Holiday challah

[rworange]

Available today and tommorrow at The Cheeseboard. Plain, poppyseed or raisin round challah. ANyplace else?

[majordanby]

Acme will have it available.

[artemis]

Any ideas for the peninsula?

Answered my own question - Draeger's has round challah in a bunch of varieties. Plain, poppyseed, sesame, raisin, mixed fruits, and I think one other one. Draeger's makes our favorite regular challah so I have high hopes for this one, too.

[rworange]

This isn't a holiday I celebrate, though I enjoy challah. Is there any traditional variety? Or can it be anything ... fruit ... seeds ....plain ... as long as it is round.

[artemis]

I'm no expert, but I think the raisin one is traditional - you're supposed to eat sweet things on Rosh Hashanah to help bring in a sweet new year, so they put raisins in the challah to help make it sweet. You're even supposed to dip the challah in honey before you eat it. Come to think of it, I think the Draeger's guy mentioned they had a honey variety too. I expect most families would get several varieties and enjoy them over the next two days. I am thinking of making the mixed dried fruit one into french toast tomorrow morning...

[rworange]

Cool. That's what I bought ... raisin ... gold and regular raisins.

[artemis]

The dried fruit challah from Draegers was totally delicious. Only downside was that it wasn't a braided round challah, which apparently is a tricky feat. Instead, it was a coil, but it was chock full of dried fruit. It also tasted eggier and sweeter than the usual Draegers challah we get.

[wolfe]

Tricky, what do you think?

http://www.joyofkosher.com/wp-content...
Whar would Alexander the Great do?

[Sushi Monster]

As per usual, Molly Stone's in Palo Alto has a very large stand-alone display of challah from Grand Bakery in Oakland. Poppy seed, plain, raisin. Two sizes. The smalls are $6 -- and excellent. Shana tova to all you Hounds.

Sushi Monster

[ML8000]

Semifreddi's does a really good job.

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Semifreddi's
372 Colusa Ave, Kensington, CA

[stanbee]

Arizmendi SF by order. Have never tried it.

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Arizmendi
1268 Valencia St, San Francisco, CA 94110

[tranewreck]

same as Cheeseboard....or very similar. Good crust, decent crumb-but not super tight.
they have Crown only this week

[jillyju]

Really great holiday Challah eaten last night that was purchased at the new version of Bonniere Bakery (formerly of Alameda) and now across the street from Grand Kosher Bakery on Grand Ave. in Oakland.

[bunnysitter]

Nabolom Collective Bakery (College and Russell Sts.) has challah all year round. Sesame, plain and poppyseed. No preservatives so I freeze it after a day or so - perfect for french toast.

[rworange]

Yes, most, if not all of these bakeries have challah all year, usually on Friday. The holiday is different in shape. It is round. I forget the significance of that because I'm not Jewish. And maybe Challah with drived fruit or raisins is only available at New Year?

[sundeck sue]

round challah symbolizes cycle of life (as you focus on these themes at the new year). the sweet part (raisins in bread, dipping in honey), as you pray for a sweet new year.

i've found very good holiday (and regular) challah in the bay area--we generally get semifreddi's, since it's around the corner--but also really like acme and cheeseboard and grand kosher.

now shifting the focus a bit (still bread for the jewish near year, but not challah): those of us breaking the yom kippur fast next saturday evening will be eating round challah, as well as (at least in my house) bagels and cream cheese and lox. and i'm at a total loss as where to get good (i'll settle for decent) bagels in berkeley-oakland. the state of east bay bagels is a shanda (yiddish for shame).

[wolfe]

Inexpensive incompletely cooked doughballs are available at Costco which when finished in the oven make decent cream cheese and lox carriers. They even look like bagels, albeit outsized, but they are not bagels.

[ChowFun_derek]

doughballs that become challah or become bagels?....are they frozen or in the refrigerator area?...do they have a brand name?

Thanks

[wolfe]

They are their bagels. 12 for under $5. They were Noah's. To me they are not edible unless they are crisped up in the oven at which time I scrap out the doughy center and use the crusts for sandwiches.

[Robert Lauriston]

I saw some from Esther's at the east Bowl today.

[Ken Hoffman]

Mama's bakery in Los Gatos cranks out a great braid. They will supersize them for massive gatherings.

http://www.mamasbakery.com/index.html

[plaidbowtie]

Baker and Banker Bakery