Showing posts with label challah bread. Show all posts
Showing posts with label challah bread. Show all posts

Sunday, September 13, 2015

ROSH HASHANAH - A traditional look at the Jewish table

ROSH HASHANAH


A traditional look at the Jewish table

Carol Ungar draws on her family’s recipes and historical references in her cookbook, ‘Jewish Soul Food’

BY JESSICA STEINBERG September 13, 2015   THE TIMES OF ISRAEL

Jessica Steinberg covers the Sabra scene from south to north and back to the center.

Don’t assume that Carol Ungar made the hollow, spiral Shofar Challah pictured in her book, “Jewish Soul Food, Traditional Fare and What It Means.”

“I’m not that handy,” she said. “My assistant made that one.”

And while Ungar will probably make some of the unique Rosh Hashanah-inspired challah shapes for her own family, she’s always more motivated by the history of the recipe, rather than actual experience of making it.

She first began shaping her challahs into different forms after reading a book about the mystical meaning of Jewish foods. Included in the tales were accounts about women in 18th century Ukraine, at the beginning of the Hasidic movement, when they would shape their challahs in order to teach certain concepts to their own children.

“Challah baking by definition is a meaningful activity,” said Ungar. “They were baking beliefs into breads. It creates memories and it’s so non-threatening.”


The Scales of Justice Challah, that is too much work, said Ungar (Courtesy Carine Gracia)

And so, Ungar began experimenting with her own challahs — she’s been baking challah for some time and had already moved on from her earlier, heavy “doorstop” ones — and began shaping the Three-Braid Challah (from her son-in-law’s mother), the Six-Braid Challah (or as Ungar introduces it, “Jewish macrame!”) and then, moving into the high holidays (the book is divided according to the Jewish calendar), the Crown Challah, Shofar Challah, Round Challah and, Scales of Justice Challah, inspired by the holiday’s weighings of human behaviors.

There are 20 other challah recipes — don’t miss the Strings of Pearls Challah or Grape-Cluster Challah — as well as bagels and Yemenite bread in “Jewish Soul Food,” which explains why Ungar first thought about doing a collection of bread and challah recipes.

The native New Yorker who lives in Telzstone, a primarily ultra Orthodox community outside Jerusalem, first thought about a book after writing a food blog that followed a food column for a local paper. Realizing she had amassed a mass of columns, she sent a selection of her blogs to Brandeis University Press. Once they expressed interest, she needed a theme.

Her plan was to collect her mother’s recipes, the traditional Jewish foods she’d always made. Cooking has always been part of Ungar’s daily life as well, having raised a large family and, as a religiously observant woman, ends up spending a lot of time in the kitchen.

And while Ungar’s husband and sons help out — “my boys know how to braid challah,” she said — “but there’s a lot of cooking time.”


The Bird Challah for Yom Kippur, baked in 18th century Ukraine where life could be harsh for Jews, reflecting a promise in Isaiah that just as a bird can fly loose from its captors, so too would Jews from their foes (Courtesy Carine Gracia)

She came from a family where cooking was paramount. Both of her parents were Holocaust survivors, and left without any of the people or objects of their own homes, and ended up latching onto the task of recreating the tastes and flavors of their childhood kitchens.

There was inspiration from Laurie Colwin’s “Home Cooking,” a combination cookbook/memoir, and from the late Gil Marks’ Encyclopedia of Jewish Food,” which offers a comprehensive look at nearly every kind of Jewish food from across the globe.

Her book, “Jewish Soul Food,” draws from the two genres. Sized in novel format and with long introductions that tell the tales, history and folklore behind many of the recipes, Ungar relishes the opportunity to look at the “whole cultural context,” she said. “Food is a great jumping off point for stories, there’s a lot of tradition and historical stuff going on.”

She also felt there was an open niche in the Jewish cookbook scene, taking a look at Jewish food organized according to Shabbat and the holidays.

It’s the overall feel and read of the cookbook that offer a unique approach. There are few photographs, and those that are included are in black-and-white, accompanied by a black-and-white line drawings that illustrate the more complicated recipes, like kreplach or hamantashen.


Carol Ungar’s ‘Jewish Soul Food,’ published by Brandeis University Press (Courtesy Carol Ungar)

The format also suits the collection of historical, old-fashioned recipes gathered from Ungar’s family, friends and research. There’s her father’s sweet-and-sour cucumber salad for the third meal of Shabbat as well as her mother’s stuffed cabbage, a must-have for Sukkot, Simchat Torah and Purim.

Ungar insists she’s not a foodie, but she knows her food. There are helpful hints throughout the book, as she considers the schedule of the busy home cook recommending when a dish will freeze well (stuffed cabbage) and when it won’t (leek pancakes for Rosh Hashanah). There are other tips as well, such as the freezing cabbage for easier leaf separation when rolling Galicianer Stuffed Cabbage for Purim, or using leftover cooked rice for a Sukkah-time tomato soup.

Ungar is also honest; while she includes a recipe for a labor-intensive meat-stuffed kreplach, she recommends having someone else make it. Ditto for traditional Rosh Hashanah teiglach, honey-soaked dough balls.

“I should have warning labels on which ones are not good to attempt by yourself,” she said, “Or have someone else do it.”

Ultimately, of course, it’s the week-in, week-out, or year-in, year-out practice that results in that perfect challah, stuffed cabbage or cucumber salad. And for Ungar, it’s the personal and historical memories that she’s after, which is why she included favorites like her father’s matzah coffee, or pot roast à la Molly Goldberg.

“People connect with this stuff,” she said. “A lot of people connect with food memories. That’s a big emphasis in traditional jewish life and life is like one big dinner party on some level.”

Ungar, who will only have two of her kids home this holiday, said she’s keeping it simple for Rosh Hashanah and will be including the symbols of holiday in her menu, which will include leek pancakes, possibly beet and Swiss chard latkes, a tongue for the main course and a honey cake, made by someone else. Here she includes her recipe for Green, 

Green Rosh Hashanah Latkes, made with Swiss chard, or silka, the thin, white fibrous root with large leaves and stalks.

5 large Swiss chard or beet green leaves, shredded (about 2 cups)
2 large eggs
½ cup matzo meal
1 small onion, finely diced
Salt and black pepper to taste
Vegetable oil for frying
In food processor using blade attachment, process all ingredients except oil quickly until a paste forms (there should still be identifiable vegetable pieces). Do only a few pulses — you don’t want to create a true puree.
Heat oil in skillet over medium-high heat. With wet hands, form chard mixture into thin patties the size of your palm and fry patties, in batches, until golden brown on each side, about 2 minutes per side.
Serve immediately. Does not freeze well.

Makes 2 to 2½ dozen patties


A Rosh Hashanah Crown Challah from Carol Ungar’s ‘Jewish Soul Food’ (Courtesy Carine Gracia)

And, if you’re up for the task, Shofar Challah. First make a Single Challah recipe (see below), and then follow the Shofar Challah instructions.

Single Challah

½ tablespoon instant yeast
3 tablespoons granulated sugar
1 and ¼ cups tepid water (or more as needed)
4 tablespoons neutral tasting vegetable oil
2 large egg yolks (one for dough, second for the glaze)
3 ½ cups flour
1 ½ teaspoons salt
2 tablespoons poppy and/or sesame seeds

In a large bowl combine yeast, sugar, water, oil and one of the egg yolks. Add flour in one cup at a time. Knead by hand or in mixer fitted with a dough hook until the dough forms a smooth and supple ball (by hand about five minutes).

Pour one tablespoon of oil over the surface of the dough and then cover with a dampened kitchen towel and set in a warm place to rise until doubled in bulk (about two hours, depending on how warm your house is. You can also leave the dough, covered by a kitchen towel or in plastic wrap to rise overnight in the fridge).

Punch down dough and shape or braid.
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C
Let dough rest for up to half hour.
Glaze with egg and seeds and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until golden brown.

Freezes well.

Shofar Challah (instructions by Shoshana Goldstein)

1 single challah dough recipe (see above)
Cornet form, available in specialty baking supply stores and online
Make single challah dough (see above).
Roll dough into 12 inch rope. Using a metal cornet baking form, and starting at the wide end of the cornet, begin wrapping the rope around the cornet, continuing to the pointed end and just beyond curving the end of the dough past the cornet to form the crescent shape of the shofar.
Follow Single Challah recipe instructions for second rise, glazing and baking.

Freezes well. Serves 8 to 10.

Saturday, March 29, 2014

Midnight snack...or breakfast?

I love taking photos of Israeli food. Here are a few of my shots from Nov. 2013 in Jerusalem.

Midnight snack, breakfast or another meal? All work for me!

Steve Martin
Love For His People






Challah bread


Thanks girls for the Challah bread!








Need to get back 
to Jerusalem 
and get some more!

Friday, December 6, 2013

Bakery Girls in Jerusalem - serving good bread!

These girls were gracious 
to let me take their photos. 
Todah rabah! 
(Thank you very much in Hebrew.)

Hmmm...good!

...and they were good eating too!

Fresh!

Challah bread for Shabbat


I loved taking these photos on Jaffa Road in Jerusalem, near Ben Yehuda Street, just before getting on the morning train to Yad Vashem. On our Ahava Adventures annual trip! Come along and meet them too in 2014! 

Steve Martin, Love For His People

Check it out: Ahava Adventures 2014



Monday, October 28, 2013

Poems by Eva Haglund


A CHILD WITHOUT A PARENT …
Anyone without God and hope in the world -
 is like  a diamond who has been dropped..
is  like  a newborn foal without a mother…
is like a child leave hold of the hand of a mother or father…
who do not have the heavenly Bread-
who do not have Bread of life –Jesus…
We need to give  the Bread from heaven…
He gave his Bread-he gave his life…
The bread was divided in pieces like his heart was crushed
in love and pain for us
He gave everything for us…
He gave his heart…

Eva Haglund


LIFE OF BREAD –JESUS

 In John.6:35 you can read that Jesus is the Bread of life. Our heavenly Daddy sent the Bread from heaven. The Bread was made in heaven. It was a heavenly Bread. The world did not have Bread.  God wanted to give the world “food”. We need usual bread. We also Life of Bread . If we do not have this Bread we will die. Without receiving Jesus we will not survive – we need the Bread –Jesus in our lives.  

We can think that we as we can be hungry and want usual bread can be hungry after Jesus –more of Jesus. Matt.5 :3 –we shall be hungry after more of God – not thinking we have “got” it or “have” anything. To learn to know Jesus is like to know a sea. It never ends. He is like the sea… To know him is reaching to a level of heaven as is above the sea. He is so big, so we do not understand it! Jesus is the Bread-The Bread of life =The Word. 

As we need usual bread every day we need Bread of life =the Word-every day. It is our daily Bread. I want more food today –I want the heavenly Bread –the Word. The Word is like a golden mine –heavenly gold.
The Word is like heavenly gold. The Word is Jesus. He is love. The heavenly gold is love. Jesus is love –the Word is a book –“Love” I think. It is like a mine of diamonds you also can say I think full of heavenly diamonds.
The Bread is fantastic –like a golden Bread or a bread of diamonds if you think about the value. Jesus eat bread with people-he ate together as in Acts.2:46. He share his bread.To eat together I think also can mean fellowship. Jesus had fellowship with people talking –eating together. John.17:21. 
Jesus wants the love in Body of Christ to be a testimony to the world. Jesus gave bread to the poor-he shared. James. 1:15-17, Acts.2:44-46. Sisters and broters in the Lord can give our”bread” to each other –different gifts .We need each other in friendship guided by God 1 Kor.12 not just in the churchbuildings.
You can  also have friends in other churches as God wants or has brought to gether if he want.
“The bread” can be shared between churches –gifts. Maybe also usual bread  and maybe help each other financial? The love between Christians Jesus wants to be a testimony to the world.
John.6:51. Jesus gave bread to others . He gave his Bread. He gave his life.
The Bread gave the world life. The world need bread. They need Bread –The Bread of life.
A bread who never get too old –always is fresh. A living Bread – Bread of life.
Jesus is love – the Bread –Love . I am thinking  that to give a piece of bread can be to to give love.
A symbol for love is a heart. The bread was divided in pieces like his heart was crushed in love and pain for us. He gave his heart. 
Bread of life – a bread of love.
He is love.
Eva Haglund

 

JESUS IN FLAMES OF FIRE -FOR YOU

You said – “ I was walking at pieces of glass.”
His back was scourged until blood because he loves you so much.
You said - “ My path was full of thorns “ –
He carried the crown of thorns for you…
You said “ - I felt alone in the burning sun” -
He was abandoned by the Father in deepest pain for you…
You said “ People were laughing at me –and treated me like nothing…”
He was nailed for you…
The pain he felt has no one felt…
He gave everything –the King of all Kings – a servant in love for you …
His love conquered the death...
 He died for you…
Isaiah 53.

Eva Haglund
 

Thursday, October 17, 2013

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Kiddush (Holy) Cup & Saucer

Silver Kiddush Cup and Saucer 

with Golden Highlights - Old Jerusalem



This gorgeous kiddush cup will add a touch of splendor to your table on the Sabbath and holidays, and to your mantel or display case the rest of the time!


Editor's note: Love For His People, Inc. does not promote this and/or other website articles to get a kick-back or commission. (We don't get them.)

I just love sharing good things and good words with you, so you can be blessed! 

Ahava to my family of friends, 

Steve Martin, Founder

P.S. We just believe in this verse!

Our full website: 


Kiddush

Sanctifying Sabbath and holidays, with special blessings over wine.

  














Reprinted from The Jewish Religion: A Companion
Published by Oxford University Press.
Kiddush is the sanctification of the Sabbath.

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On Friday night, when the Sabbath begins, the Kiddush ceremony is carried out before sitting down to the Sabbath meal. A cup of wine is filled and held in the hand by the person presiding, usually but not necessarily the father of the house, and the benediction over wine recited.
Then the Kiddush proper is recited: 'Blessed art Thou, O Lord our God, King of the universe, who hath hallowed us by Thy commandments and hast taken pleasure in us, and in love and favor hast given us Thy holy Sabbath as an inheritance, a memorial of the creation--that day being also the first day of the holy convocations, in remembrance of the departure from Egypt. For Thou hast chosen us and hallowed us above all nations, and in love and favor hast given us Thy holy Sabbath as an inheritance. Blessed art Thou, O Lord, who hallowest the Sabbath.'

Kiddush in Aramaic means "Holy".

Significance

The Torah refers to two requirements concerning Shabbat - to "keep it" and to "remember it" (shamor and zakhor). Jewish law therefore requires that Shabbat be observed in two respects. One must "keep it" by refraining from thirty-nine forbidden activities, and one must "remember it" by making special arrangements for the day, and specifically through the kiddush ceremony.
Reciting kiddush before the meal on the eve of Shabbat and Jewish holidays is thus a commandment from the Torah (as it is explained by the Oral Torah). Reciting kiddush before the morning meal on Shabbat and holidays is a requirement of rabbinic origin. Kiddush is not usually recited at the third meal on Shabbat, although Maimonides was of the opinion that wine should be drunk at this meal as well.

Rituals


Engraved sterling silver kiddush cup
To honor the mitzvah of reciting kiddush, a silver goblet is often used, although any cup can suffice. The cup must hold a revi'it of liquid. A revi'it is between 5.46 fluid ounces (161.5 ml) (Rabbi Avrohom Yeshaya Karelitz) and 3.07 fluid ounces (90.7 ml) (Rabbi Avraham Chaim Naeh). After the person reciting the kiddush drinks from the wine, the rest of it is passed around the table or poured out into small cups for the other participants. Alternatively, wine is poured for each of the participants before kiddush.
Before reciting kiddush, the challah, which will be the next food item eaten in honor of the Shabbat or holiday, is first covered with a cloth. According to Halakha, the blessing over bread takes precedence to the blessing over wine. However, in the interests of beginning the meal with kiddush, the challah is covered to "remove" it from the table (some do not have the challah on the table at all during kiddush). Some interpret the covering of the challah allegorically, explaining that just as we go out of our way to protect an inanimate object (the bread) from being "insulted" (by the blessing over wine taking precedence), we should display the same sensitivity toward the feelings of other people.

Synagogue kiddush

The term kiddush also refers to refreshments served either at home or at the synagogue following prayer services on Shabbat or Yom Tov, which begin with the recitation of kiddush. Cake,crackers, and gefilte fish are traditionally served. On Shavuot morning, the custom is to serve dairy foods such as cheesecake and cheese blintzes for the kiddush.
According to the Shulchan Aruch, kiddush should be recited preceding the Shabbat meal. Eating mezonot such as cake or cookies or drinking an additional revi'it of wine, was also deemed sufficient. Nevertheless, some Jews recite kiddush only when about to partake of a full meal.
Often a kiddush is hosted by a family celebrating the birth of a daughter, a bar mitzvah, a wedding, an engagement, a birthday, or other happy occasion. Some people also host a kiddush on theyahrtzeit of a parent or other relative. In some synagogues the celebrant is honored with reciting the Shabbat morning kiddush on behalf of all the attendees. In other synagogues the rabbi orgabbai recites the kiddush. Some Jews make kiddush on Shabbat morning over liquor instead of wine. When this is done, the blessing recited is she-hakol nihyeh bid'varo instead of borei p'ri ha-gafen. The Mishnah Berurah (an authoritative Ashkenazi halakhic text) allows liquor to be substituted for wine on the grounds that it is Hamar Medina, a drink one would serve to a respected guest.

Kiddush customs

In the absence of wine or grape juice, Friday night kiddush may be recited over the challah; the blessing over bread is substituted for the blessing over wine. In that case, the ritual hand-washing normally performed prior to consuming the challah is done before the recitation of kiddushGerman Jews follow this procedure even if wine is present. If there is only sufficient wine or grape juice for one kiddush, it should be used for the Friday night kiddush
In many synagogues, kiddush is recited on Friday night at the end of services. This kiddush does not take the place of the obligation to recite kiddush at the Friday night meal. When recited in a synagogue, the first paragraph (Genesis 2:1-3) is omitted.
The text of the Friday night kiddush begins with a passage from Genesis 2:1-3, as a testimony to God's creation of the world and cessation of work on the seventh day. Some people stand during the recital of these Biblical verses (even if they sit for kiddush), since according to Jewish law testimony must be given standing.
There are different customs regarding sitting or standing while reciting kiddush depending on communal and family tradition.
Some Hasidic and Sephardic Jews dilute the wine with water before kiddush on Friday night to commemorate the old custom of "mixing of the wine" in the days when wine was too strong to be drunk without dilution.

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