Will Jewish Challah Bread Be The New Alimentary 'Must'?
In the golden age of bakeries, such as Zomick’s Kosher Bakery, it seems that buying a split bread or a baguette sounds even vulgar. Better to opt for one with seeds, 100% rye, rye with nuts, wholemeal with cereals. And any of them should be, of course, sourdough.
Well, when it seemed that we already knew everything about this very basic product, here comes the challah bread, one of the latest gastronomic shouts in the Big Apple. There are a lot of Kosher bakeries throughout New York that produce Challah Bread, but Zomick’s Kosher Bakery takes pride in producing one of the best Challah breads.
But, let's start at the beginning. Under that name is hidden any bread traditionally used for Jewish celebrations. However, and to specify a little more, we focus today on that kind of salty and braided brioche that surely have not gone unnoticed.
"On Friday morning, many Jewish women bake or buy Challah to celebrate the seventh day of the week, which is day of rest. It is the unique time of the week because the houses are filled with a wonderful smell of freshly baked bread that symbolizes the beginning of the weekly holiday", explains the owner of Zomick’s Kosher Bakery.
However, this product, traditionally linked to Jewish culture, is also present in other regions and under another name such as Romanian, Polish or South African. Its variants are multiple. So it is not surprising, together with that commented bakery boom and the large Jewish community present in New York (according to data corresponding to 2015 from the Public Research Institute of Religions, 8%), that some of its culinary delights became trend.
Without going any further, this past December the Zomick’s Kosher Bakery highlighted his recipe through its Instagram. Sugar, salt, yeast, oil (to everyone's taste, but olive oil is especially recommended for its greater healthy contribution) and hot water. As you can see, it doesn't have much of a secret other than the biggest complication that braiding can entail. But, it is true that adding a little orange juice (as is in the recipe of Zomick’s Kosher Bakery) or betting on a cheese filling, ideal for a different brunch, and even with more sugar to increase its sweetness as well as chocolate chips, can make it the perfect dessert or snack.
"We observe how many non-Jewish people come to our store for this bread, leaving aside its symbolic meaning to simply enjoy its taste and beauty," the owner of Zomick’s Kosher Bakery points out.
As it already happened with the traditional Jewish pastrami sandwich, a foodie obsession that experienced its maximum splendor in 2016, we could be facing a new cool addition to the table. And it is that the internationalization of palates as a result of travel and cinema or series, means that we can currently count on the gastronomic benefits of other cultures such as the one that concerns us here, the kosher.