Baker shares challah for Jewish holiday

Thursday, September 9, 2010

Photo by johnwhession.com Shari Moskowitz, center, had plenty of hands helping to knead, braid, and bake batches of challah bread for Rosh Hashana at The Yankee Chef in Milford. In background is Gail Foley; to Moskowitz right is her sister, Sandy Davis, and left is Dawn Monteith.

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Courtesy photo A loaf of challah, as part of a traditional Jewish display

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Courtesy photo A loaf of braided challah, as it appears when used for ceremonial purposes.

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Courtesy photo An example of a round loaf of challah

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Photo by johnwhession.com Shari Moskowitz, center, had plenty of hands helping to knead, braid, and bake batches of challah bread for Rosh Hashana at The Yankee Chef in Milford. In background is Gail Foley; to Moskowitz right is her sister, Sandy Davis, and left is Dawn Monteith.

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Shari Moskowitz has enjoyed baking for most of her adult life, especially the part where she gets to share her goodies with others. And while she experimented freely with recipes for all kinds of bakery-counter favorites, one of the most common was always missing: Bread.

“I was afraid of it,” Moskowitz admits, more matter-of-factly than sheepishly. “The whole yeast thing freaked me out. So, for a long time, I baked everything but bread.”

Today, though, Moskowitz’ little phobia is but a distant memory, trotted out mostly for laughs, but also for the irony: Moskowitz recently founded “Challahluyah!” a baking business that specializes in challah, the popular, traditional Jewish braided loaf – of bread.

And with the approach of Rosh Hashana, which began Wednesday at sundown and is observed through Friday, Moskowitz has been straight out lately, turning out the golden-brown cake-like loaves by the dozen and delivering them – herself – to the very people who loved her challah so much they kept prodding her until she launched Challahluyah! (pronounced hallelujah) about a year ago.

Dating back to biblical times in the Jewish faith, challah (pronounced hallah) is central to many Jewish observances, mostly with celebratory occasions like bar and bat mitzvahs and holidays like Rosh Hashana.

For years, Moskowitz, who moved with husband Jeff and sons Jake, now 17, and Eli, 13, to Amherst from Merrimack 15 years ago, has been baking for her family Sabbath dinners and friends, including many fellow communicants of Congregation Shalom in Chelmsford, Mass. The compliments – led by perpetual praise from her rabbi, she said – kept coming in, encouraging her to turn her hobby into a small business. About a year ago, “Challahluyah!” was born.

A self-employed accountant and bookkeeper by trade, Moskowitz balances the two business, crunching numbers by day, then in the evening, donning her apron and heading to The Yankee Chef in Milford.

Yankee Chef owner John Sullivan, one of her accounting clients, lets Moskowitz use the kitchen when the restaurant is closed, asking only for some of her bread for his French toast and sandwiches in return.

“It’s a great system,” Moskowitz said, readying tubs of rising challah for kneading and baking on a recent evening. “Someday I hope to open my own shop, but for now this works out great.”

The turn toward starting Challahluyah! came thanks to a good friend and fellow baker, Moskowitz said.

“She showed me how to bake with yeast. The biggest thing was she convinced me it’s nothing to be afraid of, nothing to be freaked out about.”

With phobia conquered, it wasn’t long before challah was sharing the ovens with Moskowitz’ other favorite recipes.

Challah itself, she said, is more cake than bread.

“Yes, it’s got fat in it, that’s what gives it its flavor. There have been attempts to make reduced-fat challah, but you can really tell the difference.”

Gail Foley, Shari and Jeff Moskowitz’ neighbor, close friend and “a very fortunate recipient of Shari’s bread” remembers when the idea for Challahluyah! first started swirling around.

“I told her, if you start (a baking business) it’s really going to take off,” Foley said. “And you’ll need help.”

Indeed, Foley, who also works in the kitchen at Amherst Middle School, can be found working aside Moskowitz on many an evening, especially in busy seasons. “I get as much out of it as Shari does,” Foley said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t be here.”

Come Friday, sometimes more often depending on the season, Moskowitz shifts into delivery mode, loading up her car with bags and boxes of challah bound for homes, her synogogue, or any of a number of different functions and fundraisers, alternately selling and donating her famous challah.

In the long term, Moskowitz envisions challah, which isn’t commonly found in most bakeries and bread shops, to one-day rise, so to speak, to be the most popular cross-cultural food since the bagel.

The best ingredient in challah, Moskowitz said, is its ability to make people happy.

“I’m not going to get rich doing this, I do it because people enjoy it. And that makes me happy,” she said.

“When people ask I ususally just say, ‘It’s simple. People like it!’ And they understand.’”

Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 673-3100, ext. 31, or dshalhoup@nashuatele graph.com.