{"id":163574,"date":"2025-03-29T19:16:07","date_gmt":"2025-03-29T19:16:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/recipes\/category-a-b\/bread\/feeding-my-enthusiasms-challah-for-my-neighbor\/"},"modified":"2025-03-29T19:16:07","modified_gmt":"2025-03-29T19:16:07","slug":"feeding-my-enthusiasms-challah-for-my-neighbor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=163574","title":{"rendered":"Feeding My Enthusiasms: Challah For My Neighbor"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Our neighbor down the road, Wally,\u00a0 celebrates the Jewish holidays and Sweetie and I knew that this year was going to be hard for him since he is a new widower of only a few months. That first holiday season is really tough. I also wasn’t sure if his dear departed wife had baked for him at holiday time. It seemed like a good gift for him would be a home baked challah loaf…plus it gave me a reason to bake bread. That might sound strange, but Sweetie has been losing weight and has asked that I not bake bread very often if at all because the fragrance is so tantalizing! This way the bread was going out of the house untasted and so we were not tempted…or so I thought!<\/p>\n

I brought the loaf, wrapped in plastic wrap and tied with a blue ribbon, to a neighborhood bar that also serves great breakfast. We were joined for brunch by Wally and another couple who are also neighbors. We didn’t get to see each other over Christmas because of some illnesses and visiting families, so the brunch was a gift exchange, too. I had made the bread the day before and shaped it, then put it in the fridge overnight. That way I could bake it early in the morning and still have a warm loaf by brunch time.<\/p>\n

Wally was delighted with the loaf, but was concerned because he is the only one at home and it was a big loaf. His solution was to use his pocketknife to cut pieces, which he handed around to each of us! We had coffee but our orders were being prepared, so this was a treat to have something to nibble on while we waited for our meals. We had just started to taste the bread when the owner arrived. Sweetie gave him a piece of bread and he, in turn, brought out some homemade butter to enjoy with the bread. Made our treat even better! Sweetie and I have eaten breakfast and some other meals there for many years and have gotten to know the owner, so we figured that he wouldn’t mind the outsourced bread, but adding butter was such a charming gesture.<\/p>\n

It was really good bread! I used a King Arthur Baking recipe, which I’m giving below. The only change I made was to add a decent amount (about 1\/2 cup) additional flour. I think that my eggs were extra large, so that increased the moisture, which meant more flour.<\/p>\n

Wishing you a magical year…and lots of good bread!<\/p>\n

Classic Challah<\/span><\/b>
from<\/i> King Arthur Baking Company
makes 1 braided loaf<\/i><\/p>\n

Ingredients<\/b><\/p>\n

Dough<\/p>\n