Challah Masterclass with Instagram's ChallahBackGirls - Episode 3: Shabbat Club

Get ready to level up your baking game 🍞✨

In this special masterclass, we’re joined by the Instagram-famous Challahbackgirls to teach you how to bake the perfect challah from scratch. Whether you’re a total beginner or already braiding like a pro, this step-by-step session is packed with tips, tricks, and seriously satisfying dough moments.

From mixing and kneading to mastering those iconic braids, you’ll learn:
✨ The secrets to soft, fluffy challah every time
✨ How to create beautiful 3, 4, and 6-strand braids
✨ Pro tips for glazing, baking, and getting that golden finish
✨ The meaning and tradition behind challah

Plus, expect plenty of laughs, behind-the-scenes stories, and the signature energy that’s made Challahbackgirls a viral sensation.

👇 Drop your questions in the comments
👍 Like & subscribe for more food, culture, and hands-on masterclasses

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:00

Welcome to another episode of Shabbat Club where we talk about good food, good friends, and how to host without losing your mind. Today I am being joined by one of my very best friends and someone who loves Shabbat just as much as I do, Sarah from Hallibat Girls. Shibbacho Shibathoo! Sarah brings the party and the bagels everywhere she goes. But I hear we're not making bagels today. No, this is strictly not for Sharon. I'm sorry if you will not eat any of those. Those are for me exclusively. But I wanted to bring Sarah here. I wanted to bring Sarah here because you can't have Shabbat without that beautiful braided Willow. Thank you. Hal Gala. Let's talk about it. Sarah literally makes hala for her job. She makes her livelihood out of hala. She's she started a company named Halla Backgirls. When did you start? Calla Back Girls was founded by myself and my siblings. Oh, please. Um I did wear the light. Almost six years ago. Um, Calla Backgirls began with myself and my siblings um almost six years ago in our childhood home during the peak of COVID. We were sharing our Jewish tradition, our love of food, our love of chalah, um, our love of connecting with people during a very dark and isolated time. And what better way we got and felt to combine our love of khallah and passion for baking and amplifying and celebrating Jewish joy and sharing it with people across backgrounds, ages, faiths, etc. It's joy. And you know what? Even through all of our years of friendship and conversations, I've never even known what you did before you did Holocaust Girls. Oh, I worked at a Jewish nonprofit in marketing. So I brought ideas. I brought that um dad joy and passion into Azure. We all kind of had our own strengths that we brought to the table, quite literally. And then as things grew, as our lives evolved, as COVID grew, followed back girls grew with it, and before we know it, we were shipping Kala nationwide and partnering with organizations, brands, and communities to celebrate Jewish joy and make a difference in the world. Obsessed. Sarah's also known for her brand buttons, which always percent of our conversations are bread ptons, which I appreciate. And for our time together today, I made us some holadough because it takes some time to rise. You know, we're busy ladies, we don't always have all the time in the world, so I wanted to get that ready, but I'm embarrassed because when I took it out of the fridge, something happened. And I think it's probably something that many people experience. All good bread stories start with something happened. And that something is a small explosion of flavor, I would say. Yes, but I like it. For someone who's maybe new to make in cala, could you let us know that this is okay? More than okay. We're going to knead it, we're going to shape it, it smells good, it looks good. No two cala's, even with machines, even with the same person doing it. Every single hala represents something different than the one before and will look a little bit different than what it did before. Obsessed. We can it'll taste a little bit. Which is fine to that. It's better to have someone with me, so I don't have to need so later. So I made a classic hala recipe. I like to add a little bit of turmeric to mine because I really love the look of like a really eggy hala. I make an eggy hala, but I don't know. I put turmeric in it today because it looks it just kind of presents really beautifully as a really golden and sunny hala. Yeah. And this week we have a very big winter storm, and I feel like I need a little bit of sun. Sunshine. Sunshine and turmeric sounds fancy, so we're fancy. Incredible. Um but this recipe I actually use the Edema Sessamin recipe for her classic olive oil and honey hala. Yeah. Um, and I thought we could braid it and/or shape it in any way together. So I would like to delegate the rest of this to you now, but we can each shape a hala. I'm not interested in working anymore, but but maybe you can talk us through what makes hala hala while you get the dough ready to shake. Okay. I love that. I'm gonna pull my hair up. That's a good idea. Okay. Yeah, I'll be here. Have you left? So Sarah and I met maybe three years ago now. Two and a half years ago. Um, October 2023, we were both a part of this new cohort of Jewish creators, and we were really, I think, the only two food people in this cohort, if I remember correctly. And so we were obviously paired up together, we spoke on Zoom and fell in love. And that is our origin story, and the rest is history. So I've been fortunate enough to be able to travel to New York, New Jersey, where Sarah lives multiple times a year. But this weekend is so special because Sarah is joining us for Shabbat Club here, but also physically at Shabbat Club Tomorrow. So I'm so excited to have her here. We're gonna bundle up in this winter storm, eat hala, drink wine, pet the dog, break bread, and break bread, obviously. So it's it's always nice to be joined by a friend because a Shabbat Club is meant to be shared with either one person you like, maybe many people that you like, or maybe just yourself if you're into yourself that day. So it's it's better to do Shabbat and Hala with friends on my own. And I've had many hala backgrounds halas in my in my day, and they are all delicious. Get the onion roll. Kind of pissed you didn't bring maybe. But it's fine. She's changed, she's ready to work now. Okay. So at this point, so our dough has risen. Yes. And like Sarah said, a thousand and one things can impact what your hala looks like. It can be cold outside, cold inside, humidity, the end of your flower band, the beginning of it, the age of your eggs, literally everything. Yes. And what's crazy, we call it the dough ball method. Okay. It feels like a snowball method where everything impacts one another from ingredients to people to who you're breeding with, and that's also in a cheesy way and in a really delicious way. That's what makes fellaback girls fellaback girls because we love to do this and just break bread and teach each other and just do this with each other. Great connection, so to speak. 100% email buckle, the dog walks to get in. Oh, yes. He is aware of what's going on right now, which is a problem. He's very communicative. He's incredibly ask for what you need. Yeah, 100%. So sorry. I told you so sad. And so when I'm making my holiday, I always want to make sure that at the end of it it feels like a sticky tap, but it's not necessarily gonna stick to my hands. If it's too dry, we're gonna come out with a really dense loaf. Um, it's better to have it a little bit looser, I think, than drier, because I'd rather have an imperfect braid but a delicious loaf versus a really perfect tight braid that comes with a dense little. Yes, Buckley, we are making color. I'm not interested in healthy right now. So, how does this still feel? Oh, this still is delightful. I added quite a bit of turmeric to it, so it's gonna be very golden. I mean, it looks golden. I just like feel healthier and more sophisticated with it. There is nothing under to make that. Thank you, turmeric. Okay. So I did bring this for us to cut it in half so we can make that our dough ready. Um, with the palms of our hands, we're gonna knead it just to make sure all the bubbles are out. And I made this pretty good to find out with ajards. Um, yeah. I got you. Yeah. And what does kneading do at this point? Kneading gets all the bubbles out and makes the dough smooth and ready to graze. And also creates tension in the dough, which is what the gluten needs to really hold its shape. So even like by rolling a rope or when you're rolling other doughs, giving it that tension gives it that kind of that inner texture that we're really looking for. When you pull it apart, it doesn't just like crumb, it almost like makes strains of hala dough, which we eat. The gluten pull. Exactly. Like the cheese pull. Exactly. Okay. Dough feels good. Feels good. Hey Buckwheat, you want to go outside? He knows. He knows that when Shabbat comes and this comes out of the oven. All right, my dog loves hala more than most should. Oh, he just wanted water. Donna, I hate when that happens. I feel so guilty. Water of mine. Yeah, it's money. And he just smells it and like feels happy. It's literally it's okay. You're fine. Okay, so you brought this to because we're gonna be into two colors. Gorgeous. Are we gonna do it? Yeah, let's do that. So I would usually use a bench scraper, but yeah, I forgot where I put it. So here we are. Such as life. Such as life. So it's a little sticky, but that's fine. Okay, that lemma. And then what is your preferred string? I love a classic three. Okay. I do. I love a classic three. Four is weirdly the hardest for me. Okay, round, but I love how she looks. Have you ever done a more than four? Yes, I have done a more than four. Um, I've dabbled with a five, and lately I've been doing a lot of sixes. There are a few different ways to make what fives and sixes. Um, some are more raised with some collars. Almost have like a baby hollow on top. It looks like so tired. My don't wants to just be whiffing all the time. Really it missed you. My don't want to do it happy. These are so pretty. I want to do a four. That's my preferred. Okay. I know what? That's my comfort zone is a four. But that's only because it's what I mean. I'll do a four. Okay. Okay. See if we do it the same. Who knows? I thought four feels fancy, but once you like get into the rhythm, you're like, oh, I can do this. I actually might do some of my strands dipped in seeds. So we've been doing that a lot, both like for our family and also in communities. Um, people just, I feel like, appreciate a different aesthetic every once in a while. And instead of just topping it after the egg wash, 100% to just do that. It's funny, because I never take my rings off, I went to go get like my ring service or something, and there was so much holodel in it. I thought this doer was gonna slap me and be like, we can't up charge. She's like, What is that? And I was like, literal. So why do you think, Chef Micah, that my hands are sticking more to it than eaters are? Maybe without climbing eaters. Maybe I just give it. I guess cut off the plant. I was like, generally, it's like, why do I just have like a different temperature on me? If it feels a little sticky at home, sometimes it does help just to oil your hands slightly.

unknown 11:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Um, so that you have a little bit of kind of less friction in them. So it's better to oil it than to like add flour in this point, I think. We learned that the hard way. So growing up in New Jersey and starting this in New Jersey, we encountered a lot of freezing days, and so the kitchen was just so cold, and the fallows would not rise. Like they just wouldn't rise, and then they would be rocks. Um, and we had to figure out how to move forward in the temperature. I don't think people really could appreciate how much temperature can change, and then people just get frustrated when their hala doesn't turn out from one season to the next. For sure. Uh I find summer is the hardest time for me to make hollow because it gets so hot here that I like want it to rise for that hour or so or hour plus, and then over overproof all the time. So over because it gets so hot, gets like to 90 plus degrees in our house sometimes. Yeah, and it can be really challenging to mage that. Yeah. There was one time we did uh we proof the dough outside. Okay. We covered it with uh um a net and a net like a bud lift? Yeah, okay. It was like a hair um like a shower cat? A shower cap, yeah. A shower cat for the bowl. Oh, smirch, a bowl network. Great idea. Um, don't want any sinoise. Absolutely not. We um did that and it proofed in. But I don't know if a shorter rise but higher heat is necessarily like better than so much of the flavor from hella and like a uh any yeast of bread comes from that time proofing, so it's more flavorful to have a cold proof, longer proof dough. Yeah, so I'll often make my dough Thursday night and then bake it in the morning, so it gets a really nice flavor, and because then I don't have to think about it on Friday. Yeah, and then but super fresh, super fresh, not warm. Oh nothing like it. And so I also learned um over time I've started a lot of people say, like, how do you just get like a long strand of dough? Yeah, um, sometimes because I'm walking around a lot with dough is what does yeah, um, I end up like massaging it standing, but really like a pizza sh-like a pizza sh that's me. Now we're just angry. Um, but to start in the middle and kind of your fingertips, yeah, making that tension, making a little slakery. No, I think a lot of people are really intimated by making fala. And I was not the baker of the family until recently, yes. I like to cook and throw in fairies is not measuring. So for me to put my seed down, I like to put my strand in a little bit of water. Yeah, and then I coat it, and that acts as like the glue around here because I really want it to just be on this strand and not on the others. I think I'll do two strands of sesame. I'm a big sesame queen down. I love a sesame. I'll do this one. I'm just using the bowl that approved it. Because nobody wants to do another bowl doing this. Yes. Anyone wants to? Yeah, you don't need to dirty more dishes than required. Absolutely. But at least I know it have a another human in the house this week. Yeah, I can clean my dishes. This is why you came here, right? Dishes, dough. Yeah, no problem. And Halaback Girls has a lot of flavorful halas, not like your average sesame or poppy. What's being the most popular flavor and what's being the flavor that you wish was more popular that you were like, no, it just didn't happen for us? So that's a great question. I I'm a big cookies and cream girly, and so I love the the Oreofala. Yeah, but the most popular specialty is probably the apple cinnamon sugar. Interesting. Um, we had it on the menu for the high holidays, and then we took it off the menu after the high holidays, and people said he don't. Yeah, I had a lot of angry emails. So I will take this course. Yeah, so you turn on plashes. Okay, that's and it's funny because I'm not a sweet girl at all. I like the chocolate, a dark chocolate after dinner, the odd little Oreo cookie, you know. I'm not a big sweet girl.

unknown 16:15

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:15

And so I always bug Sarah for more savory options, which is probably also why I love that onion roll. The onion rolls, and I'm not such a savory person, but the onion rolls are so good, like to freeze, and then you take one out and we can break this tomorrow if only wrapped one. So you're setting yours up already a little differently than sweet. Are you gonna set it up like this too? Yes. Okay, you are. Yeah. I was like, are we doing this differently? Um I find that mine I always make mine maybe a little bit too thin, you know? I need to like make them a little thicker. I feel like I make them too long. I don't know. But this is just me and my holodogy, you know. We all have a solid journey. I trust me. So, first of all, I put my little tops together and then I cross mine over. And that's like the basis of my collar. And it's funny, the more I talk about it, the less confident I feel to a bit. Okay. Should not talk about it. Sure, we can talk about it. We can talk about it. And then I go to the middle. And then I go over. Are we doing it? Which one do you wait go back? The this one. So the second one in, I put over to the side, and then the one that was to the side of that, I put in the middle. Yeah. And then on the next side, if this is one, two, I put the step and word over, one in the middle, and then I go two over, one in the middle, two over, but switching the sides each turn, you know? Is that what you do? But then I once also saw another way to braid a four-string, should we more holiday, that was like a whoosh, uh whoosh, uh, whoosh, you know? Probably not. I almost just said no just so you wouldn't do the whoosh that. But it actually was also another really easy way to make hala. So maybe one day I'll just do a whole how to make hala, how to shake hala, and I'll just like use pizza dough. I'll also say, I know that this is probably sacrilegious to say in front of Sarah, but if there's a bakery by you or someone else that makes hala by you, or a Sarah Laufmann by you, and you're like, I just can't make hala this week, that's also totally okay. Yeah. Like, oh yeah, you know what? Do what you need to do to get a form of bread on the table. I don't make mine every week. If it's just me and my husband and son, like I buy it from the bakery, and that's totally okay. Or if you can't buy it, buy it from Hella Back Girls. So I just feel like if you don't feel confident in your holla, a hot bread is good bread. You could meet any hot bread, and I'll be like, yes. Yes, you can be the worst halal and bagel that ever existed. I will eat this. So say what you need, do what you need to do. Um, see what's it done? You're telling me I'll rather open it in OS. Go to the camera just in case. Let me go. So whatever color makes its way to your table is the right hala for you. Well, that's what also I think makes that's what I think also makes salad special, is that it could look different. Like actual bread could look different from week to week, whether you're trying different bakeries or trying different callabros flavors, obviously. And um, the conversations they have around that table, people who come together or who wouldn't normally come together, be in the same room, um, sharing and talking about people's relationships to chala, um, just from what's in front of you. I love that. I totally nerd out over all of that, and it doesn't matter what the flavor actually is or where it comes from. It's just everywhere around the world, a Jewish table um will be having Hala of sorts. Yeah. So my next question for you is I feel like whenever I egg wash, the end product, like there's little spots like these little edges, get all the egg wash, but then these little inner portions get not. Do you have a crevice hack for me? You can't take us anywhere. I have never been asked that so specifically a crevice hack. Now I'm gonna have to have a whole separate branding. A brand meeting. Because your hollas are very nice and glossy. And I always appreciate a nice glossy hala, like when I get it at a bakery and it's like so shiny on top. When I find it home, based on how it rises, sometimes I get like a little bit of gloss, sometimes I get like a little basically spiral's egg in the corner. Yes, and I do this for a limit. Yeah, which is also always the funniest part. Like people who do it so regularly were so accustomed to our routine and our as a day yet that to actually think of it as a crevice hack or from a different angle um is complex. I guess out-of-body experience. So, what we do though is when we egg wash, we uh intentionally start with the uh with the crevices. Okay. So sometimes we'll do like each braid and then go down the middle. Okay, on like an extra. Falls into it, yes. But make sure you're really doing that because brushing it over, delicious and delightful. But to actually do the crevices, um well and do you use a white and a yolk? So we just do whites. We use just the yolk, so we do a one yolk um to water. That's so interesting because sometimes people just do whites, yeah, some people do both, some people apparently just do yolks, so we just do yolk, which is also probably why it's a little extra shiny. Seriously, the yoke, but you can also Also, we've put a little salama in it or a little date syrup. Yeah, yeah, yes, date syrup. Um, a little maple syrup sometimes just for an extra shine. Some people have asked when they're making a vegan salad, what do you use? When I make a vegan hala, I'll use a wash of maple syrup and like always. Yeah, it doesn't get quite as glossy, but it does really make like a nice sweet crust. Because I like my hala really sweet. And like like it's funny because I like my hala sweet but also savory. You know? It doesn't surprise me one bit. The people who love um savory love the combo. Yeah. For people who lean sweet, well, usually either go up sweet or savory. It's very rare that I would have like pretzels and chocolate together. Even though it's for real an amazing dessert. I have learned so much about just today. This is someone who talks to you all the time. Yeah. This is being so educational for me. This is also educational for me. Because as I'm saying things out loud, I'm like, I I would have a chocolate cupboard and pretzels. So you're why? I'm kidding. Maybe chips. Something like chips is a better example. Interesting. Like a ways and a chocolate. I wouldn't really have that interested. That's like That's two. Yeah. Whoa. You're like beer wild and crazy. Super wildly crazy. We're wild and crazy. So at this point, some recipes will tell you to egg wash right away, let it rise to 20 minutes. Do you let it rise another 30, 40 minutes? So we are first rise happened already. With your gorgeous siblings. But yeah. Um, and the second rise we'll cover with a warm damp towel and let it rise for an hour. Just about an hour. Yeah. Okay. Depending on temperature, too. Yeah, shared. So let it rise for a while. When we've done some collabakes over the summer, especially in a camp or like retreat kind of vibe, it's so hot, especially when the buildings don't really have circulated error fans. Yeah. Or let alone fans. So it starts to rise so quickly. We'll egg wash and let it rise like that. Okay. Like half an hour. We can let this rise and then we'll egg wash it, and then we can when it's done, turn back on. It'll be tomorrow because we're gonna cook these today. So Alpha Change. So we'll have anything but that's totally fine. I think it's nice to be able to have that together, but we can't eat it because then we have Shabbat club, we have to break them too. So but we will wrap them up. But knowing that we are making this in advance, I will often make my dough, braid it, and then after first rise braid, and then put it in the freezer. Yeah. Do you want to tell everyone how to prep your dough in advance? Like if you were saying to someone, if you want to prep, let's say make a big batch of holidag, like what does it look like to prep it in advance? Do you think it's better to just bake them all off and freeze them, bake? Or freeze the dough before bacon. Yes. So we get this question often, especially in these moments where it's like, okay, do I go home and bake it, or do I go home and stick it in the freezer? It's kind of like, what's that phrase? 13 doesn't standards. Uh just reminds me of uh the end up and eagles. Anyway, so it's like it either or we've gone home and put them right into the freezer and then take them out, and we actually will take it out of the freezer the night before. Yes, and then let it slow rise in the fridge and then uh cover it with a warm damn towel the next step. I think that's where most people go wrong, is that they don't let it rise in a fat second rise, and then they'll be like, oh, phenotype for an hour, and that's a second rise time, but you really need to get it to a warmer temperature before putting out the app in for it to actually rise. Right. So it's not even just about okay, clock is k is ticking 60 minutes, let's go. Like we're in the middle of winter, um, we're cooking in a home environment, like it's uh there are a lot of factors, and you really, really want this to rise at the same time, there is an overcooking or overrise situation. They have to be careful, yeah, like what I did earlier. Well, and that is just a still, even like over the bowl. So, like a little punch at the dough. My bowl is too small. The bowl, yeah, the bowl was a little small. But also, I needed to make the dough, and then I was getting Sarah from the airport, and we almost got a ticket from getting there too soon, and then we had to eat lunch because we were so hungry, and here we are. I have to talk to the airport security. They really should spend one day at Newark, and then we'll see how overwhelmed they really are. I'm gonna see if our dough is overproof, it's because of airport security yet. We should give them the ticket. But anyways, fine. We freeze our collala after baking it too, and then we'll do similar. We'll take it out with the morning of Shabbat or the morning we want to eat or that four if you're having it for brunch, um, the next day, and it we stick it in the oven to warm it up. What do you want? Warm up delicious. We warm it at 250 for about half an hour. So something that I've done with the Halla Bath Girls Halla is especially because we're in a like a vegetarian household, so all of our meals can be we eat dairy at meals, butter, we love it. But what I've done is I have taken because her halas come in like a little loaf pan often, is I will put butter on top. Yeah, wrap it in tin foil, and then put it in the oven at 250 for a little bit so that the butter melts. And it is so good. And then I'll like sometimes I'll put my own everything babel spice on and for it because you guys are like uh sesame free and sesame free. So this is such a treat, also. Yeah, so that's something I like to do. So I'll often like reheat my hala, not that we often have extras, but um, when I've done that, because I've gotten hers in the mail, and I'll put them in the freezer if I'm not ready to eat them. But I like to put them in with some solder. Even some olive oil would be delicious on there, just like a little bit more like to add some like that moisture and richness. Because no matter what bread you have, even if it was like cooked the day before then frozen, it always loses a little bit of that flavor magic. Yeah, and just popping it back in the ovens how you have to get that. But yeah, it greats. Okay, then last question is but a last question until we come back to work, yeah, is what do you do? What's your favorite way to use your leftover hala? What are you making with a leftover hala or a batch that got ugly and can't sell? French toast for sure, especially. I'm about to drink this yet tomorrow. I have to move that. The French toast, and I'm not even such a French, like I like French French toast, but I don't uh sound like go-to brunch food. Um, but French toast is such a good go-to because even if the bread is a little bit dry or um it didn't proof as long, or it was like too cold, didn't saw a knot, but whatever it is, um it will always be divine in a French toast kind of batch mixture. I don't know, the smell, the taste, the ambiance. I doubt it's someone also who's not a big French toast for really the only way to eat it is with kala. Yeah. If you eat me like sourdough bread, I'll yeah, throw it back. Most people uh, especially the non-Jewish Kala lovers who don't even realize that they're cala lovers until you say, Oh, have you tried khala before? And they look at you a little side-eye, and you're like, Oh, it's the braided bread that usually is on the menu as like a kala French toast. And I'm like, oh, that has Jewish significance or like a symbolic um significance. So that's how I and they don't even know it, which we love. So we're gonna let this rise and we will do the uh washing in the crevices op care room. Because you have to go get my son through daycare. But then we'll show you our beautiful loafs tomorrow at Shabbat Club. Yeah. Thank you so much for coming. It's like your first day now. And I hope to see you at now. I hope to see you at all of our Shabbat clubs. I can't wait for having me.

unknown 30:12

Hey!

SPEAKER_00 30:13

Shabbat!