BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Judaism Thanks Lisa

Lisa:
I want to thank you for your time on this forum.
I want to reconnect with my religion after spending time away from it.

Glad you're here, BillieCat. It may be you and me for awhile.
What are you doing to reconnect?

I am reading a lot more and learning more about the laws. I spent years as an agnostic and I am exploring Buddhism, but I definitely consider myself a Jew first and foremost.

P.S.
How did you make the jump to Orthodox?

Oh, I think I answered the "jump to Orthodox" in my last post.
I find it interesting that we Jews explore every other religion before our own - and some of us end up coming back to our own. I was interested in native american spirituality.

Not sure how I ended up back with Judaism. One day, walking to work, I realized it was Yom Kippur and I walked into the synagogue near my office. I missed my family - they were in Chicago and I was in Atlanta - and felt that it was reconnecting me with them even though I knew they weren't at services.

Are you reading any good books?

Hi Lisa. I check in too, though I found Bellaonline due to my connection with the thyroid health editor and experience with Graves Disease. Take care, Fayge
P.S. And I also have a great and fairly easy challah recipe ;-)

Fayge -

Glad you're here. Post your challah recipe some time! I love trying new recipes. And, if it's easy - others might enjoy it too. Do you bake it every week?

You need a free standing mixer and 3 large (9 inch) loaf pans or a cookie sheet.

Pour 2 1/2 c. warm water in mixer. Add 3 packages (6 3/4 tsp. if you use bulk) yeast. Turn mixer on and mix for about a minute till foamy. (Yes, no need to proof the yeast!) With mixer running, add
3 eggs (let beat a half minute or so, should be foamy)
1 cup sugar or half cup honey
1 Tbsp. salt
6 Tbsp. oil
1/2 cup of warm water

Add a few cups of flour to mixer, pour a few more into kneading bowl OR pour about 8 c. of flour into kneading bowl and pour yeast mixer in. Start kneading. You'll probably use about 10 c. total. The recipe calls for 10 minutes of kneading but 5 or a little more is often enough. Pour a few spoons of water into bowl, toss dough to coat, let rise till double.

Once double, you have two options.
Punch down, let rise again, then shape into 3 loaves and place on greased cookie sheet.
OR, my preference, shape, place into individual loaf pans.

Let rise about an hour. Preheat oven to 350.
Coat with beaten egg, sprinkle with poppy and/or sesame seeds if desired. Bake about half an hour. Bottoms should be medium brown.

One last thing and I'll leave this for you, Lisa, there is the matter of separating part of the dough before shaping and properly disposing of it, but I'll leave that to you to discuss.

I'm a self taught cook and baker and I really enjoy doing this. I usually bake every week. It doesn't take all that long but you do have to be able to check in on the dough at the appropriate tiems.

Thanks, Fayge... I am going to print it out and give it a try!

My Cuisinart only makes two loaves of challah at a time. The separating of the dough "can only be done" when you use 5lbs of flour.
It looks like your recipe may have that covered... not sure.

Thanks for sharing it. Is this one you created on your own? or adapted? or found somewhere? It looks pretty simple!