sarah in nyc

I begin this post with the great wall of Challah. I had thought that the batch I had made before Rosh HaShanah would last through Yom Kippur but I was mistaken. Now, I hope that this batch will take us through the beginning of Sukkot. The previous batch with the addition of apple butter was OK. Unfortunately the texture was changed from a nice muscular bread  dough to something rather cake like. This was not what I go or in my challah. This is an experiment that I will not repeat. When I had gone to our local market to buy a shehechiyanu / a new fruit for the holiday the pickings were really slim. Part of it was that we eat a fairly diverse bunch of fruits in our regular diet. I also think that last year our local market went nuts with weird fruit and mostly it didn’t get purchased. The one  item in the market that looked like something we had never eaten was a squash that looked something like this squash . It was not quite a yard long. We kept it in a vase on the di...

My friend Elisheva asked me how to do a four strand braid when baking challah. She saw the visual superiority of the four strand braid but was unsure about how to create it. There is more than one way to skin a cat, several ways I can think of off hand to do a four strand braid  but this is an easy way to do it. I have used four strips of  fabric as my visual aid. When we braid hair or do a standard three strand braid you work your hands in both directions. With this four strand braid you weave only from left to right. (Yes, if you are a lefty you can braid going the other way) Braiding hair always begins at the top. I was taught though that it is simpler to begin braiding a challah in the middle. 1- Here are my four strand waiting to be braided.Another tip for cute challot, don’t make long strands of dough. Stumpy strands end up  looking better. The act of braiding stretches the dough creating attractive striations in the challah. Long braids tend to look over work...

My youngest is the only one of my kids home this Shabbat. I made him this bonus challah roll out of this week’s batch of challah. For many years I used to create challah rolls with a knot. This past high holiday season I realized that a spiral is both simpler to construct  and looks far cuter. You wet the inside of the spiral so it does not unroll. Wet dough is an excellent glue.   We have been invited to a friend’s house for dinner. Our youngest has been invited to a friend of his for Shabbat dinner.  So this is a taste of future empty nest-hood.   Not having to cook means that I had time to work.   Daphi’s tallit is nearly complete. I love how the orange organza and the maroon chiffon have combined in such a delicious way. The text comes from Jonah’s prayer from inside the great whale ” In the wrapping up of my soul with God”. The text comes together only when the wearer holds the corners together. Daphi is a red head. The colors on the ta...

Several friends have told me that they don't care what I serve them for Shabbat, as long as my challa is on the table. I have been receiving requests for my challa recipe. I had written it out a few years ago at my son's request. This summer when I was away taking care of my mother, he baked challa following my recipe that really did taste like what I bake for each Shabbat. So this isn't like one of those recipes where an essential ingredient is left out. I started baking challaas a form of hand therapy. Like many people who sew for a livingI was suffering from sore hangs from doing the same movements over and over. Kneading the dough is really thereputic and moves your hands in the opposite movement that sewing does. Most of what you need to make a good challa, hard ware wise is simple. You need a big bowl, a baking sheet, and the only specialized item you may want to own is a dough scraper.It makes cleaning up much easier. Probably the most important ingredient in ch...

A meat loaf the size of Cleveland. Made out of ground chicken and ground turkey. I attempted to both counteract the dry nature of ground poultry and to infuse the not very flavorful chopped poultry with vegetables, by including a slurry of sauteed, pureed onions, carrots and tomato. I was actaully planning to make meat balls out of the mixture but they just fell apart. Thus the massive Mount Meat-o. Mount Meat-o so big, it is a little terrifying. I will probably pour a sauce of some sort over the whole thing while it heats up for Shabbat. The sauce essentially be a doctored up barbeque sauce.It will form a crust on Mount Meat-o giving the all essential crunch factor and some addiional flavor. To go along with Mount Meat-o, baked shredded potatoes, a green salad and sliced oranges with a liquor poured over for dessert. But the real center piece of our Shabbat dinner is home baked challa. Yes, it is really, really good. When I invite guests I usu...