Maurizio’s Note:
For thousands of years, Jewish families have baked challah, the iconic braided bread that graces Sabbath tables worldwide. While many know it for its glossy crust and soft interior, its origins trace back to biblical times as a divine gift of sustenance. In this guest post from Eric Pallant, we explore how a simple portion of dough became one of Judaism’s most enduring traditions.
Plus, this historical look accompanies the sourdough challah recipe here at The Perfect Loaf!
Let’s begin with how to pronounce the name of this storied bread. The initial “CH” is a guttural sound, like how you’d say the end of the exclamation BLECH! If you begin the word with a “CH” like “chin,” then you are giving yourself away as a novice.
Most of us think of challah as sweet, eggy, soft, white, and braided with a glossy crust. So you may be surprised to learn that there are many variations of bread called challah: almond croissant breakfast challah, vegan turmeric maple challah, and challah stuffed with cranberry sauce, to name some of the more creative varieties. I looked for the origins of challah to better understand what it really is, and then traced it through history to look at some variations of the bread. The first step was to take a dive into the Hebrew Bible where challah, perhaps, gets its first mention.
What is Challah?
Six weeks after fleeing enslavement in Egypt, the ancient Jews of the Bible find themselves wandering aimlessly. They have reached the dry sandy wasteland of the southwest Sinai Peninsula. Their despair and their grumbling is growing.
“The Israelites said to Moses and Aaron, “If only we had died by the hand of G-d in the land of Egypt, when we sat by the fleshpots, when we ate our fill of bread! For you have brought us out into this wilderness to starve this whole congregation to death.” Exodus 16:3
God replies in the next line. “I will rain down bread for you from the sky, and the people shall go out and gather each day that day’s portion (Exodus 16:4)” And one line later, “But on the sixth day, when they apportion what they have brought in, it shall prove to be double the amount they gather each day.” (Exodus 16:5) This bread from heaven is what the Israelites called manna.
We can glean several lessons about the biblical significance of bread from these passages. First, bread is a gift from God. Second, manna falling from the sky is often represented by sesame or poppy seeds sprinkled atop loaves of challah. And third, God delivers a double portion of manna in preparation for the Jewish Sabbath. Traditionally, Jews make challah for Shabbat, which begins at sundown every Friday evening. They make two loaves (signifying the double portion), enough to last through the sabbath when no work is to be done. And, with luck, it will even be enough for leftovers to be turned into French Toast on Sunday morning.
History and Tradition
In Numbers 15:18 – 20, the Jews have nearly completed their wandering. They are preparing to enter the Land of Israel where manna will no longer fall as a gift from God. The Jews will need to cultivate the land and grow their own sustenance. But first, God asks Moses to remind the Israelites that it is God who will be responsible for their success.
“Speak to the Israelite people and say to them: When you enter the land to which I am taking you and you eat of the bread of the land, you shall set some aside as a gift to G-d as the first yield of your baking, you shall set aside a loaf as a gift; you shall set it aside as a gift like the gift from the threshing floor. You shall make a gift to G-d from the first yield of your baking, throughout the ages.”
Maggie Glezer is the author of A Blessing of Bread, an authoritative cookbook on challah and Jewish breads of all types, including sourdough. Glezer puts it this way, “Lest the food be thought of as simply the result of their hard toil and propitious weather, the Torah gave a commandment, or mitzvah, to remind them of its true source. They were told to separate a portion of bread and reserve it—-the challah—for God.” There it is. The root word in ancient Hebrew means “portion.” The earliest reference to challah, then, is the separation of dough to be delivered as an offering to God.
Like much in Jewish life, there is disagreement regarding the origin of the word challah. A 2004 article by Philologos (an etymology column in the journal The Forward) suggests that the word “portion” might not be the correct interpretation of the ancient Hebrew root for the word. Instead, the root h-l-l from which the word h.allah is derived is the basis for the word “round.” It is also a root for words meaning “hollow” and with “holes.” H’allah” may have its name because the original loaves were round, light, and airy. As a bread historian and geographer, I find that explanation entirely possible. So many of the flatbreads and pita-like loaves common in the Middle East for centuries, probably millennia, are in fact round and puffy.
Long after the Jews had settled in the land of Israel, during the period when the first and second Temples of the Isarelites stood in Jerusalem (~1200 BCE – 70 CE), Temple functions were entrusted to a priestly class of Jews called Kohanim. Kohanim did not own land, but were supported by other Jews so that they could attend to important measures of religion without distraction. Jews who were not Kohanim were instructed to separate 1/24th of their dough to sustain the Kohanim. Like the earlier separation of dough that was given as an offering to God, the separation of dough to be given to the Kohanim is what makes challah, challah. In other words, technically, it was the offering, not the loaf, that was challah.
In the year 70 CE, the Roman empire sent armies to Israel to subdue a Jewish revolt. To ensure their military victory and eliminate the center of Jewish worship, the Roman army destroyed the Second Temple of the Jews in Jerusalem. In the post-Temple period, when there was no Jerusalem Temple for priests to supervise nor a location for Kohanim to pray on behalf of their fellow Jews, the custom of removing a portion of challah from dough was modified. Instead of giving a portion of dough to the Kohanim, a portion was taken and burned. The act of burning a portion of challah is reminiscent of the ancient burnt offerings made to God. In observant Jewish households today, bakers, usually housewives, still remove a small portion of dough and burn it in the oven.
Recent History
The tradition of baking challah to celebrate the weekly Jewish Sabbath, or Shabbat, has continued through millennia, but like all traditions, especially those that have existed for thousands of years, changes have crept in.
That said, though, we don’t actually know what early challah doughs were made of. It’s an interesting question, but sadly, there is no way to know. Even the composition of manna is unknown. Exodus 16:31 says, “The house of Israel named it manna; it was like coriander seed, white, and it tasted like wafers in honey.” Which is a way of saying that manna was indeed lovely, but God did not share how it was made.
Recipes written in collections to be sold in the annual onslaught of new cookbooks are a recent phenomenon. What we can surmise with some certainty, however, is that when bread was leavened, it was sourdough doing the work. Readily available yeast, with the exception of foam taken from beer making, did not become a thing until several millennia later. Even beer foam would have had characteristics of sourdough, containing multiple species of yeast and bacteria.
In 1488, an Austrian book, Leket Yosher, mentions a bread called challah. Leket Yosher suggests that Jewish housewives began to copy the loaves made by their Christian neighbors on Sundays. The German loaves were not sweet and contained no eggs, but they were braided and glazed with a beaten egg. In Israel today, challah is not sweet and typically contains no eggs.
The German bread was made with white flour, water, and pureed potato. It was called “berches” and you can still find it in German bakeries today. Compared to the dense rye breads of daily sustenance, berches, also known as water challah, must have been a treat. Ashkenazi Jews escaping persecution in the Middle Ages fled Germany for Poland and Lithuania, taking their customs with them. In Poland, the Sabbath bread, not just the separated portion, became known as challah. Then, in the mid-to late-1800s, Polish Jews started adding sugar to their bread to make it sweet. The migration of Polish Jews to the United States in the early 1900s is probably the reason most American loaves of challah are nearly as sweet as cake.
The most important holy day for Jews is the first one mentioned in the Bible, the sabbath. “And God blessed the seventh day and declared it holy—having ceased on it from all the work of creation that God had done.” Genesis 2:3. To honor and celebrate the sabbath, called Shabbat, Jews prepare a celebratory meal to mark its beginning on Friday night. In Jewish homes around the world, two loaves of challah are made to symbolize the double portion of manna. Sweet, soft, rich with eggs, and beautifully braided–these tempting, luxurious qualities add to the celebratory taste of challah. Before it is blessed, many households cover their bread with a decorative challah cover. The challah cover symbolizes the dew that covered and protected the manna for Jews in the desert. The cover keeps the challah from being “shamed” when wine is blessed first and tasted before the bread is revealed. Also challah coverings can be quite decorative. There are additional interpretations for why challah is covered, but that is a different article from this one.
Challah Variations
Today, what goes into a challah is as variable as the people who make them. Fats are common, but not required. Butter is a possibility, but in kosher households, where dairy and meat products are not to be eaten together, challah made with butter means a meal with no meat. So vegetable shortening, oils, and margarine all find their way into challah recipes.
Some recipes have one egg. Or one egg plus one egg yolk. Others might go as high as four eggs, and some even go as high as seven egg yolks. There are water challahs, challah made with potatoes instead of eggs, and vegan adaptations. Mentioned in a terrific article by Rachel Mennies, there are Brazilian loaves containing yuca and loaves made by North African Jews sometimes including squash or pumpkin, as well as warming spices. There are 16 challah recipes in Maggie Glezer’s A Blessing of Bread and more than 100 challah articles and recipes at The Nosher.
Typically, loaves of challah are braided and may contain three, four, or six strands. There are explanations for what the strands and the braids represent, at least as many explanations as there are ways to braid. There are breads with 12-strands and compound loaves with braids laid atop other braids. For Rosh Hashanna, the Jewish New Year, loaves of challah are braided into rounds to represent the cyclical nature of the year. Braiding is fun and beautiful, but it by no means turns a bread into a challah. Challah isn’t always a loaf; it can be turned into knotted rolls, pull-apart clusters, spirals, suns, and circles.
As Maggie Glezer puts it so eloquently, in some traditions it is sacrilege to take a knife to challah, “lest an instrument of war touch the bounty of peace.” Rather, the bread should be torn. Many people dip their bread in salt, because the ancient priests always salted their offerings before placing them on altars for God.
Sourdough Challah
Almost certainly until recent times sourdough was the leavening of choice. Sourdough challah is different from yeasted challah in many ways, some that you would expect and some you might not. It is generally not as sweet and also has flavors that are not found in bakery or mass produced loaves. But it is difficult to reproduce the cakelike crumb of a yeasted challah.
Most vexing for me in my trials of several sourdough recipes for challah is managing the color. The acidity produced by sourdough bacteria can prevent the loaf from browning. Pale loaves might taste great, but they somehow fail to elevate a Shabbat dinner the way a glistening golden loaf can. Melissa Johnson over at Breadtopia has taken a deep dive into the relationship between acidity, sourdough, the maillard reaction, and sugar content in enriched doughs, though with all of her excellent information, I’m still tinkering, still seeking my perfect challah loaf.
My advice—especially if you are a tearer, rather than a slicer—is not to get too hung up on braids good enough for Instagram. Go for the flavor and the thousands of years of celebratory sabbath dinners engendered in a bread that is meant to be shared with family and friends. After being blessed, challah is the first food into your mouth at the end of a long week of work.
Something to celebrate, indeed.
Traditional Jewish Blessing Over Bread
Hebrew Text
בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה, יְיָ אֱלֹהֵינוּ, מֶלֶךְ הָעוֹלָם הַמּוֹצִיא לֶחֶם מִן הָאָרֶץ.
Transliteration
Baruch atah, Adonai
Eloheinu melech haolam,
hamotzi lechem min haaretz.
Translation
Blessed are You, Adonai our God, Sovereign of all, who brings forth bread from the earth.
What’s Next?
Now that you’ve learned all about the historical significance of challah, make your own sourdough challah and enjoy!
