Bejma: Tunisian Challah

This is my second challah from Joan Nathan’s new book about Jewish cooking in France (the first challah I made was the Moroccan Pain Petri). I think this recipe has appeared under Joan Nathan’s name before (New York Times Jewish Cookbook, p. 438, where it is credited as being from Nathan’s book The Foods of Israel Today).

Here is the idea of the bread: a dough similar to Ashkenazi challah, but the dough is shaped into three balls that are placed together in a triangle shape.

I love the shaping technique and would use it again with another challah dough. This makes a striking looking loaf.

Sending this to Yeastspotting.

Prior challah recipes:
Moroccan Challah (Joan Nathan)
Yemenite Challah, Chubzeh (Maggie Glezer)
Sarah Schecht’s Challah (NYT)
Stollen-style Challah
Food Processor Challah (Charles Van Over)
Macrina Bakery Challah
Russian Challah (Maggie Glezer) (plus Tamar Ansh’s round braiding technque)
Tamar Ansh Round Braid
Whole Wheat Challah (Peter Reinhart, but my variation)
Lithuania Challah (Maggie Glezer)
ABin5 Challah (Artisan Bread in Five Minutes a Day)
Apple Honey Challah (Got Kosher, LA Times)
100 Minute Challah
Chernowitzer Challah (Maggie Glezer)
Poor Man’s Brioche Challah (Peter Reinhart)
Peter Reinhart’s Challah

Pain Petri: Joan Nathan, France, and 60 Minute Moroccan Challah

When I saw this challah in Joan Nathan’s recent book about Jewish cooking in France, I just had to try it. It is a Moroccan challah that is made, start to finish in just 60 minutes. The recipe, from Quiches, Kugels, and Couscous: My Search for Jewish Cooking in France, is available at here the website for the Washington Post (this is the actual recipe, and this is the article and slideshow).

Israeli Breakfast Bread: Abouelafia’s Za’atar Pita Pizza with Sunny-Side-Up Eggs

 

In The Foods of Israel, Joan Nathan provides a recipe for a flatbread baked with olive oil, za’atar, feta, and two sunny-side-up eggs. Nathan says that this is the most popular of the more than eighty different flatbreads made by the famous Abouelafia Bakery in Jaffa. Sometimes, the bread is also served with olives or tahina.
 
Nathan provides a recipe for a whole wheat dough that she says was inspired by a “pizza joint in Safed” that “serves a similar concoction,” but you can probably use any pizza or pita dough.