Religious Recipes - Round Challah

Round Challah

Challah is the bread which Jews eat at the Sabbath day meal. There are two challoth on the table representing the two portions of manna which the ancient Israelites collected on the day before the sabbath, when they journeyed through the wilderness from Egypt. The sabbath loaves are plaited but the special challah loaf for the festival of Rosh Hashanah (Jewish New Year) is round, symbolising the cycle of the year.
Ingredients

450gm white flour
1½ teaspoons salt
7gm dry yeast
75gm raisins
2 eggs
250 ml warm water
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
2 tablespoons sugar
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon cold water
oil

Mix the flour and salt together in a large mixing bowl, adding the yeast and raisins.
Beat the two eggs in another bowl, adding the water, vegetable oil and sugar.
Add this mixture to the flour mixture and continue beating into a dough consistency.
Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead it well - about 5 minutes. Lightly grease a bowl with oil and place the dough in it. Cover this with a clean cloth and allow it to rise for about 2 hours.
Knead the dough again and roll it into a long sausage shape about an inch in diameter.
Make a coil from the dough, making ever-decreasing circles, each circle slightly overlapping the one before.
Put the loaf on a greased baking tray and leave it to rise for about 25 minutes.
Pre-heat the oven. 200°C
Mix the egg yolk with the cold water and brush this over the challah.
Bake for 10 to 15 minutes.
Reduce the temperature to 180°C (Gas Mark 4) and bake for another 40 minutes.

G. Jones:
The FitzWimarc School, Rayleigh, Essex.