Modern Jewish Baker: Challah, Babka, Bagels & More

Súper libro súper recetas y en perfecto estado lo ame

I tried the challah recipe found in the preview of the book and it was WONDERFUL, so I decided to buy the book.I took the challah to a Shabbat dinner and my Jewish friends said it was the best they had ever eaten. We are now addicted to challah and have to limit how often I make it!The bagels were also excellent, left overnight as suggested they held their shape and were perfect texture.Absolutely delighted with my purchase and, as an experienced baker and cook, I know this will become one of my most used bread books.Only complaint, and it has nothing to do with the book, is Amazon's appalling packing which left the cover of this book and another bought at the same time both damaged.

Rather than cover expansive ground, Shannon Sarna takes 7 core Jewish baked breads/sweets and then gives us a number of variations, some obvious, others quite innovative. The baked goods are challah, babka, bagels, rugelach, hamantaschen, pita and matzah. Yes, matzah. Home baked matzah tastes so much better than the cardboard-like mass produced matzah you normally buy in the store. The variations for babka, for example, start with the common chocolate and cinnamon, but then vere off into S'mores, peanut butter and jelly, guava and cheese, and even birthday cake. You get quite diverse alternatives for each chapter.That would have been enough, but Jewish baked goods are as much about shape as flavor. Sarna gives us instructive photographs for forming the dough. There are 6 different ways to shape challah from the basic 3 strand through the stuffed turban. And of course, there are beautiful photos of the finished products.This is a fantastic cookbook for the home baker. The one weakness is that the measurements, especially for the flour, are in cups, not by weight. Because flour can vary, it is more accurate to measure by weight.

Haven't tried all the recipes yet, but made excellent bagels! Recipes are great and varied, I will definitely try them all.

I fell in love with this book from the first time I could open it (no preview is available). Beautiful photos for all recipes, techniques and braiding. Wonderful recipes and there are so many to choose from. I could not let this book from my hands and read it from cover to cover on the same day it arrived and baked immediatelly my first challach from it. I had few bananas crying to be eaten so decided to bake banana bread chocolate chip challach. Instructions were very clear and easy to follow and result was even better than expected. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who likes to bake and wants to have reliable recipes for very tasty and unusual enriched breads and other baked goodies. This is one of the best books I bought (and I have hundreds).