Nikas Culinaria

(I originally posted this back on July 11, 2006. I wanted to pull it out from under that digital dust pile and share this awesome Joan Nathan recipe for challah and also the fun we had that day. I think we need to do something like this again but with Baby Oh too)

Recently I have been hankering to make bread. I usually make White Bread plus from The Joy of Cooking but this hankering was specific to a bread I had not made before - Challah.

Part of this comes from knowing a bit about the rich Jewish family traditions that surround this bread. Sure, its made well enough in bakeries around the world. It is also much more appreciated if it is made within the home, as part of the love that goes into the Friday evening meal. There is considerable religious context that surrounds the bread but it would be disingenuous for me to speak to that as I am not an observant Jew!

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