Smitten Kitchen is adding a challah recipe to its archive after its founder, Deb Perelman, found the site lacked Jewish staples including brisket, kreplach, kugel and her mother's apple cake. Perelman described the gap in a post introducing the recipe, writing that she had no challah recipe at all.
Challah, also called egg bread, is similar to brioche: a slightly sweet bread enriched with eggs and fat. The key difference is that challah uses oil instead of butter, and less of it, while using more eggs. Perelman calls it mildly decadent and seriously delicious.
She also notes that when slightly staled, challah makes what she considers the best French toast, a claim she ties to diners in the tri-state area. She writes that she is disappointed when French toast arrives without the telltale crust of poppy seeds.
Baking challah at home, Perelman writes, fills an apartment with a sweet aroma she ranks above all other bread-baking smells. She attributes the scent to the eggs, oil and extra sugar in the dough, and says it is the kind of aroma you want to walk around in for days afterward.
For readers who are bread-phobic, Perelman points to her existing tips for baking breads before starting. The post also links back to two earlier recipes: couscous and feta stuffed peppers from one year prior and fougasse from two years prior.
Editorial Notes