Raisin Challah

L'Shana Tova! Jappy New Year! As you probably already know, Rosh Hashana marks the beginning of the Days of Awe, a 10-day period of introspection and repentance that culminates in the Yom Kippur holiday, also known as the Day of Atonement. You're probably reflecting on all the stuff you did wrong last year, every time you could have been nicer, every time you were selfish, every time you weren't acting the best you could. And if you're like me, you're probably reflecting on all the things you did wrong, knowing that you should make a change next year, but at the same time thinking about how you really don't want to make a change.

Being a "better" person is hard. Sometimes I want to binge watch tv shows instead of getting a full night of sleep before work, sometimes I want to date the "jerk" who I'm way better than and isn't even that cute and doesn't deserve my time, and sometimes I want to eat egg yolks even though I have high cholesterol and my doctor told me I shouldn’t eat them. And at the end of the day I'm really only hurting myself. But why are we so quick to hurt ourselves? Do we justify it by the happiness we feel when we find out something new in the tv show story line (side note - I recommend watching The Blacklist, I watched all of season 1 this past week), or when the jerk is nice to us, or by how good egg yolks taste on toast? Yea probably. But at what point is the bad outweighing the good? So this year, my resolution is to cut out more "bad". I'm not going to lie, I don't think I can give up egg yolks, and really, what will a yolk or two do to me? But I'm going to try to make better choices and cut out as much "bad" as I can. Life can be stressful, other people can be mean, and work can be overwhelming. So if we aren't going to do the best that we can to improve our own lives, who will?

Also, I realize I haven't posted in over a year. Maybe I'll be better in 5779. But here is a photo of us at a bridal shower last weekend as proof that we are still alive. Also, I hope that you like my dress because I think it's very cute and honestly I should have gotten more compliments on it.

Recipe: (makes 1 large challah)

3/4 cup water

2 1/4 tsp yeast
4 tbsp honey
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1 1/4 tsp salt
3.5 cups flour
Raisins

Mix 3/4 cup water, 2 1/4 tsp yeast, and 4 tbsp honey in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in a warm oven and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs and 1/4 cup oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add salt and flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands. Knead dough into a ball.

Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air.

Add raisins to the dough and knead evenly through dough.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. I did a round challah, which is the typical braid for Rosh Hashana, but you can do whatever shape you want.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet or pan and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg mixed).

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

L'Shana Tova!

Mini Challah

2017 has been the year of travel. I went to Atlanta, Tucson and New Orleans for work and Sarasota, Seattle and Portland for vacation. Most of the photos I took on my trips were of food and stuff outdoors. My phone is basically full of photos of ice cream, donuts, beignets, bagels, lox, pie, mimosas, and obviously challah (except not because of travel). The more I travel the more I learn what I like in a vacation. For instance, I do not enjoy doing anything historical, but I really like food and getting a tan at the pool or beach. I also learned that pie bars are the best type of bars. In Seattle my friend and I really wanted some dessert and found this restaurant that had the word "pie" in it, but turns out they only have pizza pie and not regular pie, which was unfortunate. But we did find this place called Pie Bar. And all they have is pie and drinks. They also have a take out window that is open until 2 am. We had pie all 3 nights that we were there. And you even get you ice cream when you eat the pie there! I think every city should have a pie bar!

Sometimes I want challah, but I don't want to eat an entire challah. I mean, I would love to eat an entire challah, but I will never find a boyfriend if I got fat from eating an entire challah. Usually I can't make challah for shabbat because it takes like 5 hours to make and I just don't have the time during the week, but I was able to work from home on Friday. My senior probably thought it was weird that I told her I had bad service on our call because I was in the kitchen, but maybe I like working in the kitchen. Anyway, I'm obsessed with the mini challah because I can feel guilt free when I eat half of it right out of the oven and the other half the next morning.

Recipe: (makes 1 mini challah)

1/3 cup water

1 tsp yeast
2.5 tbsp honey
2 extra large eggs: 1 for dough, 1 for baste

1/8 cup vegetable oil

1/2 tsp salt
1.5 cups flour

Mix 1/3 cup water, 1 tsp yeast, and 2.5 tbsp honey in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in a warm oven and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 1 egg and 1/8 cup oil. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add salt and flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands. Knead dough into a ball.

Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. I did a 6 strand challah, but you can do whatever shape you want.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet or pan and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg mixed).

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

Yum yum, mini challahs are the perfect size!

Mixed Fruit Challah

So it's been 10 months since my last post, but in my defensive it's really hard to keep up with a full time job and a challah blog. But now that my client TJX (TJMaxx, Marshalls, HomeGoods to name a few of their divisions) has filed their 10-k, ending my busy season, I finally found time to bake challah AND blog about it.

Working so much makes it difficult to have a life but every now and then I manage to find some time for fun. One of my clients was in New Orleans and I spent 4 weeks there this year. I never thought of visiting New Orleans, but it is definitely a great city with a ton of character. We spent a number of nights on Bourbon Street, ate bananas foster at the restaurant that invented it, had a drink at the carousel bar, walked to the Superdome, went on a swamp tour but didn't see any gators, and gambled at the casino. And of course we also visited Cafe Du Monde. Actually, we went twice in less than 6 hours. There is just nothing like a pastry at 3am and since they are open 24 hours it makes for the perfect post-Bourbon Street snack. We probably shouldn't have walked around an unfamiliar city at 3am, but the Beignets were worth it.

The inspiration for this week's challah comes from my busy season client. I was assigned the role of health champion and coordinated weekly fitness challenges to keep all of us healthy. The partner bought the entire team fitbits and we used them to track our steps during the workweek. Sadly my team came in last every week, but I definitely think the fitbit kept us more aware of how little we move during the day and motivated us to exercise more. TJX has a huge building and to get in the extra steps we would walk laps around the building, take the stairs, or use their treadmill desk. I was also resonsible for buying healthy snacks and one of those snacks was dried fruit. As good as dried fruit is alone, it is way better inside challah!

Recipe: (makes 1 big challah)

1 1/4 cup water

2 packets of active dry yeast (about 4 tsp)
1/2 cup honey
4 extra large eggs: 3 for dough, 1 for baste

1/2 cup vegetable oil

2 tsp salt
4-5 cups flour
Sliced Almonds
Chopped Pecans
Sun Maid Mixed Fruit Pouch

Mix 1 1/4 cup water, 4 tsp yeast, and 1/2 cup honey in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in the oven at 120 degrees and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 3 eggs and 1/2 cup oil.

Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add salt and flour. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands.

Chop the mixed fruit into small pieces.

Add mixed fruit, almonds, and pecans to dough and knead into a ball.

Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air. I added more fruits and nuts after the dough rose because I didn't add enough initially.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. I did a 6 strand challah, but you can do whatever shape you want.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg and 1/2 tbsp water).

Bake for about 35 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

I'm pretty sure this challah may be too pretty to eat! 

Elvis Challah

Don't worry, we haven't stopped blogging, we have just been CRAZY busy! After 5 years I am finally done with school (well at least for now). I have made so many memories in my time at Ohio State and have established such strong friendships. It will be weird moving back in with my mom and sister, but mostly because I will be so far from where I have called home the past 5 years. I have truly grown as a person and would not be where I am today if it was not for my undergraduate and graduate experience, or in accounting terms my NPV has greatly increased, even if that means becoming insolvent. I have laughed, and I have cried (publicly, maybe on the ground of a parking lot), but I was fortunate to have great friends to always help me back up, tell me I am "fine", or lie on the floor with me.

Even though I have graduated, my life has not seemed to slow down. As usual I'm kicking ass and forgetting names. I have gotten my tuchie back into gear with BodyPump classes and even taught a class when the instructor didn't show up. I have to say I'm much better than she is and I think the gym should hire me instead. Like she counts up instead of counting down, Jenn Peters would so not approve of that. And in even more exciting news, I took and PASSED my first CPA exam! Apparently everyone thought I would pass except for me, but if you saw the pass rates (around 50%) you would understand. I set my alarm for 1am this morning for the score release and was in utter shock at my score that I kept refreshing the page to confirm. I'm actually still convinced the NASBA is going to send me a letter that it was an error. In the words of Peter Olinto, I am on my way to a CPA!

Recipe: (makes 2 loaves of challah)

3/4 cup water

1 packet of active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.25 tbsp honey

1/2 tbsp white sugar

1 tbsp brown sugar3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste

1/4 cup vegetable oil

1/2 cup mashed ripe bananas (about 1 1/2 bananas)
1 tsp salt
3-3.5 cups flour

Filling:

Banana

Nestle DelightFulls Peanut Butter Filled Morsels

Mix 3/4 water, 1 packet yeast, 1.25 tbsp honey, 1/2 tbsp white sugar and 1 tbsp brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in the oven at 120 degrees and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs, 1/4 cup oil, and mushed bananas.

Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add flour and salt. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands.
Knead the ingredients and form into a ball. Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. Cut up the banana into small chucks and place on the strands. Place chips between the banana chunks and pinch each strand closed. I did a 5 strand challah, but you can do whatever shape you want.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg and 1/2 tbsp water).

Bake for about 30 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook.

Isn't the challah so cute! I made a baby challah since I baked it at my apartment in Ohio and knew I would end up eating the whole thing myself :)

The New and Improved Five Strand!!

Now that finals are finally over I decided to make a celebratory challah... also known as the challelujah challah. After a long stressful week of finals and a few break downs (not gonna lie), I decided that the best way to destress would be with some challah. This week I made my favorite challah combination of Nutella and white chocolate chips. To spice it up a little I attempted a new version of the five strand braid. You can tell that our challah making skill have clearly improved over that last three years by looking at the comparison for summer 2012 and 2015!

                                         June 2012                                                          May 2015

Back in the day when we first started making challah we attempted to make a five strand braid. Recently we figured out a new and MUCH prettier way to make a five strand challah. Here is the new and improved version with a step by step walk through. Hopefully its not too confusing! Think about it as making a regular three strand braid where one strand transfers to the other side.

 June 2012                                             May 2015

Step 1: Lay all your strand out on the counter and gather them together at the top

Step 2:  Start by looking at strands 3, 4, and 5 and braid them like a regular three strand. Put strand 5 over 4 and then strand 3 over 5.

Step 3: Now look at only strands 1, 2, and 5 and braid them as you would a three-stand braid. Place strand 1 over 2 and strand 5 over 1.

Step 4: Using strands 1, 3, and 4 repeat the same steps and make a three-strand braid. (4 over 3 and 1 over 4) Now the other side will include strands 2, 5, and 4.

Repeat the same process of braiding a three-strand braid and then switching to the other side.

Continue until there you do not have enough to braid anymore. Gather the strands together and tuck the ends underneath what was already braided.

It took approximately 25 minutes for the challah to be cooked evenly throughout.

Blueberry Butterscotch Challah

What do you get when you combine accounting students and community service? MAcc Gives back! Last week the masters of accounting students and professors went to various locations to give back to the community. I went to the Franklin Park Conservatory which features indoor gardens filled with plant life and artwork, including colored glass sculptures, as well as outdoor botanical gardens and sculptures. Of course being the loser (I mean super cool) accountants that we are, we talked about how the conservatory would be treated like a museum under non-profit rules. Interestingly the elements of the exhibit are treated as expenditures, and not assets, and it is frowned upon to sell the elements even if faced with financial hardship. We were split up into 3 groups and my group helped to set up a new bonsai exhibit. Bonsais are miniature trees that are grown in pots that are actually trained to grow a certain way. We added bamboo accents and colored flowers to the surrounding area to highlight the exhibit. The exhibit is actually all fake, the flowers were all in pots and we arranged them and then covered them with moss to make them look like they grew inside the garden. After volunteering we were given the opportunity to explore the conservatory. There were all these glass pieces in different exhibits that were so colorful and beautiful. My favorite part of the conservatory was the butterfly exhibit because it reminded me of the Butterfly Garden at the Bronx Zoo that I went to a lot as a kid. The building that holds the butterflies at the Bronx Zoo is actually in the shape of a caterpillar and you enter the exhibit through the caterpillar's mouth. This week's challah shape was inspired by this exhibit because it is long (and a little wiggly) just like a caterpillar.

 

Recipe: (makes 2 small loaves or 1 big loaf)
3/4 cup water
1 packet of active dry yeast (about 2 tsp)
1.25 tbsp honey
1 tbsp brown sugar
3 extra large eggs: 2 for dough, 1 for baste
1/4 cup oil
1 tsp vanilla
3-3.5 cups flour
1 tsp salt
Blueberry Pie Filling
Butterscotch Chips
White Chocolate Chips

Mix water, yeast, honey and brown sugar in a mixing bowl. Place in a warm place. This could be next to a window that gets sunlight, or I like to place it in the oven at 120 degrees and then turn off the oven. Let stand for about 10-15 minutes or until the mixture starts to foam.

In a separate bowl mix 2 eggs, oil, and vanilla. Add to the yeast mixture after it has foamed. Add flour and salt. Make sure you mix the flour as you are adding it. Continue to add flour until the dough is no longer sticking to your hands.

Knead the ingredients and form into a ball. Oil the large bowl and then roll the ball of dough in the oil. This prevents the dough from sticking to the bowl as it rises. Place the ball back in the bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Place it in a warm place. Let the bowl sit for about 1-2 hours, or until the dough has doubled in size.

Remove dough from bowl and knead to get out all the air.

Separate the dough and roll out each ball into a strand. Spread a layer of the blueberry pie filling, making sure not to use too much or else it will ooze out. Place butterscotch chips and white chocolate chips on top and pinch each strand closed. I did a 6 strand challah, but you can do whatever shape you want.

After braiding the challah, place on a buttered cookie sheet and cover with plastic wrap and allow the challah to rise for at least 30 minutes in a warm place. This allows the dough to rise again.

Baste with egg wash (1 egg and 1/2 tbsp water).

Bake for about 35 minutes at 350 or until internal temperature is around 170. If the top of the challah is getting too dark or hard then place a piece of foil on top of it while the inside continues to cook. You will need to cover this challah if you choose 6 strand because it is tall so the inside takes longer to cook.

What a great springtime challah, perfect for your next picnic or trip to Oval Beach!