Rabbi’s Wife’s Challah
“Look at that beautiful brioche,” I overheard a guest saying at a Bat Mitzvah in Geneva. The brioche was the glistening round challah made by Nicole Garai, the rabbi’s wife. During the service at the hidden Quai du Seujet Synagogue, located near the Rhône River, Nicole helps her husband by escorting assigned readers to the bima (platform). The Garais, French Jews, came to Switzerland to start this synagogue in the 1980s. Nicole told me that she bakes challah for people of whom she is fond, like her congregant, Juliette Laurent, braiding it in a round to signify the circle of life for Rosh Hodesh (the first of the month); she also makes it for the new year, and for Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. I especially liked the way she decorated the challah, by first liberally sprinkling a thick band of sesame seeds, then poppy seeds all over the top of the bread. Another trick she uses is to brush the bread twice: once at the beginning of the second rise, after the bread is braided, and again just before she pops it into a cold oven. The procedure of turning on the heat after the bread is in the oven must date back a long time, at least to the beginning of home wood ovens.
Recipe information
Yield
1 large round challah
Ingredients
Preparation
Step 1
Dissolve the yeast and the sugar in 2 cups warm water in the bowl of a standing mixer equipped with a dough hook. Add the whole egg and the oil, and mix.
Step 2
Gradually add 7 cups of the flour and the salt to the bowl, and blend well. When the dough starts to come together, turn it out onto a floured work surface and knead with your hands, adding more flour until the dough is smooth and doesn’t stick to your hand.
Step 3
Put the dough in a greased bowl, cover it with a cloth, and set it in a dry place. Let it rise for 45 minutes.
Step 4
Punch down the dough and separate it into three balls. Roll each out to a long strand, then braid the three strands. Pinch the ends together to form a circle with a diameter of at least 9 inches. Cover a baking sheet with parchment paper, and carefully transfer the dough to the sheet. Beat the egg yolk in a little bowl, and paint the dough with it.
Step 5
Let the dough rise for 45 minutes in the closed oven.
Step 6
Remove the dough, paint again with more egg yolk, and sprinkle some sesame seeds heavily in a 2-inch band, then sprinkle a band of poppy seeds, continuing to make five or six wide strips of poppy seeds and sesame seeds around the dough.
Step 7
Put the challah back in the oven, turn the oven temperature to 400 degrees, and cook for 30 minutes, or until the challah sounds hollow when tapped. Remove, and let cool.
