The Parve Baker

Do you ever find yourself singing random verses of a song you haven’t heard in a really long time, but once liked a whole lot? I do. Recently, it’s been Neil Young’s “Comes a Time.” I don’t really mind that I don’t actually know all the words. Probably never did.

Anyway, there are times for me when writing is life. Other times, life leaves no time for writing. This past week has been of the latter sort.

I hope to get back to blogging and posting new Weekly Torah Morsels by sometime next week. There are seven chocolate chip bags sitting on my desk alongside co-mingled chips and testers’ comments like, “Mmm…chemically goodness” and “Tastes better when it’s not melted.” I also want to share the recipe for these outrageous Double Chocolate Cherry Brownies and a tip for getting them out of pan in one large piece for easy, even slicing.

I’ve barely been home in recent days, but am planning to bake a parve clafoutis with local organic cherries and almond soy milk tomorrow for Shabbat.

I’m looking forward to being able to write about all this, my blowtorch-s’more-roasting neighbor, Shoshana’s blog, and some other good stuff soon.

Shabbat Shalom.

It wasn’t long ago that challah came in two varieties. Plain, with or without seeds, was for Shabbat. Raisin appeared just before holidays. Other than the shape, the primary differences were to be found in the sweetness or richness of the dough.

The first chocolate chip challah appeared in our local kosher market four or five years ago. It seems that it came from an unnamed commercial bakery in Brooklyn or New Jersey that sporadically delivered small quantities of bread, babka, and rugelach some time between Wednesday evening and midday Thursday. Often, the only way to get one of the sticky pull-apart loaves was to be in the store within an hour of their arrival and be willing to shell out roughly twice the price of any other challah they had for sale. An instant hit, it became a rare, much anticipated Shabbat treat. So much so that certain guests would ask for it in advance.

Other challah producers caught on fast. The original has disappeared, but other brands at standard prices have taken its place. I have to admit, I don’t like them much. I do like chocolate chips. So when I found that I had nearly five pounds in the kitchen following a seven-brand parve chocolate chip taste test (more about that below), the time was right to make my own chocolate chip challah. Actually, I made two large loaves for Shabbat. This is a lot of chocolate chip bread. Though it disappeared fast (a single heel remains as of early Sunday afternoon), next time I think I’ll split the dough before adding the chips and leave one for the purists.

Chocolate chips can be added to any challah dough, but are most complementary to the varieties that incorporate eggs like my Rich Challah. Following traditional practice, challah is always parve in my home. Sweetness is a matter of taste. I prefer a flavor that’s more clearly bread than dessert or pastry.

For two loaves, I used 1 cup of parve semi-sweet chocolate chips. After kneading the dough, I flattened it into a rectangle approximately 8 x 11 inches (a standard letter-size sheet of paper) and sprinkled the chips evenly over the surface, gently pressing them into the dough. Then, I folded the dough in half with the chocolate inside and sealed the edges all the way around. Next, I carefully rolled the long seam underneath and folded the ends with the short seams to meet underneath the dough, forming a ball. From there, I treated the dough as I would without the chocolate chips incorporated.

To get the soft, golden crust, brush the loaves with an egg wash made from one beaten egg as soon as they’re shaped and then every 15 minutes until they go into oven. For a little sweetness, sprinkle the loaves lightly with superfine sugar just before baking.

Many kosher chocolate chips are dairy. To find the best parve chocolate chips, I asked three confirmed chocolate lovers – a vegan, a lapsed vegetarian, and a long distance bike rider - to participate in a blind, two-part test of seven brands. Stop by later this week for the results.