It is well known that in the Common Household family extension on the Jewish side, size matters.
On Sunday a week ago, a group of three women, including me,
spent four hours braiding and baking 24 mini-challahs, to have on hand for
Shabbat services and shiva minyans when needed.
Since you’re asking, each mini-challah was approximately ten
inches long, with a diameter of about three inches. A normal-sized challah is maybe four times
larger.
I was able to bring one challah home for the Common
Household to enjoy. When my husband saw it,
he said, “Oh, what a cute little challah…. Wait, you spent FOUR HOURS making
that tiny challah? If I had know you
were going to make a challah the size of a toothpick,
I would have bought more bread at the store this morning.”
Some of our challah loaves seemed to come out of the oven
with personalities.
 |
| The Very Hungry Caterpillar |
 |
| This one is called Moses, because it has horns. (Biblical scholars will know that this is based on a mistranslation, but once people get an image in their heads it just won't go away.) |
 |
| Papoose |
Already, the rabbi has taken one of our challahs to someone
who just returned home from the hospital.
Last week I felt that my heart had shrunk to the size of a shriveled
pea, but knowing that our little challah has welcomed someone home has made my heart just a
little bit larger.
The recipe for challah is here, at the end of the post.
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| Mathematically-minded readers will notice that there are only 23 challah loaves here. We had to test the product, of course. |
This bread looks delicious! Would it be kosher to do Communion with a loaf of challah sometime?
ReplyDeleteIt turns out that chicken soup make with matzoh balls is not the only thing that can cure a person!
ReplyDeleteI, too, am curious if it would be acceptable to use a loaf of challah at Communion.
I love Challah! I only make it once in a while as a special treat. I use Mollie Katzen's recipe from The Enchanted Broccoli Forest. Yours look delicious.
ReplyDeleteI only ate Challah twice in my life, but recall it with drooling mouth. Yum!
ReplyDeleteThose are so pretty! I have never ever had challah. Do you cheat and use Rhodes rolls as a base (the way I do with most of my bread recipes), or would that be considered sacrilegious? However you go about it, I am impressed.
ReplyDelete