Beth Ricanati - Braided: A Journey of a Thousand Challahs

PRAISE FOR

Braided

2020 Next Generation Indie Book Awards Winner in Womens Issues Nonfiction

2020 Eric Hoffer Award, Grand Prize Shortlist Finalist

2019 Wilbur Award Winner, Nonfiction Books

2018 National Jewish Book Award Finalist, Womens Studies

2018 Foreword INDIES Book of the Year, Silver Medal Winner, Self-Help

In reading Beth Ricanatis Braided, one feels as if one is drinking from a spiritual fountain that allows a new wave of life to surge within them. This book offers both a recipe and a path to personal growth and healing. Packed with insight and wisdom, it is one of those rare books that every woman should read.

Readers Favorite, five stars

I knead for my needs, the author insistsand readers are likely to join her.

Kirkus Reviews

A womens wellness doctor who prescribes the practice of baking bread? I feel like this is exactly the kind of out-of-the-box thinking that is going to save the world right now.

Jennie Nash, author of The Victorias Secret Catalog Never Stops Coming and Other Lessons I Learned From Breast Cancer and founder of AuthorAccelerator.com

Beth Ricanatis book is like having coffee with a girlfriend: honest, interesting, and thoughtful. Part memoir, part cookbook, part health guidebut more than all of these, Braided is a book that will inspire you to dig deep, think about life, and make challah, maybe even at the same time.

Ruchi Koval, director of Jewish Family Experience and author of Conversations with God

Some of my favorite moments in teaching American Jewish womens history surround the home and the politics of gender and domesticitya contemporary space that Beth Ricanati has reclaimed for herself and for all of us through the simple ritual of weekly challah baking. In class, my students discover that contemporary Jewish women can now choose and participate in ancient traditions and rituals in ways that empower them rather than control them. Ricanatis beautifully written story of challah, the joy of creating real food for those we love, and the healing power of being in the moment enlivens this precious inheritance, never more needed than now.

Marcie Cohen Ferris, professor, American Studies Department, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

Braided

Copyright 2018 Beth Ricanati, MD

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, including photocopying, recording, digital scanning, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law. For permission requests, please address She Writes Press.

Published 2018

Printed in the United States of America

ISBN: 978-1-63152-441-7 pbk

ISBN: 978-1-63152-442-4 ebk

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018937854

For information, address:

She Writes Press

1563 Solano Ave #546

Berkeley, CA 94707

She Writes Press is a division of SparkPoint Studio, LLC.

Book Design by Stacey Aaronson

All company and/or product names may be trade names, logos, trademarks, and/or registered trademarks and are the property of their respective owners.

For David.

And for our children.

In writing this book, I relied on my memories and experiences from medical school, my years as a practicing physician, and a decade of being a challah-maker. In addition, when necessary, I consulted with other experts and researched pertinent facts. To preserve the anonymity of patients and friends mentioned throughout the book, I have changed all names.

I share this recipe with a nod to the Jewish Community Center (JCC) in Manhattan, New York City. I have adapted and used this recipe of theirs, which a friend shared with me, since that first time I made challah so long ago. Specifically, she said that it was used in a Mommy and Me cooking class for two- to three-year-olds, and I always figured if these little kids could make challah, then so could I!

2 teaspoons loose yeast + 1 teaspoon sugar + 1 cup very warm water (almost too warm, but not hot!)

2 eggs

2 teaspoons salt

cup sugar

cup oil

4+ cups flour

1. Mix yeast, sugar, and warm water together in small bowl; let stand approximately ten minutes. This mixture will start to bubble.

2. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, mix together eggs, salt, sugar, oil, and two cups flour. Now would be a great time to say, I am making this dough in the merit of _____ (name someone... maybe a friend who is sick that week, or someone you are happy for, sad for, mad at, etc.)

3. Add yeast mixture (1) to flour mixture (2).

4. Add approximately 1 cups of flour to the mixture. Dough should start to form a ball, separating from the bowl.

5. Place the dough on a floured surface and knead, lifting up with one hand and then the other. This should take at least five minutes as dough becomes increasingly elastic. If necessary, add a bit more flour to the dough if still sticky. Knead dough into a ball.

6. Place the dough back into oiled bowl, cover and place the covered bowl somewhere warm for 11 hours to rise; it will approximately double in volume.

7. Preheat oven to 375. Remove the cover from bowl, place dough on floured surface. Take a small piece of dough (roughly the size of an egg), double wrap in plastic wrap and say the prayer over separating the challah (technically, youre only supposed to say the prayer if more than five pounds of flour are used, but more on that later). Discard this piece of wrapped dough and continue.

8. Punch out dough one more time. Cut the dough into two balls, one for each challah. Then divide each ball into three equal pieces. Roll out each piece, crimp together at the top and braid into a loaf. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Repeat with second ball of dough. You may let the dough rise again at this step.

9. Paint each challah with a mixture of egg yolk plus a little water.

10. Place braided dough on a greased baking sheet and bake approximately 2330 minutes, or until bread has risen and is golden brown. Remove, let cool.

11. Place challah on platter, cover and wait for Shabbas dinner. Eat and enjoy!

Baruch Ata A-Do-Nay Elo-haynu Melech Ha-Olam Asher Kidishanu BMitzvotav VTziyvanu LHafrish Challah.

(Blessed are You, Lord, our G-d, Ruler of the Universe, Who has sanctified us with Your commandments and commanded us to separate the Challah.)

For more than ten years now, I have made challah almost every Friday. I have made challah in three different cities, while raising three different children, and trying to keep at least three goldfish alivealas, unsuccessfully, I must add, for those poor goldfish. I have made challah while mourning the loss of my father, while helping a friend through her cancer diagnosis, and while nursing many a childs wounded knee and wounded pride. I have made challah while working as a busy physician at one of the worlds top hospitals and while working as a stay-at-home mom who could never get my kids out the door properly dressed for the bitter Midwest cold. I have made challah alone and with other womensome of them my dearest friends and some I had not even met before we started to bake bread.