Sunday, May 27, 2012

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.

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

The white chip loaf looks delicious. Thanks for the cross section photos!

Cher Rockwell said...

I love dried apricots in bread - great choice!

Gloria Baker said...

Look absolutely nice!

Kari said...

I think I'd like the apricot version too - I love dried fruit in breads. This is also a really impressive product! I find the thought somewhat daunting but it looks like you did wonderfully with it.

Finla said...

The look ymm i made with apricot too.I totally forgot it is BD posting day today will have to write the post and post it maybe tommorow.

Johanna GGG said...

your breads look fantastic - I think I would like to be greedy and have both dried apricots and white chocolate in both - delicious

Jenni said...

Great job!! Your challah looks great! I had never seen a three strand loaf before.

Lorraine @ Not Quite Nigella said...

I like the idea of dried apricots in challah! :D

Unknown said...

The dried apricots are such a pretty color in your challah, I would love a slice for breakfast;-)

Tugs Girl said...

The challah with apricots sounds divine and it's so lovely!

Elaine said...

How beautiful! I had challah for the first time last year and enjoyed it so much. I think I would probably like it even more homemade. I like that you made one loaf with the white chocolate.