Adam Carpenter – Head of Jewish Life Primary

Year 4 had the opportunity to take advantage of our final weeks of home learning by learning how to make challah with Morah Gaida. 

Accompanied by a Stile page, with step by step guides and instructional videos, we had a Zoom lesson together in our kitchens to prepare and knead the challah dough.

We had students who have made challah before and for some it was their first time. As with any cooking process, there were some successes and tips to be learnt for next time. 

In my case, after making some beautiful challah loaves during lockdown, I had a gluten free challah fail! I substituted gluten free flour for regular flour and ended up with a strange dough I could not plait that resulted in rock hard challahs. 

During our challah making we began discussing the origin and development of challah and the types of bread familiar to us on our Shabbat table. We learnt that the word challah originally refers to the separated piece of dough given as an offering in the Temple and to the priests, rather than the loaves we see on our Shabbat table. Year 4’s Transdisciplinary theme is change – and when we return to school we will explore in more detail how challah bread has developed and changed over time and across Jewish communities.

Thank you to Morah Gaida and to all the Year 4 students and their families who participated in our challah make and bake.