By Ella Potash – Co-director of Chabad Mid Peninsula

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I think that the secret behind this Challah is the recipe. This recipe comes from my beloved father, Rabbi Yosef Yehudah ben Aharon Loschak o”bm. He made the best Challah ever. He was a Rabbi in S. Barbara CA. with a vibrant personality that drew everyone close. And of course his Challah. His Challah brought people from everywhere together. With his commercial sized mixer he would make Challah for an army, and his kids, would stand at attention, each with their own job, to help with the task of making Challah for the holidays. Each ingredient exact. The order with which it mixed was followed precisely. The result? An incredibly delicious Challah, mixed, braided and baked with love. Even after I married and moved to the Bay Area to start my own Chabad House, coming home to my father’s Challah… what a treat!

It’s been just over a year since my father passed away. Each week I pull out my mixer and his recipe. As I bake, I connect. I connect to his love, his legacy and his life. This Yom Tov season I’m gearing up to make dozens of Challahs, mixed with the love that my father had for his family, his community and for the Torah.

4.5 cups of warm water
2 TBSP yeast
1 cup sugar
5 eggs
1 cup of oil
18 cups of better for bread flour
2 1/4 TBSP salt

Dissolve yeast in warm water. Add in sugar to proof. Add in eggs and oil and mix. Add flour and salt and mix until a dough forms. Let rise until double in size. Braid into Challah and let rise again. Bake at 365 for 30 minutes. (Please note depending on your oven, you might need to rotate the trays.)

My straight Challah’s are six braids. Each Challah has 1 lb 2 ounces of dough.

Picture includes some round Challah for those that have a custom to eat round the whole month of Tishrei, and some regular! Challah is also sold for $5 each.