Chanuka Dish #2: The Challukia

This is the second dish in my Take Back December for Chanuka campaign. It is appropriate for me to present this dish today, because tonight Chanuka falls on Shabbat. However, I must admit that while I find both the image and the name of this “dish” pretty cool, it’s not the most practical thing in the world. Like tofurky, the combination is less than the sum of its parts. After all, Challah is not as stable for holding candles as metal, and wax isn’t as tasty as sesame seeds. So for those of you who want to have a stable candle lighting experience and delicious home baked challah for this Shabbat Chanuka, here is a recipe for delicious challah that I got from a friend (which is not, by the way, the challah in the picture.)

The recipe makes 3 medium sized challahs.

You will Need:

• About a 4 quart mixing bowl
• 2 cups warm water
• 2 and 1/2 pounds of flour
• 1 and 1/2 ounces of wet yeast
• 1 and 1/2 tablespoons kosher salt
• 2 egg yolks
• 5 ounces of vegetable oil
• 3/4 cup of sugar

1. Dissolve the yeast and sugar in 4 cups of warm water to bloom the yeast to make sure it is active. The water temperature should be between 50 degrees and 100 degrees, or the temperature of a baby’s bath. If the yeast is active, the mixture will bubble and about double in volume in a few minutes. If the mixture does not bubble, the yeast is dead and the challah will not rise.
2. Add the kosher salt into the flour.
3. Add all remaining ingredients, including the flour with the salt, into the yeast mixture into mixing bowl and mix all ingredients.
4. Knead the dough very well for about 10-12 minutes.
5. Loosely cover the dough with a towel or plastic wrap and let it rise for about an hour.
6. Punch the dough down to release air and knead again for about 5 minutes.
7. Loosely cover again and let it rise for about 45 minutes.
8. Shape the challah. Challah can have many shapes, from round , usually for Rosh Hashanah, to the traditional braided shapes for shabbat. If you want to braid the challah, there are many videos on youtube demonstrating how to do that.
9. Brush the outside of the dough with egg yolk.
10. Add sesame or poppy seeds if desired.
11. Place dough in a greased baking pan or a pan lined with parchment paper
12. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
13. Bake for approx 45 minutes to an hour, until both the top and bottom of the Challahs are brown.

I note that, according to Jewish tradition, when one makes a certain amount of dough for challah, a small amount of the dough should be taken off and burned in remembrance of dough offerings given to the priests in the time of theTemple in Jerusalem. For more details on this custom, go to chabad.org.

Continue to have a happy Chanuka and Shabbat shalom.