Round challah – Kerek barhesz

by | Mar 4, 2022 | Breads, buns & biscuits

Challah (barhesz) is an iconic food of the Jewish cuisine. The term challah is applied to any bread that is used in Jewish rituals, it doesn’t have anything to do with a bread’s appearance. For Shabbat or any other special occasion challach is braided like the Hungarian kalács, but for Rosh Hashanah, challah loaves are made in a circular or spiral shape with honey and raisins for a sweet new year.

Round challah has various symbolic meanings. Baking challah brings blessings upon the home; its shape may symbolize eternal life, continuity or the cycle of seasons; raisins and honey express abundance; its sweet taste represents hope for a sweet new year ahead.

I used the recipe of Eszter Bodrogi (she writes about the Jewish-Hungarian cuisine), I just halved the quantities. I took photos of the steps of braiding, but I also embedded a video made by Eszter, which will help you braid the ropes into a round challah properly.

Round challah
Round challah – Kerek barhesz – photo: zserbo.com
Round challah (kerek barhesz)
Round challah (kerek barhesz) – photo: zserbo.com

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barhesz challah raisins yeast dough

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Hungarian cottage cheese

This is what Hungarian túró looks like

You often ask me what kind of cottage cheese (or curd cheese or farmer's cheese - call it what you want) I use in the recipes. In Hungary the store-bought cottage cheese is dry and crumbly as you can see in the picture. So if a recipe calls for túró, I mean this type. If you can't obtain túró, you can try to make your own from whole milk. Click on the link below.

How to make túró at home

Metric system vs cup

In Hungary metric units are in use, all the recipes on this website are based on this system, so a kitchen scale is necessary. Since I’m not familiar with cup as a measurement unit, I convert grams to cups by using an online converter. The values in brackets, therefore, are only approximate volumes, so, please, double-check them before you start cooking.