Hurray for Challah

braided challah bread by Antonis Achilleos

A loaf rooted in age-old Jewish tradition and laden with symbolism, the challah we have come to know and love today is a braided or turban-shaped soft bread enriched with eggs, oil, and honey that was first made by Ashkenazi Jews in 15th-century Central Europe. The braiding was an adaptation from a local Teutonic solstice bread and its strands—resembling arms intertwined—came to symbolize love as well as truth, peace, creation, freedom, harmony, family connection, unity, and justice. The spiral turban shape, where there is no beginning or end, symbolizes continuity and the circularity of life. 

In this class, we will teach you to bake your own rich and soft challah bread from scratch. Together, we'll create a traditional six-stranded braid and a spiral turban studded with rum-soaked raisins. We'll demonstrate a seeded Moroccan braid, too. These gorgeous golden loaves, fresh from the oven, will be the highlight of any celebratory meal.

For more challah history, head to our blog and read: "Hurray for Holiday Challah!"

You’ll leave the BAKE! class with our recipes, the knowledge to recreate them at home, and the challah bread you made in class.

In-Person: We'll end the class with a tasting and you'll leave with dough to bake another loaf of challah bread at home, as well as some great coupons. You may want to bring a cooler and ice pack to class with you for storing your bake-at-home challah dough on the ride home if you are traveling more than an hour to attend.

Virtual: We’ll be showing you how to make three different types of challah. Depending on how much challah dough you want to make, you’ll have the option of making one, two, or all three loaves in class; just make sure to have the right amount of ingredients ready. We’ll provide recipes for single, double, and triple batches of challah dough, depending on what you decide to make.

 

What our guests have to say about this class:

So informative! Everything was explained thoroughly and in beginner language. I learned much more about bread baking in general, that will help. Can't wait to implement this new knowledge at home. —Julie W.

It exceeded my expectations! Super fun and informative and we got to eat so much challah! —Genesis V.

Truly a class! Informative, hands-on, fun, and so much packed in. True Zing value. It felt good to bake here. Thank you! —Jeff M.

Additional Products

Basic Bread Baking Kit

$60.00

Our Basic Bread Baking Kit is great for bakers who are just starting to experiment with bread baking. It comes with 5 tools that will help you get started on your bread baking adventure: a bowl scraper, a bench knife, a lame with three razor blades (for scoring bread), an oven thermometer, and a digital thermometer. The price includes ground shipping. For more in-depth equipment descriptions please go to our FAQ page or send an email to [email protected]



Our classes (except for family classes & kids camps) are for adults 17 & up.

Dates for the Class Class Format Price Class Status Register
Sunday, April 28, 2024 - 8:00am - 12:00pm EDT
In-Person $135.00 4 spots left
Wednesday, June 12, 2024 - 1:00pm - 5:00pm EDT
In-Person $135.00 11 spots left