Bread baking contest breaks the mold
Challah, or braided egg bread, is a Jewish tradition. The word challah (pronounced khal’-ah) actually means “loaf” or “dough.” Its history goes back to two loaves of bread set aside as an offering to commemorate the manna that fell from heaven when the Israelites wandered in the desert for forty years after the Exodus from Egypt.
But the story doesn’t end there, as baking contestants in this weekend’s cookoff should know. In fact, the tradition of braided bread goes back many years in many different cultures. No one ethnic group can claim it.
But to return to the Bible: Because manna did not fall on the Sabbath or holidays, a double portion would fall the day before the Sabbath or a holiday. During preparation, a small portion of one loaf is taken out to make the second loaf, and this smaller portion was called the challah. It is tied to heartfelt prayer and female piety.
Today, the term challah has usually come to refer to the special bread made for Shabbat or other Jewish holidays. It is still tradition to make two loaves.
But while Jews make braided egg bread, many other groups also make a similar bread. Most Eastern European cultures prepare a rich, eggy, slightly sweet yeast bread. Ukrainians make paska, the Poles make splecionka and chalka, Czechs and Bohemians make hoska, and the Swiss make zuppe or zopf.
In this country, Eastern Orthodox Christians make Easter bread while Italian bakeries often feature braided Easter egg bread and New Orleans King’s Bread is well known. These are all braided egg breads that feature whole, colored eggs baked into the top surface.
It is the hope of the 2012 Blintzapalooza Committee that anyone familiar with their own version of braided egg bread will enter it in this year’s competition whether they call it challah or not.
If you’re one of those competitors, you need to bring your braided bread to the synagogue at 8th and Washington by 11 a.m. Sunday morning. Entrants will be divided into two categories:
• Traditional challah will include plain egg breads, braided or not with or without an egg wash and with or without poppy or sesame seeds on top.
• Nontraditional challah will be those with ingredients like raisins, chocolate chips or anything else.
Whatever you call your braided bread or whatever it contains, it will help us raise funds for four local charities this year. They are Panza (Camp Quixote), the Olympia Free Clinic, Capital Clubhouse and Interfaith Works.
And may the best braided bread win!
Oscar Soule, a retired Evergreen State College professor and member of the 2012 Blintzapalooza Committee, may be reached at [email protected].
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