The pressure was on at Loaves of Love: My little girl, Sabrina, and I ended up at a table with several of Zalman's sisters, including the charming Dini who HAPPENS TO TEACH CHALLAH BAKING.
But, no pressure, right?
It was my first time baking challah. Sabrina, fearless kid that she is, dove right in, dumping in the yeast, cracking the egg.
I mixed before I should have. Oops. Sabrina noticed: "MOMMMMY!!! YOU SHOULDN'T HAVE MIXED!"
Nothing like getting reprimanded by your five-year-old. "It's OK," I said, and I think she didn't really believe me till Toba announced, "It's OK if you mixed."
Sabrina kneaded the dough like a pro. Boy, did she have energy. The sugar buzz she was on from the amazing spread of sweets surely helped.
And then, miraculously, we had dough. A really good dough. Esty seemed impressed, but she is so sweet that even if we had dough the consistency of a brick she would have found something nice to say.
I looked at the picture of how to make a six-rope challah. It looked Too Complicated. "Need some help?" Dini asked, and showed me the trick of pinching the ends of the ropes together at the top before I started weaving. Then she demonstrated and, lo and behold, it wasn't that hard. Before we knew it, we had a beautiful little loaf, and then a second for a friend.
Sabrina was so, so proud of herself. I was proud of her as well—and myself, too. I had no idea making challah could be this satisfying or easy.
Mazel tov to Toba and her wonderful daughter Chaya on the bat mitzvah, and for making the evening so memorable for all of us.
Ellen Seidman