Spotlight on JCCMP Challah Bake

JCC Spotlight on…..

JCCMP Second Annual Mother-Daughter Challah Bake

Join in the fun on Thursday evening, October 26

Register at www.jccshabbosproject.eventbrite.com, $20 per person

You’ll get the chance to create your own ready-to-bake-challah, get tips from a professional chef, and engage in the priceless opportunity to partake in the mitzvah of challah.

Here’s a sneak peek at our challah presenter and noted food blogger, Chani Apfelbaum, AKA Busy in Brooklyn!

How did you get started as a food blogger?

I’m a very creative person by nature. I’ve always loved to host and create a beautiful presentation at each meal; that’s how my love for food developed. Until the birth of my third child, I worked in web design. Eventually, I stopped working outside my home and began looking for another creative outlet. My husband, who is in marketing, suggested that I start a food blog; he came up with the name, and the rest is history! In the beginning, I featured foods I grew up with or my adaptations from other cookbooks, but these days I compose my own recipes. My blog has been running for six years now.

What is your most requested recipe?

I’d say my hassleback salami. It’s a staple in many Jewish households today. The funny thing about that is that the food that terrorized me most as a child was salami! When I was growing up, my mom used to serve us salami sandwiches every Friday. Unbeknownst to her, my siblings and I would sneak outside and chuck them into the incinerator one after another. Then, when I was a newlywed, my husband introduced me to fried salami. I learned that when you heat salami, all that congealed fat melts and it becomes crispy and delicious. Salami is a traditional Purim food (it’s hung like Haman), and I feature it in my Purim recipes each year. One year, I came up with the hassleback recipe and it was an instant hit.

What are your top three challah tips?

1 – The more you knead your dough and work the gluten, the more elastic it will be, yielding a fluffier challah. I like to knead my dough for at least ten minutes.

2 – To ensure a good rise, feed your yeast with sugar to activate it before you add any other ingredients.

3 – Streamline the process – and minimize the mess – as much as possible. One way to do that is by placing a plastic tablecloth over your work surface. That way, if flour flies everywhere, you’re not stuck cleaning it out of every crevice. Instead, you can just roll up the plastic and throw it out.

Do you ever do anything interesting with your challah dough?

Sometimes, I stuff my challah with marzipan. We call it “rainbow cookie challah” because it tastes like three-layer rainbow cookies.

Join us at the JCCMP Mother-Daughter Challah Bake for more tips and new ways to use your challah dough!