A Taste of Challah [Hardcover]

Tamar Ansh (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: May 15, 2007

Many find the task of making their own bread, and more specifically, of making their own challah, to be intimidating and difficult. A Taste of Challah brings the lost art of home challah and bread baking back to where it is meant to be - in the home. Far more than just another cookbook, A Taste of Challah is a guide, containing within it everything you need to know about the topic of challah and bread baking. Clear instructions and step-by-step, full-color photos will help you successfully master each recipe. This book goes far beyond tasty challah; you can sample breads from around the world. There are recipes included for Kubana, Rye and Flax Seed Bread, Oatmeal Raisin Bread, Saluf, Bagels, Hot Pretzels ... and much, much more. Try them, and enrich your home with the aromas and tastes of both past and present. Replete with numerous tips and sound advice, A Taste of Challah ensures that all your bread baking will come out perfect and tasty ... every single time.

Editorial Reviews

About the Author

Tamar Ansh is an author, recipe developer, and food columnist, with more than 15 years of creative baking and cooking experience. Her food articles have appeared in major Jewish publications around the globe. This is her fourth book

Product Details

• Hardcover: 206 pages
• Publisher: Feldheim Publishers; 1st edition (May 15, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1583309225
• ISBN-13: 978-1583309223
• Product Dimensions: 9.5 x 7.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (8 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #833,972 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Somewhat disappointing, June 1, 2007

By 

Erik Sherman - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Taste of Challah (Hardcover)

I was looking forward to reviewing this book for my food blog. The bread is traditionally served on Shabbat (Sabbath) meals by Ashkenazi Jews. It generally includes eggs and, at least in the U.S., comes in a braided loaf form for most of the year, and a round turban shape for the high holy days of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur.

There was much good I found in the book. The author is a religious Jew and offers a lot of information on the theological and culture links. There is also more information than I've ever seen in one place on how to handle and shape the dough, including variations like a braided round challah that I've never seen. We'll get to some more good points in a moment.

But calling the volume A Comprehensive Guide to Challah and Bread Baking is overblown and inaccurate. For example, the only recipe for "regular" challah dough is called Always Perfect No-Egg Challah. The title alone suggests what anyone familiar with the bread knows: eggs are a normal component. I wondered whether strict kosher food laws might consider eggs as meat, and so something that could not be served with dairy, but a little research showed that eggs are considered pareve - neither meat nor dairy. Nothing wrong with variations, but I don't see how a book can be "comprehensive" without a version of the most traditional approach.

The basic recipe also called for 16 to 17 cups of flour for what it said were 6 large loaves. Three cups of flour are about a pound, adding the weight of oil, sugar, and sugar, I'm guessing that the "large" loaves would be about a pound each - not so large from my view. I didn't bother making this fundamental recipe because that's also far more bread than my family will go through before it goes stale, though under Jewish law you're supposed to eat three meals on Shabbat and start each with two loaves, so I'm guessing that's where the volume came from. However, those who are not religious Jews are likely to be overwhelmed by the amount.

Back to what I liked: I learned a technique of using a rolling pin to make perfect dough ropes which, in turn, helps create the proper braided shape. The only hint that I thought was missing was doing a double egg wash: once, letting that dry, and then a second time to help achieve the perfect color a good bakery can get. There's also an interesting collection of other recipes, ranging from bagels and pita (though either a long-baked or no-pocket type, again not the traditional one) to some Middle Eastern breads and dips that I've never before seen.

The upshot: some people, like me, will find a lot of good in the $35 book - and you can see that more money than usual went into a nicely crafted hardbound with abundant color photography. But if you're new to bread baking and want a traditional loaf of challah, you'd at least need to supplement this volume with a recipe from another source.

13 of 16 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars not the best resource on jewish baking, June 13, 2007

By 

D. Smith - See all my reviews

This review is from: A Taste of Challah (Hardcover)

While this book might be less intimidating for beginngers than Maggie Glezer's Blessing of Bread, in most respects it is far inferior to Glezer's work. There are few recipes for Challah (as a previous review noted the one for plain Challah does not contain eggs) and the recipes for the other breads are lackluster. If you want a book that examines Jewish baking through the ages and across many different regions, Glezer's book is definitely the better choice. If your goal is a basic overview of Challah and a few basic recipes, Ansh's book will suffice.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Some good things, some odd things, April 17, 2008

By 

Richard L. Goldfarb (Seattle, WA United States) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: A Taste of Challah (Hardcover)

This is an unusual book. It is, as other reviews have noted, far more a book about challah--spiritual components, religious components--than it is a cookbook. The title is thus a tad misleading. It also, as has also been noted, lacks a basic recipe for challah with eggs, which is like doing a French bread cookbook without a baguette recipe.

However, I have to admit that the recipes themselves are excellent. I've made the za'atar bread twice, and it disappears rapidly because it is so tasty. The basic no-egg challah recipe is fine, and all of the others I've tried are also very good.

The book is expensive, and unless you're really excited about the non-recipe content or, like me, you collect bread cookbooks, I am not sure that I'd recommend it, but there are certainly some useful things here.