Welcome Guest [Log In] [Register]
Welcome to The New Coffee Room. We hope you enjoy your visit.


You're currently viewing our forum as a guest. This means you are limited to certain areas of the board and there are some features you can't use. If you join our community, you'll be able to access member-only sections, and use many member-only features such as customizing your profile, sending personal messages, and voting in polls. Registration is simple, fast, and completely free.


Join our community!


If you're already a member please log in to your account to access all of our features:

Username:   Password:
Add Reply
Round three ...
Topic Started: Jul 14 2010, 09:21 PM (272 Views)
brenda
Member Avatar
..............
... of cooking for the cast and crew of our local community theater group.

Week 1 was the pocket pies, apple and cherry.
Week 2 was big pans of Brenda's Thunder Cookies done as bars.
Week 3 (tomorrow) will be Challah bread. I'll have plenty of unsalted butter on hand to serve it, but it's a bit like gilding the lily. :)

I'm planning to make either 20 or 28 pounds of Challah dough tomorrow, with most of it going to feed the theater people as a snack during their break time tomorrow night. I figure the loaves will be either 2.5 or 3 pounds each, and enough for at least 60 servings at the theater, plus a full loaf for here at home. Those teenagers at the theater can really eat! They are doing Footloose, which is a very physical performance. They need the calories to keep up their energy. I also know many of the teens have not had dinner yet before practice, and they are so hungry.

Daughter is loving this. She helps me make the treats, which gives us some fun Mom/daughter time during the day. It puts a big smile on her face when I carry the treats into the theater later in the evening. Come to think of it, that seems to make everybody smile.

Have you ever had fresh Challah bread with butter? It's quite a treat. It's not as sweet as pastry, but the honey in it gives a very pleasant sweetness, and I make a very moist version that is very tender inside. After applying an egg wash, I sprinkle the tops with a very coarse sugar for extra sweetness and a nice crunch. My relatives go crazy for this bread at holiday time. Last Christmas, I made a loaf for each family. That's a lotta, lotta dough. :smile:
Posted Image
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
musicasacra
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
I don't think I've had challah bread.

IT and I had an awesome pretzel bread from La Brea Bakery in LA. I must get a recipe . . .
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
big al
Member Avatar
Bull-Carp
Find a good Jewish bakery, MS. My sister-in-law (who's Catholic) bakes an excellent challah for Rosh Hashanah, in particular.

Big Al
Location: Western PA

"jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen."
-bachophile
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Aqua Letifer
Member Avatar
ZOOOOOM!
Sounds awesome, brenda! I'm sure they'll all just wolf it down. Wolves of the Challah you could call them.

Quote:
 
Have you ever had fresh Challah bread with butter?


Indeed I have. My great aunt used to have some lying about her house pretty regularly.
I cite irreconcilable differences.
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
brenda
Member Avatar
..............
brenda
Jul 14 2010, 09:21 PM
... of cooking for the cast and crew of our local community theater group.

Week 1 was the pocket pies, apple and cherry.
Week 2 was big pans of Brenda's Thunder Cookies done as bars.
Week 3 (tomorrow) will be Challah bread. I'll have plenty of unsalted butter on hand to serve it, but it's a bit like gilding the lily. :)

I'm planning to make either 20 or 28 pounds of Challah dough tomorrow, with most of it going to feed the theater people as a snack during their break time tomorrow night. I figure the loaves will be either 2.5 or 3 pounds each, and enough for at least 60 servings at the theater, plus a full loaf for here at home. Those teenagers at the theater can really eat! They are doing Footloose, which is a very physical performance. They need the calories to keep up their energy. I also know many of the teens have not had dinner yet before practice, and they are so hungry.

Daughter is loving this. She helps me make the treats, which gives us some fun Mom/daughter time during the day. It puts a big smile on her face when I carry the treats into the theater later in the evening. Come to think of it, that seems to make everybody smile.

Have you ever had fresh Challah bread with butter? It's quite a treat. It's not as sweet as pastry, but the honey in it gives a very pleasant sweetness, and I make a very moist version that is very tender inside. After applying an egg wash, I sprinkle the tops with a very coarse sugar for extra sweetness and a nice crunch. My relatives go crazy for this bread at holiday time. Last Christmas, I made a loaf for each family. That's a lotta, lotta dough. :smile:
Posted Image
Well, that's what I get for posting long after looking at the recipe. I mistakenly noted the number of cups of flour as the total pounds of dough!

It's rising this very minute, and we have 17 pounds of dough made from over 28 cups of flour, 18 eggs, 1 pound of butter, 2.5 cups of honey, 7 cups of water, the yeast, and other goodies. I'll get five three-pound loaves and one two-pound loaf. We'll keep the two-pounder for here at home, and maybe there will be some of one of the three-pounders left for us, too. I know at least 60 very substantial servings will disappear at the theater tonight. We feed the cast, crew, and all the various volunteers.

That reminds me, I need to set some more unsalted butter out to bring it to room temperature.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
brenda
Member Avatar
..............
musicasacra
Jul 15 2010, 12:55 AM
I don't think I've had challah bread.

IT and I had an awesome pretzel bread from La Brea Bakery in LA. I must get a recipe . . .
Oh, MS, you should try it. I only make it once in a great while, because it is a rich bread and is a treat.

I use the recipe from the Five-Minute book. It's a very loose dough, and that's what makes it so moist once it's baked. Today I added two extra eggs to a quadruple batch of their recipe, and an extra half cup of honey and enough flour to finish it. It's still a very loose dough.
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
musicasacra
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
big al
Jul 15 2010, 07:38 AM
Find a good Jewish bakery, MS.
Well, you know, I'm from the prairie. This is also why I hadn't heard of Hebrew National hot dogs until I met IT. ^_^
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
brenda
Member Avatar
..............
big al
Jul 15 2010, 07:38 AM
Find a good Jewish bakery, MS. My sister-in-law (who's Catholic) bakes an excellent challah for Rosh Hashanah, in particular.

Big Al
I get a kick out of making and giving a Jewish bread at Christmas. :lol2:

It's all good. :)
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
brenda
Member Avatar
..............
Aqua Letifer
Jul 15 2010, 08:06 AM
Sounds awesome, brenda! I'm sure they'll all just wolf it down. Wolves of the Challah you could call them.

Quote:
 
Have you ever had fresh Challah bread with butter?


Indeed I have. My great aunt used to have some lying about her house pretty regularly.
Wolves of the Challah! Oh my gosh, that is too funny. I love that!


Well, your great aunt knew a good thing, didn't she? :yes:
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
brenda
Member Avatar
..............
Oh my. The challah was a big hit. Even though not all the cast was there, it was mostly the teens, they went through four of the three-pound loaves. Most of the kids had two or three pieces, and I was very generous with the thickness of the slices. Some had four slices.

Daughter and I took the last three-pound loaf to her piano teacher. She has two teen boys and a hubby. I hope she at least gets to taste it. :lol:

I made one two-pound loaf for us here at home. That's all that's left. :smile:
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
Horace
Member Avatar
HOLY CARP!!!
Challa has that crusty/chewy bready goodness thing down pat, probably the king of all breads. I'm sure you make a great one Brenda! :)
As a good person, I implore you to do as I, a good person, do. Be good. Do NOT be bad. If you see bad, end bad. End it in yourself, and end it in others. By any means necessary, the good must conquer the bad. Good people know this. Do you know this? Are you good?
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
jon-nyc
Member Avatar
Cheers
Brenda
 
I get a kick out of making and giving a Jewish bread at Christmas. :lol2:


I can see the attraction there, but its not nearly as funny as sneaking bacon into dishes at passover. :lol:
In my defense, I was left unsupervised.
Online Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
big al
Member Avatar
Bull-Carp
Once, my mother-in-law was staying at our house and watching the children while we were out. After they were in bed, she went rummaging through the refrigerator for something to nosh on where she found a left-over grilled pork chop. When we came home, she told us that the veal chop she had eaten from the refrigerator was the best veal chop she had ever had. We've never had the heart to tell her what it really was.

Big Al
Location: Western PA

"jesu, der simcha fun der man's farlangen."
-bachophile
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
brenda
Member Avatar
..............
jon-nyc
Jul 16 2010, 02:03 AM
Brenda
 
I get a kick out of making and giving a Jewish bread at Christmas. :lol2:


I can see the attraction there, but its not nearly as funny as sneaking bacon into dishes at passover. :lol:
Jon! You've never actually done that, have you? :tsktsk:


:lol2:
“Weeds are flowers, too, once you get to know them.”
~A.A. Milne
Offline Profile Quote Post Goto Top
 
« Previous Topic · The New Coffee Room · Next Topic »
Add Reply