Chal•lah [KHah-luh, hah] A loaf of rich white bread leavened with yeast and containing eggs,often braided before baking, prepared especially for the JewishSabbath.

A little bit of history...

We eat it biweekly (and often triweekly in the event of Sunday morning French challah toast) and dub it the “Jewish Bread”. Many struggle with pronouncing the guttural “chh” sound, or completely avoid it and stick to “hallah”. But where does this bread come from? Of course, as with all Jewish traditions there are an exhaustive amount of explanations and theories as to the origins of challah. I’ve decided to stick to the Biblical version which goes something along the lines of:

Back in the old days, us Jews were wandering in the dessert after our exile from Egypt. Our only source of nourishment was the daily portion of food provided by G-d that fell from heaven, landing right outside our doorsteps. Commonly known as manna, I like to think of it akin to tofu, where it has the ability to taste like anything your tastebuds desire. The only catch was, we didn’t receive any manna on Shabbat. To compensate, we received a double portion on Friday and commemorate this miracle by having two loaves of challah on Friday night and Shabbat day.

Spot the nutrition...

Lets be honest. Challah does not have many redeeming ingredients in the way of nutrition. Of course there are always the healthy alternatives like wholemeal challah, water-based challah and de-sugar-nated (yes – fake word) challah. But what about classic, sweet challah – the one where 2 slices leave you wanting more? Well, after some deep contemplation I thought I would focus on a minor part of this plaited sweet bread. That is, the subtle sprinkling of sesame seeds strewn on the shiny egg-coated top. While they may be miniscule in size, and lacklustre in colour, sesame seeds are bursting with nutrients. They contain calcium (for strong bones and teeth), a nutrient that seems to be lacking in many of our diets as well as iron, magnesium and Vitamin E. Two nutrients unique to these seeds are ironically, called sesamin and sesamolin. Both have been shown to reduce cholesterol and blood pressure levels. That isn’t to encourage you to eat a whole large challah. But if you are deciding about which challah to buy, or baking your own – be generous with the seeds!