3 Day YT and homemade challas - what to do?

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Forum -> Recipe Collection -> Challah and Breads

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shalhevet

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 5:38 am

I know you gals in chul are old hands at 3 day YTs, but it's a rarity in EY and last time I wasn't baking my own challas, and the shop bought ones are full of icky preservatives to keep them fresh for 4 days.

So what to do about Shabbos Shuva?

So far, I have had the following ideas, all of which aren't much good for various reasons:
1. Bake and freeze (we don't like frozen)
2. Bake with Shimrit meshaper afia (baking improver) which, presumably, adds those icky preservatives. (Never tried this).
3. Make challas without baking and freeze and bake on 2nd day RH (this doesn't seem very practical as it takes me ages to bake challa since my Israeli oven fits only one large challa at a time, and it will mean the oven on a time switch all afternoon for 3 days. Also we are noheg to try not to bake/cook on YT but to prepare everything before). Also davenning, meals etc is loooong on RH. (Also how do you do this re freezing/ defrosting?)
4. Bake challa from scratch Friday (as 3. but even more complicated)
5. Eat stale challa.

So I'm looking for other ideas and/or comments and hints on the above options.

What did people used to do before there were fridges and freezers? My dh tells me his parents remember shechting on Friday 2nd day RH in EY because there were no fridges/ freezers and you couldn't keep food in the summer heat. Can you imagine? They would have to cook all the food on YT, including cleaning and kashering the chickens?

RachelEve14

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 5:59 am

We bake & freeze. I put them in foil and defrost in the foil. After it's fully defrosted you can put it on top of something on the heat source and they are good warm.

I guess my second choice if you have to have them fresh would be to freeze them raw, take them out Friday morning before you go to shul, and put them in the oven when you get home. They defrost and rise at the same time, and will be ready to bake a few hours later.

Liba

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 6:01 am

Have you tried reheating the challah after you freeze it? We love warmed previously frozen challah.

We have also found that the challah tastes the freshest when it is defrosted if it is frozen when it is still warm and very well wrapped.

Mrs Bissli

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 6:34 am

Agree. Bake n' freeze. Make sure you defrost them the night before--it takes time to defrost esp bigger challot. Keep it in foil, warm before serving. (But once rewarmed that way challot can dry out quicker.)

I'll probably freeze just the challot for shabbat.

I also use dough improver (in my case gluten with vitamin C). I like the consisency of the dough--similar to store bought ones, raises higher.

I don't know about other ladies, but with full Rosh Hashana services, entertaining, tashlich, I definitely won't have time or koach to make challot from scratch.

Raizle

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 7:40 am

Shalhevet if you close them tight in a plastic bag or wrap soon as they have cooled down and put them straight in the freezer then it won't taste frozen when you defrost it but will taste fresh

Rubber Ducky

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 8:09 am

I do what Raizle suggested -- as soon as the challahs are cool, wrap tightly and freeze.

Mommy3.5

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 11:52 am

Under bake by about 10 minutes, freeze all and pop in the oven when you are reheating food for YT.

Challah freezes well and reheats well as long *** you wrap it well and reheat in the oven. No one will be able to tell the difference from taste.

Merrymom

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 12:11 pm

Do you keep your oven on YT because you can defrost the dough and you'll have freshly made challah although I don't see a problem with baking and freezing. As long as you're not baking it too far in advance it always tastes good.

realeez

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 12:37 pm

I bake and freeze also and it is still good. I have also found that adding a little honey to the dough mixture makes it taste fresher for some reason.

shalhevet

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 12:49 pm

Thanks everyone for all your suggestions - I guess I will be freezing. Thanks for the hints on how to freeze and warm up better.

I don't keep my oven on on YT; I use a platta to heat things up. Sometimes I light one gas ring towards the end of YT, but I will really try not to this year because of Shabbos straight afterwards. Here it is still very much summer and it heats up the kitchen.

chocolate moose

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 12:58 pm

I'd also bake and freeze, and heat up BUT I wouldn't defrost everything erev yomtov, I'd defrost as I go.

Sherri

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 2:11 pm

What they all said- Bake and freeze and defrost as you go along. Rewarm the challos so that they're crisp and warm.

chocolate moose

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 2:46 pm

Also, it might make a difference if the challos were baked and frozen a few days before, rather than a few weeks before.

sarahd

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 2:56 pm

shalhevet wrote:

What did people used to do before there were fridges and freezers? My dh tells me his parents remember shechting on Friday 2nd day RH in EY because there were no fridges/ freezers and you couldn't keep food in the summer heat. Can you imagine? They would have to cook all the food on YT, including cleaning and kashering the chickens?

Yup, yup. That's what they did in Europe too, before the war. My mother remembers her mother taking chickens to the shochet, flicking and kashering them - and cooking them. And baking challos too, all on the second day of YT. She would get up at 4.00 in the morning in order to get everything done so she could serve the seuda at noon. She didn't have much of a YT.

sarahd

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 2:59 pm

shalhevet wrote:

I freeze my challos all the time and rewarm the ones I use for Shabbos day (or YT night/day) by putting them on an inverted pan on the plata. They taste just fine, IMHO.

NotInNJMommy

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 3:11 pm

I bake and freeze in freezer bags. Foil is ok if you will use it in a couple weeks.

Also, I get a box of matza. Sometimes, I have challah, but not shleimahs. If I use matzah for lechem mishnah, then we just have that challah for the seudah, or sometimes, just bentsch on matzah and eat the challah after the first bit if we have plnety of challah, just not uncut. Yes, some will say this is lame, so please don't judge me. It works for us.

Also, just minimize if possible how much challah consumed at a seudah by making smaller challahs, only cutting 1, etc. And having plenty of other food to fill in more mild tasting carbs in place.

shalhevet

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 3:23 pm

NotInNJMommy wrote:

Also, just minimize if possible how much challah consumed at a seudah by making smaller challahs, only cutting 1, etc. And having plenty of other food to fill in more mild tasting carbs in place.

I spend my time worrying all the children are eating a full kzayis - l'chatchilla you need to eat k'beitza, so I don't know why I'd limit it. Also lechatchilla you are supposed to cut (and taste) both.

NotInNJMommy

Sun, Aug 08 2010, 3:40 pm

shalhevet wrote:

NotInNJMommy wrote:

Also, just minimize if possible how much challah consumed at a seudah by making smaller challahs, only cutting 1, etc. And having plenty of other food to fill in more mild tasting carbs in place.

Well, you have a larger family than I , bli ayin hara. To be honest, I can't keep track of what size families people have, or how many people are home, etc. We have few people, bli ayin hara, so it's not so hard to just make smaller challahs that have what we need.

Also, I try to just get my kids to eat at the seudah something real (ie. not spend the day with shabbos nosh or treats from shul)...and they aren't old enough for me to make them eat literally k'beitza.

shaini

Tue, Aug 10 2010, 6:38 pm

I do similar to everyone else, I bake them ahead of time as close to the day they will be eaten as possible (not weeks ahead as then they can go stale) as soon as possible after they've cooled just slightly wrap tightly in plastic bags and freeze them. I find the sooner they get to the freezer the better. I take mine out as soon as I get up on Shabbas morning and have them defrost at room temperature as I find defrosting in the fridge makes breads etc go stale. Again the same as most other people if you want them to seem really fresh and like warm challahs I put mine on top of my urn to warm up. Also by the time we get to day 3 (shabbas) I usually have small challahs (enough for lechem mishnah) as there is either left over challah from other days which can be 'freshened up'/warmed up to eat with the meal or we've had eating too much food and just want something lighter even though its shabbas.

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