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Challah

Stephen Blumm <sblumm1@gmail.com>
Mon, 19 Jan 2015 13:01:54 -0500
v115.n004.7
Iwould add a bit to Reggie's post about challah. My comment is based 
on the general history of East European Jews and their types of 
bread. Challah was part of a larger class of breads that were often 
called "rich people's bread". Most of the peoples of Eastern Europe, 
and other parts of Europe, had a similar bread. Years ago the King 
Arthur monthly newsletter included a recipe for a similar Swiss 
bread. I've forgotten the name, but perhaps someone with old copies 
of the newsletter or knowledge of Swiss baking can provide more 
information. These breads, including challah, were called "rich 
people's bread" because they were made with white flour and eggs and 
fat. The literature of Jews living in Eastern Europe includes 
comments about poor people hoping someday to eat white bread. 
Literary comment about "rich" families would include that they ate 
white bread on the Sabbath.

Also interesting was the development of different shapes for challah 
and this entire class of breads. For Jews there would be a local 
characteristic shape or shapes for the Sabbath and different shapes 
for the Days of Awe, Rosh Hashanah and the meal to break the fast 
after Yom Kippur. You can find discussion of the shapes in quite a 
few Jewish cookbooks. For more information about challah, Maggie 
Glezer's very fine book "The Blessing of Bread" includes anecdotes 
and stories about challah and Jewish bread baking in general.

Best,
Stephen Blumm
Valley Forge, PA