Round Challah for a RoHo Rosh Hashanah

This weekend, the Roediger House is enjoying a very special visitor: my dear friend Sheryl, a principal in California and a fellow PhD student from back in my Curry Ed School days at the University of Virginia. It's been a lot of years since Sheryl was last here, which means her visit this time was her first chance to see the new kitchen and the other renovations on this great old house.

Her visit also coincided with Rosh Hashanah. I'm neither observant nor Jewish, but I'd like to be a good host to my faithful friend. That means we had apples dipped in honey, for instance:

As I have whinily lamented on the blog in the past, I feel pretty shaky and inadequate in my skills for and my confidence in working with yeast doughs and breads. But another tradition around Rosh Hashanah is to bake a round challah loaf. I've never baked challah before, and it seems I decided my first foray into it would be the greater challenge of also braiding it into a round shape.

Thank goodness for the internet, and not just YouTube. Sheryl helped capture the following photographic record. I must say I was pretty darned pleased with how it all turned out.

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Challah Recipe from The Shiksa in the Kitchen, which I first discovered thanks to the Bon Appétit website.

Guidance for Braiding the Challah:

• CookKosher.com's YouTube Video
• "Weaving Round Challah" by Tamar Ansh
• Kosher on a Budget by Mara Strom

[I'm hoping this experience will inspire me to bake challah myself and not wait until I stumble across it at one of the great local bakeries in town...especially since it's also perfect for making French toast, which I love!]