oven rack on the lower third position and preheat oven to 350 degrees.
When loaves have risen over the edge of the container and won’t push back when gently pressed with a finger but remain indented, brush each with a generous tablespoon of oil. Sprinkle them with a few tablespoons of sugar. Bake for 45-55 minutes total. After the first 40 minutes, switch the pans from side to side. Bake 5-15 minutes more. When loaves are well browned, remove them from oven, unmold and cool on a rack.
ROSH HASHANAH RECIPES: