Kneading memories

Every Friday  I knead the dough for the Challah (a sweet bread we eat every Friday).

These few moments are dedicated to my savta (grandmother) Rachel. She died 7 years ago.

I don’t have a memory of her out side of her house.

Most of my memories of her are in her kitchen. Small round women in a small narrow kitchen. One small window pointing to a quiet street in a loud city. She couldn’t look outside the window. She was too short.

A big table stood there, half the size of the kitchen. Messy kitchen, like mine.

she would sit there kneading the dough on the floured table. When it was time to let the dough rest and rise, she would rest too. Not as long as the dough.

In the little patio pointing to the street, peeling a green apple in circles. The peel  stayed in one long piece. I always liked the peel better than the apple.

I never asked her who she is thinking about. My savta, she was so quiet.

I close my eyes and imagine that i am her.

in a small kitchen , much smaller than mine.

all flames are on.

Its not as hot as a summer in Tel Aviv. Its never that hot here.

That is how I visit her, every week.

We don’t really talk.

We just make Challah together.

Shabbat Shalom

Challah

• 1 tsp salt
• 2 cups unbleached all propose flour
• 1 cup
• whole wheat flour
• 2 tsp active dry yeast
• 3 Tbs sugar
• 1.5 cups luke warm water
• 2 Tbs olive oil

1. start with putting the salt in the bottom of a large bowl
2. then, add the flour , sugar and yeast. mix .
3. combine the oil with the water and pour it on the flour mix.
4. Knead! the longer, the better:)
5. let the dough rest for an hour. after an hour it should be double the size.
6. Knead again and divide it to 3 pieces, make a ball of each piece.
7. Use both hands to roll the ball from the middle to the sides few times until you get a snake shaped dough 🙂 Do it with each ball.
8. Pinch the 3 snakes on one end and make a braid. Pinch on the other end.
9. Preheat the oven to 350.
10. Cover and let it rest another half an hour.
11. Before I put the challah in the oven, its nice and yummy to decorate it. I like to brush honey or maple and then sprinkle chia seeds, hemp seeds, oats, sesame .. anything goes , separate and all together.
12. Enjoy!