On Rosh HaShanah and Yom Kippur (the head of the year and the day of atonement respectively) challah is round, not the standard braided loaf. For those who aren’t carb adventurous, challah is the traditional Jewish egg bread served on the Sabbath. For the religious new year and day of atonement round challah is served to symbolize the circle of life from one year to the next.
This year I decided that I’d do something nice for my Mom for the holiday. So I made her a Rosh HaShana challah from scratch. I used LGF’s Vicious Babushka’s recipe for honey saffron challah, which you can find here. Braiding instructions for a round challah can be viewed here.
It was very easy to follow, everything went smoothly in the prep, and it baked up beautifully. It tasted as good as it looked. One note: I made what are called 3 lbs loaves. So basically my yield from the recipe were two very large loaves of round challah. I’ll be making two more at the end of this week ahead of Yom Kippur a week from tonight. Pics below in order of preparation.
Everything coming together in the mixer:
After rising and waiting for braiding.
Braided and waiting to be made into a round. Or, if you’re prepping for a highland games or Celtic festival, just bake it like this for a Judeo-Celtic Cross. Very ecumenical…
Final proofing:
Proofed and egg washed:
Fresh out of the oven and cooling:
Open thread!
raven
Damn I’m glad you posted this!
debbie
Good Yontov! That cross is very impressive!
Elizabelle
Just gorgeous. Happy New Year. First weekend of fall too.
Enjoy.
Tim C.
Get in mah belly!
Adam L Silverman
@debbie: I did live in Scotland for three years!
Adam L Silverman
@raven: You’re welcome.
khead
Is that a McArdle Mixer? I mean, I really don’t know.
I use hand-held mixers – when I’m not just using my hands.
Adam L Silverman
@khead: I have no idea what, if any, mixers McArdle has. Nor do I care.
Major Major Major Major
Hey, we have the same KitchenAid.
rikyrah
The bread looks delicious ??
La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes)
Whoa, that’s some baking you’re doing there.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: You, me, and probably tens of thousands of others as well.
OldDave
Drool…..
Adam L Silverman
@rikyrah: Thank you.
Adam L Silverman
@La Caterina (Mrs. Johannes): I don’t usually bake bread. This was an easy recipe to follow and yielded excellent results.
ruemara
Oh, I miss next door neighbors and their tasty holiday foods.
Omnes Omnibus
I am not immense on the the Jewish High Holidays, but wasn’t one last week and the other beginning next Friday?
Adam L Silverman
@Omnes Omnibus: Rosh HaShana was from Wednesday sundown through last night at sundown. Yom Kippur starts a week from tonight at sundown and runs through just after sundown a week from tomorrow.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: yes but this
riflestand mixer is mine.Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: Sure, sure.
Jeffro
I probably should know more about the world’s great religions…seriously, anything beyond Christmas and Easter and I’m lost, and that’s just sad.
Plus, apparently there might be things like this amazing bread involved. So there’s that, which is no small thing at all. New Year’s resolutions, you’re starting early this year!
Happy Yom Kippur to all celebrants!
Felonius Monk
Nothing better for french toast than challah.
ETA: My KitchenAid stand mixer is bright yellow. No bloody red for me. And I’ve got the sausage making attachment. ‘Cause nothing goes better with Challah french toast than home made sausage.
Adam L Silverman
This may be peak Florida:
TaMara (BHF)
Yes, but did you wear the frilly apron? Looks delish. I see in the previous thread we’re looking for a Colorado meet up…and no one thought to mention me? Leave town for a week and everyone forgets you. I’ll post a meet up invite when I get back and we’ll see if we can’t give CAIN a big welcome.
debbie
@Felonius Monk:
Also for bread pudding.
Adam L Silverman
@Jeffro: Yom Kippur is a 26 hour, or so, complete fast. No food or water. Happy is not usually the appropriate term. For Rosh HaShana it is usually L’Shana Tova, meaning to a good year. For Yom Kippur it is “have an easy fast”.
Betty Cracker
That looks fantastic!
My husband is the baker in the family, and he’s making rye bread tomorrow.
PS: Dotard J. Trump sounds even more off his rocker than usual tonight. He tweeted this less than an hour ago:
Sorry to spoil a baking thread by mentioning the demented shit-goblin.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: no guns or meth.
randy khan
Yum!
Betty Cracker
@Adam L Silverman: That happens more often than seems attributable to chance. ?
Adam L Silverman
@TaMara (BHF): I sent you an email about it.
Felonius Monk
@debbie:
Oh yes. One of my favorites and I also like to make it with Panettone.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
Anyone recall the late Jewish comedian Dennis Wolfberg? I remember his one-liner about someone, with genuine regard, wishing him a “happy Chaka Khan!”
khead
@Adam L Silverman:
You need to learn about the Internets. Especially on this site.
TaMara (BHF)
@Adam L Silverman: which was actually the only reason I caught the thread. I’m taking this vaca thing seriously.
NotMax
Supposed to be removed, cut, rolled, braided and put back in, but I’ve gotten into the habit now of not bothering and instead making it as a sandwich loaf.
Bread Machine Challah
For 2-Pound loaf:
1½ teaspoons salt
1 large beaten egg
1 large beaten egg yolk
1 cup water
½ cup honey
2½ tablespoons vegetable oil
4-2/3 cups bread flour
1¼ teaspoons regular yeast (not fast acting/rapid rise)
1 large beaten egg for egg wash* (optional)
Sesame or poppy seeds (optional)
Make sure all ingredients are at room temp before using.
Add salt, egg(s), water, honey and oil to the bread pan. Add spooned to measure (not scooped and tight packed) flour on top of liquids. Make a depression on top of flour, put yeast there.
Select the Basic/White and the Light Crust setting and press Start.
Lightly brush with egg wash during final rise, repeat again during baking.
(optional) Sprinkle with poppy or sesame seeds after final rise.
*I just brush on some of the remaining unused egg white as a wash.
Don’t fiddle much with the measurements or cut back on the salt anymore than a very few grains, elsewise the top of the loaf may collapse.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: Meth would be Arkansas or West Virginia. Here it would be no gators, cocaine, and guns.
Adam L Silverman
@Betty Cracker: It sure seems to. As I’ve stated the only things Florida specific missing are gators, cocaine, and guns.
Adam L Silverman
@West of the Rockies (been a while): This is even better:
Adam L Silverman
@NotMax: That’s pretty close to the recipe I used.
efgoldman
@TaMara (BHF):
Is vacation time on Balloon Juice allocated by seniority, by first come/first served, by lottery or some other way?
Manyakitty
Wow, looks great! Last time I made the round challahs (we call them birds), I made on plain and the other with rum-soaked raising and I sprinkled cinnamon sugar on the egg wash before baking.
West of the Rockies (been a while)
@Adam L Silverman:
Oh, too funny!
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: pretty sure Florida has more meth than coke, but ok.
Redshift
Since this is an open thread, does anyone have any tips for how to argue without getting too worked up? I have a rule about not getting into arguments with idiots, so I’m not taking about hopeless cases. I’ve gotten into it a couple of times lately with people who were wrong, but not ill intentioned. One was a a guy I used to work with who jumped into a fairly reasonable anti-Trump discussion with some bothsiderist BS. Then last night a guy responded to a friend’s post about NPR explaining to Cassidy what was in his bill with a multi-comment rant about how none of these politicians know what they’re doing and we should just get government out of it and the problem with the ACA was that it wasn’t bipartisan and everything was completely broken and random anecdotes about Germany and Latvia…
Anyway, the point is that in both cases, I didn’t want to duck the argument (though that would be easier), because I want to try to convince people who can be convinced. But when I do jump in, and see that I’ve gotten a response, I dread going back to look, and too often just let it die without even seeing if I’ve made an impact.
I’ve gotten better at toning things down when I respond, but it still makes me tense and uncomfortable. I wish I could do better.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: Miami story. Coke is the default.
khead
@Redshift:
Well, no. Can’t really help you with those tips. I’m someone who can’t tone it down FOR A SECOND with some folks. You can’t duck the argument. You either talk that shit and let the chips fall where they may – or duck the argument. Seriously.
efgoldman
@Redshift:
Having met you IRL, I have to say you have too much common sense and therefore brook no bullshit, so I can’t help you with toning it down.
Major Major Major Major
@Adam L Silverman: ah, that Florida.
Adam L Silverman
@Major Major Major Major: Bienvenidos a Miami!
NotMax
@Redshift
As always, YMMV.
1) Don’t react, rather respond.
2) Do so in small doses rather than taking on everything from the other side at one go. Create a chain of evidence/argument, not a blanket.
3) Be the Vulcan: logic over emotion.
4) Some will flat refuse to recognize or acknowledge factual data. That’s their problem, not yours. Life is too short to be arsed (as the Brits say) with blockheads and the arrogantly or proudly stupid..
normal liberal
@Adam L Silverman:
True; they’re everywhere. Williams-Sonoma is now selling an overpriced mini 3 quart version.
I got mine (also that gorgeous red) back when they introduced the glass bowls, which I bought intentionally, instead of the stainless steel.
Very stupid decision. Still a great mixer.
Steeplejack
@West of the Rockies (been a while):
I remember Wolfberg, not the “late” part. Bummer. Now I feel like I should go check on Dom Irrera.
. . . Whew. Still going at 68.
Luthe
@normal liberal: You can buy steel replacement bowls if you want to switch out the glass one. /former W-S back room monkey
NotMax
As it’s nominally a cooking thread, repeated from below.
Picked up a sturdy metal adjustable spoon measure – ½ tsp to 1 tbl, in ½ tsp increments – while on the NY trip. Among the most welcome additions to the kitchen utensil collection in years.
ArchTeryx
@Redshift: What NotMax said, but the #1 thing about arguing without losing your shit, IMHO, is being able to sort the persuadables from the arrogant blockheads. That’s…not always easy, and the latter can become the former with the right external shock, but it is rare.
And then there are the arrogant blockheads who are also trolls, who will try to sucker you into an argument just so they can piss you off and crow “checkmate, libtard!”. Arguing with these types is like trying to play chess with a pigeon. The pigeon will just upend all the pieces, take a big dump on the board, and declare victory.
Amir Khalid
I don’t know if this helps with your problem, but I try to avoid personal digs at the other person and to ignore any that come from them. Also, resist the impulse to “shoot down” the opposing argument: to say, “You’re wrong, let me list the ways.” It’s gratifying to do, but it’s confrontational and it risks the discussion going south into personal insults and a shouting match. Worse, it just makes people dig in and refuse to listen.
Rather, invite them to think through their stand. Where the pitfalls lie, what negative outcomes might result. Maybe, if they convince themselves they were wrong, this might work. But it won’t work on everyone, of course; the sort to cling to their beliefs no matter what have come not for a fair dispute but for a confrontation. With those fuckers, just save your breath and back out.
Redshift
@NotMax: Thanks, that’s helpful. I’m really trying to only take on people who I think could be convinced, and people (like my former coworker) who just someone to risk a bit of conflict so they’re aware not everyone agrees.
normal liberal
@Luthe:
Yes, I keep meaning to do that. They are surprisingly hard to find, except directly from Kitchenaid. I want one like Dr. Silverman’s, with the handle and maybe one of those plastic covers, on sale, which doesn’t happen often.
The glass (and ceramic! people just do not learn) bowls are always on sale.
Redshift
@Amir Khalid: Good points. I did some of that in the first round in the health care argument (suggesting that using Germany as a good model didn’t fit with “getting government out”), but I probably also did a bit too much pointing out where he was wrong.
I’ll try to be brave enough to go back in tomorrow.
lamh36
I’m off to bed. That looks like some good cooking you did there Adam.
Last post of the night…here’s a bit from the young MLB rookie that knelt tonight on why he did!
Since I’m surely older than he is, I can call him kid” right?
Good on kid…good on you!!!
https://twitter.com/jeffpassan/status/911816742401400832
Major Major Major Major
@Amir Khalid:
Yeah but then you don’t get the smug satisfaction of echo chamber headlines about how you DEMOLISHED a republican on HBO or whatever.
NotMax
@Amir Khalid
Well put. Battering rams are better left for use on gates, not people.
trollhattan
Dang, had a great dinner but that bread has me hungry again–beautifully done.
Steeplejack (phone)
@NotMax:
Cool site. Already saw about five things I want.
Geeno
I grew up in a school district that was like 95% Jewish (Christians who could afford it sent their kids to parochial (usually Catholic) schools). So we got Jewish Holidays off. Between weekends, Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kipur, I always ended up having my birthday (September 27th) off. It was a great first encounter with multiculturalism. Episcopalian me thought it was great, but I can’t imagine what the god-botherers would have thought.
My sister freaked out on her first day of school there when the school bus dropped kids off at the Temple for “Hebrew school” (kids practicing for their Bar/Bat Mitzvahs) – she didn’t know if it was part of the new school she was going to or what?
NotMax
@Steeplejack
Lots of their stuff shows up on Amazon but be forewarned that prices among sellers can vary wildly.
Happened to pick that one up at Bed, Bath & Beyond (we don’t have that store here).
Diana
@Jeffro: all you really need to know is that with a truly uncanny synchonicity they all hit the solstices of the year (religions from more northern places, where it’s really important to know that this winter is coming to an end, e.g. anything indo-european) or the equinoxes (generally religions where winter isn’t so big an issue, generally Jewish, Hindu, or Orthodox Christian) and that’s when they pitch their holidays.
Does anyone know of any truly equatorial religions? It would be really interesting to see what the key dates would be for a religion that developed from a culture that didn’t depend upon either the harvest or the return of the light.
Major Major Major Major
@NotMax: where do you buy your beyond?
MomSense
I hope I’m only hearing squirrels on the roof and not in the attic or walls. Also too I feel like I’m about six years old sleeping on one of the old twin beds unable to sleep because of strange noises.
NotMax
@Major Major Major Major
Normally hang a hard left at To Infinity.
;)
Feathers
@Redshift: My rule when dealing with my wingnut brother is – one point. Listen to his side (which is totally and completely incorrect), but then take a Miss Marple (or Hercule Poirot or Colombo…) air and point out one thing that is utterly preposterous in what you opponent is saying. Focus on that and don’t back down. Choose it well, and you can invariably get them to concede the one point. This is also a way to tell if someone is thinking things through at all.
Amir Khalid
@Diana:
There’s always some interaction between incoming religions like Christianity and Islam — both of which have a long history of proselytising — and the traditional beliefs and practices of the communities they spread themselves to. For instance, Christmas was invented to compete with the winter solstice celebrations of pre-Christian Europe. And the same is likely true of Easter vis-à-vis traditional spring festivals.
Islamic holidays are hard to sync up permanently with seasonal transitions, though. The Muslim calendar is lunar, and a year of 12 lunar months is 11 days shorter than a solar year; so our festivals are 11 days earlier every year relative to the seasons.
Just Some Fuckhead
@Redshift: I usually start out by correcting their errors or informing them of knowledge they may not be familiar with, e.g. how healthcare has many structural imperfections that prevent it from achieving Pareto efficiency through competition.
After I’ve established I’m smarter, I move to mocking them and telling them how stupid they are. If it’s an in person argument, I usually end it by laughing at them and telling them I don’t mind them being wrong.
rikyrah
@Redshift:
The ACA was bi-partisan. It had over 100 Republican amendments. Just no Republican votes.
Diana
@Amir Khalid: That’s a very good point, because Islam is from the Saudi peninsula, which is one of the few points of the world which is between the tropics of Cancer and Capricorn (there’s also parts of Africa, South America, Indonesia and India, but India is dominated by Indo-european Aryan culture, so that may take them out of the picture) and that answers my question: holidays would depend upon the schedule of the moon, not the sun.
thank you!!!
Big Jim Slade
Agh, Dell Technology ad coming through with sound (bad techno music, ok, that’s redundant, playing).
Captain C
L’shana Tova y’all!
Hey Adam, I was just thinking of a comment you made in a (when I saw it) dead thread around the time Kashmir died about how you would or do get puppies for your dog(s). I would totally get a pair of kittens for Misty (Kashmir’s sister and littermate), but I’m pretty sure they would only annoy her, even though I think she’s part Golden Retriever (the shaggy, extremely mellow, likes-her-belly-rubbed part).
?BillinGlendaleCA
@Just Some Fuckhead:
At that point they call you a Fuckhead.
Steeplejack (phone)
@NotMax:
Yeah, I did some cross-checking. Lots of interesting items, though. Good source of ideas for gifts for foodie friends.
Major Major Major Major
@?BillinGlendaleCA: the beginning of Principia Discordia is a zen story that ends with a student meditating and people walk by. “And one asked, who is that man? And another said, he is a wise man, and yet another said, he is a shithead. And it was at that moment that the student became enlightened.”
Shalimar
@Adam L Silverman: The Deep State obviously intentionally set up the emergency number to be similar to the phone sex line so they could make this mistake at a critical time to embarrass the president.
You know that excuse is coming, just trying to get ahead of the Jones curve.
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Did something nice for your mom? Such a good boy!