Breaking Challah bread (and more) with Rebecca
And the intimacy of the languages we grow up hearing
Breaking bread:
Conversations over goooood bread, and even better company.
An interview series that centers around our favorite breads, and the personal histories and memories baked into them.
Breaking Challah bread (and more) with Rebecca
BREAD(S) OF CHOICE
Challah, and other Jewish / Eastern European breads and pastries
TASTE TEST
PIROSHKA
The first one is piroshka with mushroom, egg, and cheese. It kind of feels like a mushroom omelet but it looks very flaky and crispy on the outside. It's a nice golden color. It looks a little more like golden brown than are some of the other things we have in front of us.
It's also kind of soft. Like the top is crispy but I'm surprised at how soft it is. This is the piroshka. This is kind of a big, big first bite. We're starting up strong, everyone. See I'm surprised at how squishy it is. Oh, are there potatoes?
Cheers!
This is what we needed.
Definitely potato.
Mm-hmm. But it's like, is it moist or like it's really soft? It's very moist on the inside. The dough feels very, very sticky. Mm-hmm. I like that mushroom flavor.
Yeah borderline mochi.
Surprisingly soft.
WHAT WAS YOUR CHILDHOOD LIKE?
I grew up mainly just speaking English at home but my parents do know a little bit of Yiddish, the language spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. An amalgamation of places speak it across central and eastern Europe, and here in the United States. So there are, you know, some words and phrases that I picked up on.
Not like a full language but there's definitely words that I'll say that are kind of, yeah, just feel, feel homey, feel like, you know, where I grew up. Which is nice. One of my favorite ones is keppie. Just means forehead. But a keppie kiss. Like a forehead kiss.
One of my favorite things in languages are the words that you can only find in a specific language. I don't know if that's true for some of these Yiddish words but I always love that. Like the more specific you can get within language feels very, very special. And my partner really is amused by hearing Yiddish words.
CHEESE BLINTZ
My dad really loved blintzes growing up. He would actually cook them a couple times in my childhood, like a cheese and blueberry blintz. There's sweet and savory blintzes too. Okay. Some I've seen are a little softer. This one looks like it might have been fried a little bit, but I've also seen where it's just soft and doughy.
Amazing. Shall we break?
Oh, there's kind of like a little bit of a, not a cheese pull, but like the softness of the cheese. I love your reaction.
FIRST CHALLAH
I saw the braided one, so the more elongated one is more common.
And then I also saw one with raisins. Is that for special occasions?
Yeah, as far as I know, the raisin one is special for Rosh Hashanah, which is the Jewish New Year.
[breaking the challah bread]
There's like the egg makes it a little crispy on top and shiny, and you'll see, the inside is like a very light yellow, which is really nice.
WHERE DID YOU GROW UP?
I grew up in Rock Hill, New York. I grew up near the lake and the mountains and actually close to the original site of where the Woodstock concert was in 1969… That, I feel like really defines the culture of where I grew up, because there's a lot of people who came to the area for the concert and there is a museum there that's dedicated to it.
My parents wanted me to have a country life, which I'm very grateful for, but I've always been drawn to cities.
Because of that I've grown up in nature and love taking walks, love being by the lake. But I feel like when it came time for me to have the choice to go to college and to live on my own, I was very drawn to cities.
WALNUT AND CINNAMON TART
Now this one I'm not familiar with.
I think it's cinnamon with walnuts in it.
I love cinnamon. It's kind of like bready texture. Yeah. The cinnamon is so nice. It's like a gentle dusting of cinnamon. A sprinkle. A sprinkle. This probably tastes good with your cappuccino. [Rebecca and I ordered two drinks for this interview to find a spot in]
WHO DO YOU LIKE TO BREAK BREAD WITH AND WHY?
My favorite person to break bread with is my mom. We just always have a lovely time together. Whatever city we're in or if we're at home, just going out together.
Any season, any place, just getting a latte together and having a croissant or cookie or whatever. It's always a special time, just having that one-on-one time together.
