A Blessing of Bread: The Many Rich Traditions of Jewish Bread Baking Around the WorldA Blessing of Bread grew out of an interview that author Maggie Glezer conducted with a rabbi's wife about the symbolism of challah, that bakery staple deeply rooted in Jewish traditions. Captivated by the myriad meanings in every twist of the bread's braid, she spent years doing research and recipe testing. The result is this landmark guide to the amazing variety of Jewish breads found in communities all over the world, from Guatemala to Russia and everywhere in between. In it are more than 60 impeccably tested recipes both old and new, for challah and other Sabbath and holiday loaves and an exploration of the rich symbolism of their hisory, the rituals governing their baking and eating, and the sacred texts and commentaries from which these rituals derive. There are best-ever recipes for babka and honey cake, bagels, matzot, crackers, and everyday breads such as Jewish-deli rye. It is also loaded with totally unexpected breads that thrill, such as anise, almond, and sesame-studded Moroccan Purim bread; the spiced and leaf-wrapped Ehtiopian bereketei (whole wheat Sabbath bread); and the pitalike nooni honegi of the Bukharan Jews. Oral histories, ancient legends, shtetl folktales, aphorisms, and proverbs delight and inspire, and stories of grandmothers and great-grandmothers that recall life as it once was complete this volume, the most in-depth and wide-ranging one ever published on the subject. |
Contents
Breads from the Ashkenazi Tradition | 91 |
Breads from the Sephardic Tradition | 159 |
Breads from the North African Tradition | 191 |
Breads from the Near Eastern Tradition | 219 |
New Traditions | 287 |
THE MITZVAH OF CHALLAH | 317 |
SOURCES | 326 |
| 327 | |
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS | 330 |
| 331 | |
Common terms and phrases
1-pound 11/2 teaspoons 12 hours 20 minutes 24 hours add a tablespoon bagels Bake the breads bakers baking sheet baking stone Beginner TIME REQUIRED blessing bowl and cover braid bread flour butter challah cups Divide the dough doubled in bulk dough and let dough ferment DOUGH Place dough should feel fenugreek fermented starter FERMENTING THE DOUGH final dough Flatbread flavor fully fermented gluten grams grams flour grams/0.5 ounce granulated sugar instant yeast Israel Jewish Jews kitchen large bowl let proof Let the dough loaf loaves matzot MIXING THE DOUGH oven rack pastries pieces pinch pita Place the dough plastic wrap preheat the oven PROOFING THE DOUGH Purim RECIPE SYNOPSIS refrigerated remain indented remaining ingredients rolls round semolina sesame seeds Shape the dough SKILL LEVEL Beginner slightly smooth soft sourdough starter strand table salt tablespoon 15 tablespoons teaspoon vegetable oil warm water whisk whole wheat flour yeast slurry Yemenite za'atar