Challah with a twist: A change-up for the traditional Rosh Hashanah bread

Tonight marks the start of the Jewish New Year Rosh Hashanah, and the centerpiece of the holiday table is a braided bread called challah. Mandy Silverman makes a living out of making challah at her home in Sharon and teaching others how to make it. She's just published her first cookbook on twisted breads. Now, challah is usually plain, but not Mandy's. She makes all sorts. She came to WBUR's kitchen to make challah stuffed with pomegranate-glazed apples. She says her bread-making journey started with a story from her mother. Right around this time, 14 years ago, she called me and said that she went to someone's house for a Rosh Hashanah meal. And it was a woman, and she had baked a challah that had a layer of honey inside. And my mother asked the woman, Hey, this is a wonderful thing. How do you make it? And the woman was secretive of her recipe, and she's like, This is a recipe I'm going to take with me to my grave. But she called me, and she said, Mandy, gosh, I wonder how she did that. And I was like, you know what, Mommy, for you, I'll figure it out. Oh, set you off. Like, there is nothing I have ever failed at more in my life than learning how to make challah. It was every mistake I made. What are the mistakes you can make? I mean, how bad can it get? Oh, it can get so bad. Like, the most basic mistake that a lot of people make is killing the yeast. So if you don't treat the yeast properly, or don't use the right kind of yeast, or use too much, or use too little, then your whole loaf will be dead. You'll be like, oh, phooey. Okay, let's turn around to our stove in the back, and you already have it on. Tell us how you're going to concoct this mixture. Okay, first we're going to put in, I use vegan butter. Pop it right on in to the fry pan. Now I have two Granny Smith apples that have been peeled and diced. We're going to cook down for one more second, and then we're going to put in a splash of pomegranate juice that's going to glaze the apples. So while that's cooking down, let's turn our attention to the strands of dough. And you have three of them, so tell us about this. These pieces of dough are a half pound each. Because we're going to stuff them, I'll stretch them out a little bit, and then I'm going to take my rolling pin and actually roll them flat. When you're considering other kinds of challah bread, is it kind of the sky's the limit? Tell us about some of the recipes you have. I have caramelized onion is a really popular one. Pulled brisket inside the challah, salami in the challah. I have a cookie butter latte, which is just great because it's got that same thing. So if you are, you know, presented with a customer who says, I just want the pure, plain challah, is anything else seen as heretical? I mean, are you seeing this kind of like, you know, besmirching the tradition? There are definitely people out there, like especially at the beginning. I think at this point I've hidden most of them on Instagram. But that would comment, like your bubby would be rolling over in her grave if she saw what you were doing to challah, or you are an embarrassment to the people. And I think now people are seeing that this has brought in a whole new generation. So what's the next step here? We have the apples that have been simmered down, that are soft and look lovely. The next step is to put them inside the challah strands that we just rolled out. I'm going to take the edges of the challah, lift it up and over the filling and seal it. And I say, kiss it together. And as you pinch them, they're now in a tube form. So you've got three 10-inch long tubes of stuffed dough. All right. And then whenever we're ready, we're going to just braid it. Braiding took me a very, very long time to do. Like you can braid like how you braid your hair. I like to braid from the center. What this does is it makes sure that your braid is even. That looks fantastic. Ta-da! And by the miracle of radio, because we can't wait 40 minutes on this, here we have the same kind of challah finished product. That looks magical. I call it a classy challah because it's sweet, but it's not too sweet. It is incredibly delicious. Thank you. Thank you. I'm so glad you're enjoying it. Mandy Silverman of Sharon. She just released her first cookbook. It's called Twisted, a new approach to challah, babka and other twisty breads.