Daring Bakers - Challah

May’s Daring Bakers’ Challenge was pretty twisted – Ruth from The Crafts of Mommyhood challenged us to make challah! Using recipes from all over, and tips from “A Taste of Challah,” by Tamar Ansh, she encouraged us to bake beautifully braided breads.

I decided to make three strand braids for my challah.  A word is attributed to each of the three strands: zachor (remember), shamor (observe or guard), and b’dibur echad (with one word).  Our host states that the braiding of the three words is a physical reminder of the importance of remembering and observing the Sabbath as one commandment.

The recipe that I chose was the Easy Challah recipe from Temple David.  My rationale for this choice is that it used the least ingredients.  I mixed chopped dried apricots through half of the dough, and white chocolate chips in the other half:

Here's a peek inside the finished white chocolate chip product:

and the apricot:

I liked both versions, but enjoyed the apricot version the best.

Thanks to our host, Ruth, for challenging us to make challah this month - she will have the recipes on her website.  To check out the challahs made by the other Daring Bakers, visit the slideshow on the Daring Kitchen website.