Aging Gracefully

From Matzah to Challah: A short history of Jewish breads

In the beginning, there were carbs…

I was eating challah bread the other day for breakfast (the soft, rich, braided bread) when I realized that Jewish bread really runs the gamut of texture and taste. Challah is the Lion King of the Jewish bread food chain while matzah is the lamb. What a contrast between the luscious, best-tasting bread you can sink your teeth into, and the flat, flavorless cardboard we call matzah. And then there’s bagels, floating somewhere in between.

As somewhat of a Jewish scholar (if reading “The Diary of Anne Frank” counts), I thought I would look into the history of the two most different and religiously significant breads, challah and matzah. I’ll briefly touch on bagels too. Didn’t want bagels to get a bagel in this story.

Challah (pronounced Holla!)

I’ll start with challah because it tastes so much better than matzah. Challah is a Jewish bread that even Christians and atheists will admit is good. Challah is considered an “enriched” bread because it contains eggs.

More than 2,000 years ago Challah referred to a small portion of dough that Jews were commanded to set aside as an offering for priests in ancient Israel. This practice is described in the biblical Book of Numbers - which I only became interested in because I thought it was a book about marijuana. 🙊

Over time, Jewish communities in Europe began using enriched egg breads for the Sabbath and holidays. In the Middle Ages, Ashkenazi Jews developed the braided loaf we eat today. The bread became known as challah because the ritual of separating a piece of dough was still performed.

The braided shape of challah represents unity, love, and interconnectedness. For Rosh Hashanah, challah is often baked in a round shape, symbolizing the cycle of life and the new year.

My favorite uses of challah:

• Making incredibly rich French toast

• Eating it for breakfast with marijuana

• Eating it like candy if it’s cinnamon-raison challah bread.

Matzah (also spelled Matzo or Matzoh or Mazda)

Matzah is an unleavened flatbread eaten during Passover. Unleavened means it doesn’t contain yeast, so it cannot rise. It also does not contain butter like Challah does.

Matzah’s story comes from the Jews exodus from slavery in Egypt. According to tradition, the Israelites had to leave quickly (because they were being chased by the Egyptian army - you never run faster than when you’re being chased) and while on the run they didn’t have time to wait for their dough to rise when making bread. So they baked unleavened bread, matzah. They didn’t bake it in ovens or even air-fryers, they baked it over fire. So it was like grilled matzah.

During Passover, modern Jews eat matzah to honor the hardships their ancestors went through both during slavery and their escape from it. Call it a mitzvah on matzah.

My favorite uses of matzah:

• Matzo Ball Soup

• Fried Matzah (you dip it in egg, like French toast)

• Mixing it with spackle to fill in holes in drywall

Bagels

Bagels are boiled before they are baked, which gives them their chewy texture and shiny crust. They also do not contain butter, but often are made with sugar. (I didn’t know that until I researched it. So that’s why we love them!!)

Bagels originated in the Jewish communities of Eastern Europe, between the 13th and 17th centuries. They were made with a hole in the middle to make them easy to string on poles and carry through markets. Bagels are not to be confused with donuts, which also have a hole in the center and cause a hole in your stomach.

My favorite bagel meals:

• Cinnamon-raisin toasted with butter

• With peanut butter and banana

• Toasted with melted cheddar cheese and turkey

There you have it. Jewish breads. You never knew you were interested. I’m going to list a few other Jewish breads in the Appendix. Much of my research for this story came via ChatGPT and Google. Claude isn’t Jewish.

Appendix: Other Jewish breads:

Bialys — Round rolls with a depression in the center, traditionally filled with onions rather than having a hole like a bagel.

Pletzl — A flat Ashkenazi onion bread, often topped with onions and poppy seeds.

Kubaneh — A Yemenite Jewish pull-apart bread that cooks slowly overnight for the Sabbath.

Jachnun — Another Yemenite Jewish Sabbath bread, rolled and baked slowly until rich and caramelized.

Malawach — A flaky Yemenite flatbread somewhat similar to layered puff pastry.

Bukharian Non — A round, decorative bread from the Jewish communities of Central Asia.