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The Hackensack mom -- who helms the city's Chabad house with her husband Rabbi Mendy Kaminker -- tweaked her own mother's challah recipe until she got it just where she wanted it.
"My mother was amazing in the kitchen," said Kaminker, a mom of six formerly of Teaneck. "She was always cooking and baking, and encouraged our own creativity."
Each challah recipe begins with the same ingredients: Yeast, water, eggs, oil, flour, sugar and salt.
Kaminker played around with each one until she found the perfect combination.
Her trick for fluffiness? Equal amounts of oil and sugar, she said.
There are certain traditions and mitzvot (good deeds) that Kaminker does every time she makes challah.
She sets aside charity money. She prays. She burns a piece of the dough to represent the sacrificial bread once given to the priests (above).
The process is a holy one -- but Kaminker makes it fun, too, setting aside toppings she knows her kids will like.
Kaminker is sharing her recipe as part of the Daily Voice Rosh Hashanah series, "We Knead This."
Click here for Daniela Pomerantz's recipe and keep scrolling for Kaminker's.
Shterna's Challah Recipe
- 5 lb bag of all-purpose unbleached flour
- 5 cups warm water
- 3 tbsp. dry yeast
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cup oil
- 4 eggs
- 3 tbsp. salt
- 1 egg to coat dough
- Optional: cinnamon and sugar mixture, raisins, chocolate chips
1. Add warm water to yeast and sugar, stir lightly and let sit until yeast activates (should become bubbly and start to fluff up)
2. Mix in four eggs, stirring after each one goes in the bowl
3. Add oil and mix
4. Open the bag of flour, mixing in one cup at a time.
** When you are halfway through the bag, add the salt, then keep adding flour until bag is gone **
5. Continue adding flour until you have a nice doughy consistency. You'll know it's done when the dough starts separating from the side of the bowl
6. Rub hands with oil and then on top of dough to prevent it from drying out
7. Let the dough rise at room temp. for at least an hour until it has doubled in size (you can cover with saran wrap or a hand towel).
8. Once doubled in size, pound the dough down to get all the air bubbles out.
9. Divide the dough into pieces that will become loaves.
10. Roll each piece into a long rope before twisting into a spiral
** To add raisins, cinnamon or choc. chips, flatten the rope and drizzle over the dough. pinch the dough shut so it once again looks like a more round strand, then shape **
11. Coat your baking pan with oil and then place the challah inside
12. Let rise again until double in size
13. Coat the loaves in an egg-wash using a brush (optional: drizzle with sesame or poppy seeds)
14. Bake at 365F for 40 minutes until golden brown
15. Let cool for ten minutes before transferring to a cooling rack
If you would like to get involved with the Hackensack Chabad House, entering its second year, email Shterna and Mendy Kaminker at Rabbi@ChabadHackensack.com.
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