In the Kitchen with … Leslie Huppin: Challah, the silent star

On Fridays, before she went gluten free, back when her children were still young and living at home, Leslie Huppin would bake challah.

Her version – sweeter than this – calls for more sugar than the loaf she made recently in honor of her late, longtime friend. Eva Lassman died at 91 five years ago. She had been born into an Orthodox Jewish family in Poland, survived the Holocaust and horrors of a Nazi death camp, and told her story in schools throughout the Spokane area.

“She had no hard feelings. She forgave,” Huppin said, noting she still misses Lassman. “Any time you make someone’s recipe, you get the heart-warming feeling that they’re with you.”

A staple at Shabbat dinners, challah is deeply symbolic, a tradition as well as sustenance. The braided bread represents manna from heaven.

Soft, yeast-risen loaves are on hand for all Jewish holidays – except Passover, when leavened grain is forbidden – and the Kosher Dinner at Spokane’s Temple Beth Shalom. The 75th annual event was slated for March 13, but it was canceled two weeks ago because organizers weren’t able to get fresh brisket, aka the star of the show.

“Due to difficulties procuring fresh brisket for this event, the very tough decision was made to cancel the dinner this year,” according to the temple’s Facebook page. “Please know that we looked at many different options and solutions before arriving at the decision to cancel.”

At Temple Beth Shalom, the brisket is slow-roasted in chili sauce and Coca-Cola Classic. Challah is served as a side. But it’s essential. So is Lassman’s recipe.

It’s featured in “Shalom from Our Kitchens,” a cookbook put together in 1992 by the Spokane chapter of Hadassah, a Jewish women’s organization. Pages of Huppin’s well-worn, spiral-bound copy are sprinkled with evidence of use. In it, Lassman’s recipe is Challah No. 5: Shabbat Egg Bread.

Making challah – the “C” is silent – isn’t difficult, Huppin said. “It just takes time.”

Huppin, 52, doesn’t make the time much anymore. Her children, now 26 and 28, live on the West Side. When they were growing up, “They helped me make it. They helped me knead. They would sometimes get to braid their own little ones,” interweaving tradition with family and faith.

Huppin went gluten free about two years ago. She doesn’t do dairy or meat, and she makes things like cashew cheese and banana-spinach smoothies. Still, challah is her heritage.

To make Lassman’s recipe, she calls upon her muscle memory.

“It’s bread,” she said. “Yeast and eggs. There’s not a whole lot of magic to it.”

But, sometimes it seems like there’s magic in it. Or, at least, something magical about it. The smell alone is heavenly. As the aroma filled her South Hill kitchen, Huppin said, “That’s the best smell in the world.”

Challah contains no milk or butter, so it can be served alongside the brisket at kosher meals. Kosher is Hebrew for “fit” or “proper.” The term refers to a method of food preparation and dietary laws governing consumption. These laws dictate what foods can and cannot be eaten, what foods can be eaten together and how the animal is killed. Mixing meat and dairy products in the same meal, for example, is forbidden.

Huppin, originally from Bellevue, moved to Spokane in 1985, when she was 22. It’s her husband’s hometown. He’s an Ashkenazi Jew; his ancestors come from Russia. Her grandparents came from Rhodes. She’s a Sephardic Jew, “not” – she said – “a bread baker.”

When it comes to making challah, like all baking, “There’s a science to it,” Huppin said. “I don’t know it. And I don’t care.”

She cares, instead, about the tradition. She doesn’t keep a kosher kitchen. But she will, like many members of the community, miss this year’s Kosher Dinner. A past chairwoman of the event, Huppin has been responsible for ordering all of the food – except for the knishes and brisket – for the past 15 years.

The dinner, which served about 200 people when it started, has become Temple Beth Shalom’s largest community outreach. Most attendees aren’t Jewish. More than 2,000 typically attend.

“It takes the mystery of the place away,” said Huppin, whose family is one of about 200 who belong to the temple.

Back in her kitchen on an early February afternoon, Huppin’s honorary challah loaf nears completion.

“It’s an egg bread, so it’s richer and warmer tasting. It’s not sourdough. It’s cake-like, but it doesn’t have the sweetness” – unless you add honey or extra sugar, which Huppin used to.

“The way you know it’s done,” she said, “is when you tap on it and it sounds hollow.”

Sometimes, she sprinkles poppy or sesame seeds or both atop a loaf. Sometimes, she uses crystalized sugar “because it looks pretty.”

If there were any leftovers, she said, “There’s nothing better than a slice of challah, toasted, the next morning with butter on it.”

Usually, there weren’t any leftovers.

Even on this day, she makes an exception to her gluten-free rule to take a taste of her heritage, pulling off a piece of freshly baked challah before sending the loaf with a guest out the door.

Challah

From Eva Lassman via the 1992 community cookbook “Shalom from Our Kitchens,” by the Spokane chapter of Hadassah

1 tablespoon yeast

2 teaspoons sugar

1 1/4 cups warm water

4 1/2 to 5 cups flour

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

1/3 cup oil

2 eggs (at room temperature)

1 well-beaten egg yolk, for glaze

Dissolve yeast and sugar in water; set aside until spongy. In large bowl, sift flour, sugar and salt. Make a well and add the yeast mixture, oil and eggs; mix to form dough. Knead on a floured board until dough is elastic. Brush with oil, place in a covered bowl and let rise in a warm place until doubled in bulk.

Punch down and knead again. Let dough rest for 2 minutes, then divide into 3 parts. Roll each part into a long strand, and braid. Place on greased baking sheet; let stand until doubled in bulk. Brush with egg yolk. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown, 35 to 45 minutes.