Why This Recipe:

Each student can make his/her own challah roll. This recipe is tasty and fun to make. Adding raisins to the mixture, gives the challah a sweet taste for a sweet New Year.

Ingredients:

• 5 lbs flour
• 6 packages of rapid rise dry yeast
• 1 cup of sugar
• 2 T salt
• 2/3 cup of oil
• Approx. 4 1/2 cups of warm water
• 4 eggs (put 2 of the yolks in a separate bowl for painting the challah)
• Raisins (optional)
• Poppy seeds, Sesame seeds (optional)

Directions:

Making the dough:

1. In a medium bowl, mix 2 cups of the warm water with the yeast, sugar and 2 cups of flour.
2. Put the bowl aside and wait until it bubbles (approximately 15 minutes).
3. While you are waiting for the mixture to bubble, combine the rest of the flour, the salt, oil, the rest of the water and the eggs (except for the 2 yolks) in a big bowl.
4. Add the yeast mixture.
5. Add raisins (optional).
6. Mix the ingredients.
7. Have the students take turns kneading the dough with their hands until the dough is smooth and elastic. It should feel springy and not too dry or not too moist.
8. Cover the bowl with a damp cloth towel. (Note: Don’t let the towel touch the dough.)
9. Let the dough rise for 1 hour.
10. Punch down the dough.
11. Cut the dough into tennis ball sized chunks. Give each student one chunk.

Shaping & Decorating the rolls:

1. Have the children roll their pieces of challah into snakes (approx. 12" long).
2. Roll the snake around itself, keeping the dough flat on the table.
3. Start at one end and create a coiled base (like the base of a coil pot).
4. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
5. Mix 1 T of water with the 2 egg yolks.
6. Take paint brushes, popsicle sticks, plastic knives, etc. and paint the challah with the egg yolk mixture.
7. Add poppy seeds or sesame seeds (optional).

Baking the Challah:

1. Grease several cookie sheets.
2. Place the rolls at least 3 inches apart from each other on the cookie sheets.
3. Let rise for 30 minutes.
4. Bake in oven for approximately 40 minutes. To test whether or not the rolls are done, tap on a roll. If it sounds hollow inside, then it's done!
5. Eat and enjoy.

This recipe helps teach/reinforce the following concepts:

• Measuring
• Counting skills
• Hand-eye coordination
• Manual dexterity
• Following directions

Opportunities for Discussion:

1. A Sweet New Year - Discuss the following with your students: Throughout the year we normally eat challah without raisins. For Rosh Hashanah we add the raisins to make the bread sweeter. It is a way of wishing each other a sweet New Year. What are some things that you could do to wish someone a sweet New Year?
2. Different and Beautiful - Discuss the fact that each student's challah roll looks unique. No two rolls look the same. No one's is better or worse than anybody else's. They are just different. Encourage the students to look at the other students' rolls to admire and praise the differences. For example- "Everyone's challah probably looks a little different from yours. Everybody made different choices when creating their rolls. Some added raisins, some didn't. Some added poppy or sesame seeds and some didn't. People rolled them differently and created rolls that look very different and interesting. No one else's roll looks exactly like yours and yours doesn't look exactly like anyone else's. You have each created your own special bread for the New Year."