Background

We did not always celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat as a family. My father was born in a secular Kibbutz, the youngest child of two Holocaust survivors. My mother came from a non-Jewish South African background. Keeping Shabbat was not on their radar.
Prior to the war, my grandfather’s family were observant Jews. Having lost his entire family, my grandfather turned his back on God and on Jewish traditions, the culmination of which made Kabbalat Shabbat a none existing event.

Then, my oldest sister started attending kindergarten. One of the traditions in Jewish kindergartens is to hold a mini Kabbalat Shabbat service on Fridays before the kids are sent home. This prompted my sister to ask my grandfather, "Why don’t we celebrate Kabbalat Shabbat?" My grandfather responded by taking out his family’s siddur (prayer book) and proposed that from that moment on, they would.

Here is my mother’s Challah recipe, with some tweaks and changes, special for Shabbat:

The Recipe:

Ingredients:

2 cups lukewarm water

25ml instant dry yeast

100ml sugar (can be reduced depending on your sweet tooth)

3 eggs

1 cup vegetable/sunflower/canola oil

2 cups yogurt (can be substituted with dairy free yogurt)

1 tbsp salt

1+ kg flour

Sesame seeds (optional garnish)

Preparation

Step 1: Combine lukewarm water with yeast and sugar. Let the mixture sit for 5-7 minutes until bubbly.

Step 2: Add all the remaining ingredients into the mixture except for the flour and one of the eggs. The last egg is for the egg wash after shaping the Challot.

Step 3: Gradually add in the flour and stir it into the mixture until it becomes too difficult to stir by hand. At this point, take out the dough and put it on a flat floured surface. Continue adding flour and kneading the dough. There is no exact measurement of flour that we use. Try to add enough flour so that the dough can be comfortably kneaded without being too sticky. Knead for around 5 minutes, without adding too much flour so that the dough becomes hard and heavy.

Step 4: Let the dough rise, covered by a wet cloth, until doubled in size (the time that this takes varies based on the weather and time of year).

Step 5: Prepare a flat, floured surface and a baking pan lined with baking paper. Divide the dough into two sections. Braid each section. After braiding the dough, beat the last egg, and brush it over both braids. If you wish, sprinkle sesame seeds or other toppings of your choice onto the bread. Once you are done, turn on the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Step 6: When the oven has reached the desired heat, bake the bread for 35 minutes. If you want a softer bread, it is recommended to cover the Challot with foil once they start browning.