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There's a reason that most of us played with Play-Doh as kids. It's really, really fun to play with dough. Sticking our fingers into that soft smooshiness, molding that dough into a variety of shapes, squashing it together and starting over again. When we grow up, if we're into baking, we transition to less colorful, more edible types of dough, and we just plain stop playing with it. Until, of course, we find a recipe that lets us start smooshing again.
Challah is that dough. Unlike temperamental pie crust ("Keep me cool! Don't overwork me!") or high-falutin sourdough ("You must keep a starter in your fridge!"),eggy challah doughis as mellow, tender, and easy to work with as the brightly colored fake dough in the plastic can you know and love. That's because it's designed so you can go all arts-and-crafts with it, rolling out the dough under your hands to form thick, floppy, braid-able ropes. To learn how to really play with dough, we caught up with Uri Scheft, founder of Breads Bakery (with locations in New York and Israel) and author, with Raquel Pelzel, of the upcoming cookbook,Breaking Breads.
"People ask me 'Where to start?' I say start with the challah," Scheft says. "It's enriched with oil, eggs, and sugar, which makes the dough very flexible, pliable." FollowScheft's recipe, and you'll be ready to braid in no time. And that's when the fun starts. Those floppy ropes of dough can be formed into a range of braids—three-strand, four-strand, even six-strand—twisted around each other, and/or coiled into a circle for a festive Rosh Hashanah loaf. Just like when you were a kid, it's all about play, not perfection.
Need another excuse to play with dough?Rosh Hashanahis right around the corner, and a round challah is a classic way to celebrate the Jewish New Year. But even a holiday challah doesn't have to be all serious and impeccable. "There's no perfect way to put together the dough's edges together to make the perfect round. You always see the seam," Scheft says. But that imperfection is part of the point. "They say 'If you can't draw a perfect line between two points, just be an artist'. Do it freeform, don't take it too seriously."
And yes, Scheft meant what he said about the whole "artist" thing. Because you can actually take your challah decoration even further by sprinkling the braided loaf with a muted, tasteful rainbow of seeds: Sunflower, pumpkin, nigella, poppy, flax, sesame, you name it. "Be playful. Anything will do," says Scheft.
For the sweetest New Year, go mixed-media on your challah artwork and nestle a small oven-proof bowl in the center right after you decorate it, and pour honey in the bowl for dipping after the loaf emerges from the oven. "The idea came from a book I bought in an exhibition of bread traditions from around the world," Scheft says. "I saw an image of Jews from Rome with a round challah surrounding a tin bowl that might have been with filled with salt. And we've been doing it now for more than 12 years. Sometimes we do double bowls, one for apples and one for honey."
If the challah that emerges from your oven doesn't come out as picture-perfect as Scheft's, NBD. Like that messy children's artwork we still hang proudly on the wall, your challah will still be a thing of beauty. As Scheft points out, "At the end of the day, even if it doesn't come out the perfect round your first or second time, it's your own creation."
